this post was submitted on 30 Sep 2023
76 points (88.0% liked)

Asklemmy

43856 readers
1702 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
76
Do you have any phobia? (psychcentral.com)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by Albin7326@suppo.fi to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml
 

What is a phobia?

Phobias are persistent and intense fears of a particular:

object

person (like a doctor or clown)

situation

activity

If you have a phobia, you may experience severe anxiety and panic attacks when you’re:

exposed to the object or situation you’re fearful of

thinking about the thing you’re afraid of

anticipating an encounter with the item you’re scared of

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] AcidOctopus@lemmy.ml 28 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I wouldn't say I have an actual phobia, but I completely understand people with trypophobia. It makes me very uncomfortable and I find it pretty revolting.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] xmunk@sh.itjust.works 26 points 1 year ago

Heights - fuck high places.

[–] Jyrdano@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I have pretty strong fear of people in full body mascot costumes. This includes furry suits too. Not a crippling phobia, but enough to keep me on edge.

That being said, I don’t hate furries. It’s just all suits where I can’t see person’s face freak me out.

[–] Mothra@mander.xyz 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Is that also the case for full body armor and other fictional or real types of costumes where you can't see the face? Or does it have to have a 'fake' face like mascot costumes? Just curious

[–] Jyrdano@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Its just those with big fake faces. I have no trouble with things like armor or masks

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] OurTragicUniverse@kbin.social 17 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Scopophobia (the fear of beeing watched/seen) which has basically induced agoraphobia (fear of outside).

I'm an autistic woman though, so people watching me and assuming shitty things, puts me in a very real danger as I can't information process in real time, or efficiently talk out loud.

[–] eezeebee@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 year ago

TIL the name for this. I don't like being in public and the opportunity for anyone to observe me in any way. Love being outside, hate that there are other people out there.

[–] iamtrashman1312@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

I was wondering if I'd see another agoraphobe in here

I don't really have anything else to add, been diagnosed for years and still workingonit

[–] promitheas@iusearchlinux.fyi 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Spiders. Terrified of them to the point of just picking a direction and running until im far 😂

[–] 30p87@feddit.de 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yup. Especially those fuckers with extra long legs. Just pure horror.
And also many other insects with long legs.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] LDPanda@lemmy.ml 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

thalassophobia even in video games. I almost drowned as a toddler so maybe that's why idk.

Heights and tight spaces make me tense and sweat

Agoraphobia but mainly it's limited to too many ppl in touching distance.

Don't know if it related to that but I have to always have an exit plan. I always take my car so I know I can leave at any time I sit on the end of aisles if I can help it and 9 times outta 10 if I'm indoors I know exactly the exit I can head for if I have too

Edit I also will go out of my way to avoid calling anyone by their name. IDK if that's a phobia but it just feels to personal or invasive to do.

[–] EdibleKazz@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Are… are you me? Because from first paragraph to last, this is 100% me.

(Although to be fair, I grew out of the name-thing some time ago, thank fuck.)

[–] emptyother@programming.dev 3 points 1 year ago

The exit plan is absolutely agoraphobia. I got that too. Gotta sit at the end of rows. Gotta plan my exit so that I either get out before the crowd, or after. Prefer car-vacations over planes or ships. My impresssion from the psychiatrist is that any fear that makes us feel irrasionally trapped, thats agoraphobia.

avoid calling anyone by their name.

I do that too. But because I'm really crappy at remembering peoples names. And those few times I do remember I'm just not used to it. I really should work on this because repeating peoples names does make it easier to remember them.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Saber_is_dead@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

person (like a doctor or clown)

doctor clowns

[–] xilophor@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

what about clown doctors?

[–] Mothra@mander.xyz 10 points 1 year ago

Cockroaches, especially big ones that can fly. I've gotten better with age though. I still find them disgusting though.

Similarly syringes, so vaccines and blood tests are a bit rough. Same, getting better with age but I still get my heart racing whenever I have to get a shot.

[–] Chetzemoka@startrek.website 10 points 1 year ago

My car is currently parked on the street instead of in my driveway because it's officially "spiders fall on your car with the leaves" season up here in New England. So yeah, arachnophobia.

I've done a lot of self-directed deconditioning work over the years though, and it's much better now than when I was a kid. I don't jump and run away anymore. Still don't want them in spaces I occupy though lol

[–] DigitalPaperTrail@kbin.social 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

game developer hastily taking notes

semi-unrelated, the internet has ruined my mind, it definitely interpreted that thumbnail a lot differently at a glance

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] xeddyx@lemmy.nz 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Uwu_im_toxic@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

Emetophobia. Fear of vomiting. I'm super nauseated just thinking about it to type it out. It led to a semi eating disorder when I was young because I didn't trust any food to be properly kept or cooked. Took a food safety class for work and learned proper food handling and preparation, so I eat a lot better now. But I definitely come off as rude if I don't trust the person that's cooking food for me, like my partner's family, or friends that don't understand.

I can't help friends or loved ones when they're sick if that's one of their symptoms, which sucks. If someone has a nasty cough that gags them I go into a panic. If I hear someone get sick I instantly start crying, sweating, shaking, and my mind gets fuzzy with panic.

I really hate it. I always thought I had arachnophobia, but I just really really don't like spiders. I don't get the mind numbing panic that, to me, would classify it as a phobia.

And yeah, because of the phobia, I haven't gotten sick like that since I was 8, and I was born in the 80s. Plenty of fearful times, but cold water and pepto helped me through.

I gotta go dissociate on some meme posts for a bit now.

[–] emptyother@programming.dev 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Agoraphobia. Mostly in social situations. Until diagnosed properly, I thought it was social anxiety. Anyway, I easily feel closed in. Trapped. Avoid middle seats in cinemas. Don't like being in crowds. Or stuffed public transports.

And wasps and bees and their likes. I was on edge for two days recently because a wasp i swatted in my room, I never found its body. Fraid it was just stunned and is waking up anytime. And I get itchy if I suspect any wasp is close.

Bright green rubber-like small spiders. Also big hairy spiders get me on the edge. Not daddy longlegs though, they are cute.

Also just a healthy amount of fear of severe heights. Which mostly disappears as soon as I have a safely attached rope, or a solid branch or railing to hold onto. So I don't fear climbing.

And dentists. As soon as I smell dentist offices, I start shaking.

[–] sour@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] emptyother@programming.dev 3 points 1 year ago

Yes. But I doubt they would be if they were bigger.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] clark@midwest.social 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I have a “phobia” (or at least a very strong fear) of insects. This includes regular flies, worms, mosquitos, bees, butterflies to some extent. Whenever I hear that buzz of a fly, my fight-or-flight response activates and I instantly become more aware of my surroundings. Whenever I hear a fly inside my apartment I tell my parents to please kill it or let it out, sometimes I hide in my room. Coincidentally enough, a few days ago I found a decently small worm in my bedroom and it kept wiggling, and my anxiety was intense. I kept yelling for my mom to go get it, my heartbeat was so intense.

People like to laugh whenever I flinch or act nervous around a small fly, and I get why that’s funny, but I really hate it. It distracts me and makes me feel on edge. People keep telling me, “it’s just a small insect, it can’t hurt you”; I know it can’t, but the buzzing and the way it flies makes me really uncomfortable. It’s why I don’t like summer. It’s weird, because I didn’t always feel this way; I only started having this phobia at around 10 years old maybe. Anyway, I don’t know why I have it. But it’s really debilitating.

[–] GARlactic@lemm.ee 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You really should seek therapy. There are specialists that help people manage their phobias.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Meho_Nohome@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

My biggest fear is waking up without my penis.

[–] Stalinwolf@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 year ago

I remember some news segment from my adolescence, where a journalist is conversing with an autistic person who is terrified to hold scissors or other sharp objects, as he "might drop them and accidentally cut off his reproductive organs". He reiterates this several times during the conversation. I think about it often, and wish I could find it.

[–] miz_nocturnal@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 year ago

I found out the difference between just normal dislike and phobias a few years ago. I dislike insects and they make me jumpy but I wasn’t terrified of any of them, even spiders. Until I had an encounter with giant carpenter ants, both the normal ones and the ones with wings.

I was living in my RV and apparently it was their nesting season, and I come from a different province and normally never see large ants like these. I kept finding them everywhere in my trailer, these giant ants, like I’d open a drawer and pull out a dish cloth and one would be underneath it. I was crying hysterically and shaking and I would rather have died than come across another one. It went on for about 3 days, I barely slept because the fuckers were crawling all over the ceiling and walls at night.

I went and picked up ant killer spray and went scorched earth on them. Within a day there were dozens of dead ones inside the trailer and probably thousands outside in the gravel. It was crazy. Neighbouring campers had these ants too, I guess it was normal nesting season there and no one worried about it much. They started to comment that the ants were disappearing earlier. I didn’t tell them it was me lol. But yeah, I have a phobia I wasn’t expecting and I lose my shit when I see them to this day.

[–] Tuss@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Entomophobia, arachnophobia and ostraconophobia.

So bugs, spiders and seabugs.

The seafood with shells is the worst one but it has gotten better. I didn't even know I had it since I haven't really been exposed to seafood with the shells on until I was at a dinner party and they came out with shrimp cocktails with unshelled shrimp hanging off the sides. I got so anxious and sick at the sight of it I had to excuse myself to go to the bathroom and throw up. Now I can almost manage to sit next to someone who has unshelled shrimps. But lobsters and such served in the shell with legs and shit makes me sick.

However.

My phobia is a bit special because since I've had seafood without the shells before I saw them with the shells it doesn't really affect my diet.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] ada@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)
load more comments (2 replies)

I am extremely scared of vomiting and I will have a panic attack when people talk about it for too long. Parties are horrible for me because of this.

[–] Sunstream@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Parasitophobia and dermatophobia (fear of parasites and skin disease, respectively). This bleeds into a fear of fungal infection and worms in general. I guess my kryptonite would be a parasitic skin infection 🙃

I don't know what it is about them that repulses me/freaks me out over anything else- I quite like spiders, snakes, heights, the dark, etc- it's just instant nausea when anyone starts talking about them. If there's a hint I'm in danger of encountering either irl, I'm out.

Worst fear is having something crawl into my ear (I guess I can thank Animorphs for introducing yerks to me as a kid). I've seen some videos of that sort of thing happening to people, and I can't even fathom how calm people seem to be in comparison to how I would be if it were me. I'd have to have to put on a watch so I didn't start ripping into my head in animal panic.

I also have a particular dislike for really large fish and really large lizards. Anything larger than a foot and a half begins to make me uncomfortable. Dinosaurs are right out.

As my sister would say (who has a fear of lizards, herself) "If I were trapped in a room with a komodo dragon and a gun with two bullets in it, I would shoot myself twice."

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Caesium@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

I've got acrophobia. I remember a few situations as a kid where I got panic attacks from seemingly mundane things. Nowadays I can avoid most things that'd trigger it, but I can't use ladders and stairs are always something I have to take at a slower pace.

[–] Critical_Insight@feddit.uk 5 points 1 year ago

I wouldn't go as far as to call them phobias but I have this irrational dislike for clowns, mushrooms and harvestmen spiders.

[–] small44@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Phobia of driving
Phobia of getting lost

[–] LaunchesKayaks@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I have a really bad phobia of zombies. Like, I cried uncontrollably when I tried to watch Zombieland. Other forms of undead, like vampires and mummies, and liches are totally fine though and don't scare me. It's just zombies.

[–] jaguargoosey@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Interesting! Do you also experience fear if you see a static corpse? For example like in a medical or police show?

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I'm an arachnophobe, I cannot stand spiders.

I also have a strong fear of eye injuries. I own many pairs of safety glasses.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] atlasraven31@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

No, not really. I dislike wasps and hornets but nothing debilitating. I feel sorry for anyone with a fear of the sun or fear of money. Some of the more irrational fears must be hard to deal with.

Just the normal concerns of heights, spiders, killer clowns, etc... I actually love storms, rain, and the night in general.

[–] newIdentity@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Spikey objects like injects

Almost fell over twice because I just saw one

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] Tutunkommon@beehaw.org 3 points 1 year ago

I don't know if it even has a name, bit if I'm driving and traffic stops with me under a bridge, I'm always afraid it is going to collapse on me. Especially if big trucks are going over the top.

[–] riley0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Trollivier@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Apparently I have the phobia of not creating a better/optimal world for my son.

Like... I'm seeing a psychologist right now, and I'm on antidepressants, because I dangerously flirted with a burnout. Not a burnout related to working too hard or too much, but being obsessed with having a positive social impact with my work.

And since I don't have much impact, I was putting an enormous pressure on myself to find a way to have a greater social impact, for the sole purpose of making sure my son would have more options than I did.

Fun times.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›