Phobias!

Hi lovelies <3 With Halloween just around the corner, I thought this might be an appropriate discussion c:

What phobias do you all have? Have they ever effected your quality of life? How do you manage them?

I have plenty of basic garden variety fears (drowning, being murdered, harm to loved ones, etc) but only two (technically three) I would consider phobias in the official definition of the term: blood-injection-injury type phobia and automatonophobia.

The blood-injection-injury type phobia encompasses three specific phobias. I have two of the three: needle phobia and injury phobia. Both are troublesome since they can't always be avoided :c Since this type of phobia often manifests as a vasovagal response, I frequently faint during medical procedures involving blood draws, vaccinations, medication administration, etc. or when I get hurt (sometimes even minor cuts and bumps). The needle phobia is less of an issue than the injury phobia since the only time I'm being poked with needles is when I'm in a controlled environment like the doctor's office. But I've been known to injure myself at work and have to lay down until symptoms subside :(
Even reading those Wiki articles made me feel sweaty and weird. Ew.

Oddly, I don't seem to have as much of an issue when I'm being tattooed. I do get a little lightheaded but the feeling passes pretty quickly once the process begins. Huh.

By and large I can avoid dolls, mannequins, wax figures, etc. so the automatonophobia does not really effect my quality of life. Furthermore, it doesn't make me faint so it's much more manageable, haha. But my family and friends are mean and sometimes send me pictures of gross dolls and I have to quell the feeling of nausea :c Jerks.

I have an unfamilar driver phobia so i can not ride a bus or take a taxi i sometimes can not even ride with my friends. I will only ride with myself or my parents when we go out to eat. I remember when i got a date and was freaking out in the car. It wasnt as funny as it sounds.

everyone laughs because i'm afraid of being on bridges :(

I have emetophobia. Fear of vomit. I want to say its not as bad as it used to be but I think it's more that I haven't had the stimuli. I will always empathize with those with anxiety and fear disorders.

Spiders, needles and death/injury of loved ones.

But needles mostly, unless they're for blood tests then I can kind of cope? Idek.

People.

It took me years before I was able to go outside or in a crowded place without freaking out.

I have a few and I have some that people see as bad/really irrational, but I'll do those ones last.

I have pretty awful Claustrophobia - I become very panicky in small, enclosed spaces, but this also transfers to feeling enclosed in open areas that are crowded. For example, I have had panic attacks in public bathrooms because the stall is too small, but I've also had a panic attack in the middle of a very crowded Cardiff because I felt trapped by all the people around me, I had to escape to a alleyway to calm down. Because of my claustrophobia I cannot ride in lifts (elevators) and therefore have to torture myself with stairs all the time.

I also have Trypanophobia - fear of needles. Even the thought of an injection makes me shaky and sweaty. On my degree course we had a lecture where the lecturer showed us a video of a procedure including injections and passed around some sample needles... I had to sit quietly, turned away from the video, and refused to handle the needles. I am reluctant to go to the doctor for things because I'm scared they'll suggest blood tests... Tattoos I'm fine with though. But at least we all know that I'll never become addicted to certain hard drugs.

Emetophobia has been a constant in my life since I was a child. I haven't been able to avoid vomiting my whole life, but if I can repress the urge, even at painful lengths, I have done so in the past. My greatest emetophobe fear is when you spew and it come out your nose as well, because of the whole being unable to breathe thing.

Which leads me onto the not having enough air phobia that developed as a teenager. Apparently this is also Claustrophobia. This is pretty much my overriding fear - it links in to my Emetophobia and kinda in to one of my 'bad' fears, but more about that later. This developed because of two things - I nearly drowned at a beach once, and I was strangled over the bonnet (hood) of a car by some chav thug because he thought I was male and disrespecting his lady friend. I now cannot hold my breath for more than 5 seconds, I cannot have my head underwater for too long - I once used to be able to swim half the length of an Olympic pool underwater, now I can barely make it to the end of my mum and dads small backyard pool. I also cannot have anything heavy on top of me for more than 10 seconds or I panic about not being able to breathe, which sucks when you're playfighting with your partner and have to stop halfway through for a panic attack.

There's some minor Coulrophobia too, but clowns don't play a significant part in my life, so I can easily avoid that one. It's all to do with the face paint being a false face and hiding true emotions, that and the focus on kids... It's just creepy to me.

Now the three 'bad'/really irrational ones. I'll start with the worst and it might change some people perception of me, but remember, this is something I cannot help and I feel bad about myself for even feeling it.

I have a pretty severe fear of overweight people. It's called Cacomorphobia and is usually linked to body image issues and mistaken for sizeism. I can assure you that I am not sizeist, I can and do recognise that everybody, regardless of size, is an unique individual and deserves to not be judged by their appearance. I myself am overweight and I consider myself to be a relatively nice person. My phobia on the other hand... I am usually fine with slightly overweight people, but people that are morbidly obese terrify me... All because I'm scared they might fall on me and crush me. This is my most awful fear. My boyfriend understands, but finds it ridiculous and will look at me intensely when an obese person enters my field of vision to see the irrational terror enter my eyes. Also... I am exposed to a lot of very overweight people because of his fondness for darts - for some reason many darts players (not just the professionals) are very overweight. I recently went to a competition with him and sat in trembling fear for an hour because a morbidly obese man stood behind me for that hour. As I said, I hate this fear, I just can't help it.

On to the next... I have Tokophobia - fear of pregnancy and childbirth. Hate it. Hate the idea. Terrified of it all. Do not want smol human growing inside me. I do not think it's beautiful, I do not think it's wonderful... I think it's gross and terrifying and they want to stick you with needles all the time, and then do all sorts of uncomfortable things. Blegh, gross, no thanks. This has got to the point that I do not like even looking at pregnant bellies. I especially hate all those 'look, s/he's moving' videos where you can see the baby moving in the bump under the skin. THAT IS WRONG. Just... no.

To finish I will leave you with my two 'silliest' fears - Myxophobia and Ovinophobia.

Myxophobia is the fear of slimy things. I do not like slime, it's a texture thing - I will not touch wet things in the sink without gloves, I will not go anywhere near wet seaweed, I even avoid 'slimy' foods. Also, despite being an animal lover I will avoid slimy animals - mainly mucousy sea creatures, unless I have gloves.

Ovinophobia is the fear of sheep! Yes, me, the girl who grew up in rural England, who has a degree in animal management, is scared of sheep. Pretty much because of that one sensation - when you walk past a field full of sheep and they all turn and look at you at once, like they're a hive mind or something and you've interrupted their plot to kill off the entire human race. Ugh, they're creepy. Goats I'm fine with though, love goats.

If I had any Phobias, I'd say it would be with the Dentist and Thunderstorms but only alone, if I'm with someone the T-storms just cause anxiety. If I am in the waiting room at the dentist's and I hear a drill, I start shaking and crying. It's ridiculous and nothing gets solved by it, but I can't control myself. :/

I have strange yet connected phobias. I never usually cared to admit them, because people in the past had only laughed at me or thought I wasn't serious, but sooner or later they understood that I am seriously uncomfortable/fearful of certain things and I don't necessarily have a reason, and that's okay.

That said, I have serious ichthyophobia, or an irrational fear of fish. I seriously cannot even look at the things without growing really uncomfortable, to the point of feeling extremely panicked. I have gotten better, and will now eat them (like sushi or tuna, where it doesn't even resemble a fish), but to touch, see, or even imagine of those gross creatures? No way. Ugh.

I also think I have thalassophobia, or the fear of the sea. It's not so much the sea as it is vast emptiness of open water. Even looking at underwater pictures makes me feel suffocated. I think it may be more about how I probably need to feel stable/secure, as I am also acrophobic. Though, most sea creatures scare the hell outta me, so that's also involved, for sure.

Those are the big ones. I'm an overly anxious person and have plenty worries, but nothing else I'd really call phobias.

I have a weird one for y'all: Trypophobia. It's the fear of small clusters of holes or spheres. Honeycomb is a good example. Anything like that makes me feel extremely uncomfortable and even itchy. I will literally start scratching myself if I see honeycomb or something like it.


I also haaaate centipedes and millipedes.... Uuuuuhg. Too many damn legs.