Fun with Phobias

[Kung Wu]

When I was a kid my older brother used to torture me with spit balls. Ever since I HATE wet paper. Can't stand it. Wet newspaper is the WORST. I don't mind paper towels though. But a wet napkin? GAG!!!! I mean I am not "scared" of it, it just irrationally disgusts me. I can clean it up if I need to, I just don't like it. Turns out there IS a phobia of paper called "papyrophobia", but I'm not sure if just being disgusted by wet paper qualifies as a phobia?

My brother also tossed a snake on me as a kid, so I was scared of them for awhile but I forced myself to join friends snaking hunting in high school to get over it and they don't bother me now. In fact, now I love 'em.

When I talk about phobias with my friends I am sometimes just crazy surprised at how different we all are.

[SubGod22]

What the hell is fun about a phobia?

My list of phobias...

Acrophobia
Social Phobia (I'm working on this one)
Agoraphobia (to a lesser extent. Also being worked on)
Atychiphobia
Glossophobia (debilitatingly so)
I went through a period of somniphobia
I used to deal with trypanophobia until I got pretty sick and learned to deal with it.

That should cover most of it.

[Kung Wu]

What the hell is fun about a phobia?

My list of phobias...

Acrophobia
Social Phobia (I'm working on this one)
Agoraphobia (to a lesser extent. Also being worked on)
Atychiphobia
Glossophobia (debilitatingly so)
I went through a period of somniphobia
I used to deal with trypanophobia until I got pretty sick and learned to deal with it.

That should cover most of it.

But what are these? Don't make me look 'em up!

[SubGod22]

But what are these? Don't make me look 'em up!

Acrophobia - Fear of heights
Social Phobia - Social Anxiety Disorder
Agoraphobia - Fear of being alone in crowds or places difficult to escape (Panic Attacks Suck)
Atychiphobia - Fear of failure (plays into my anxiety and being insanely risk averse)
Glossophobia - Fear of public speaking
Somniphobia - Fear of sleep
Trypanophobia - Fear of needles/injections

[SubGod22]

The hard thing with some phobias is that there is some overlap, as some like Social Phobia is a broader umbrella than some of the more specific things that would technically fall under it. Maybe there are people that do just have a specific aspect of it and my social anxiety is more broad and covers a lot more of the specifics under just the one name.

I also almost put aerophobia (fear of flying) but I think my aversion to air travel, which I have done, is more associated with my fear of heights. I remember traveling to Vegas with some friends a number of years ago for a wedding, and I sat next to one of my best friends and his very pregnant wife on the flight. They put me next to the window so the wife wouldn't have to crawl over us to use the bathroom 20 times. I'm not sure she ever got up, but I could be wrong. I was mostly okay on the flight, but as a condition of me sitting next to the window is that the shade was closed the entire flight, which irritated them as they wanted to look out. Flying back I had the aisle seat. But I was also so wiped out from the trip, especially the poor communication on when we had to go to the airport, that I pretty much just slept most of the way home. I've also flown to and from Orlando since then and as long as I'm not looking out the window, I'm mostly good. Though the flight to Orlando also had me sitting next to a smoking hot hottie that had me engaged in conversation most of the flight. That definitely helped.

[Kung Wu]

What do you call fear of a smoking hot hottie?

[SubGod22]

What do you call fear of a smoking hot hottie?

Caligynephobia

[WuDrWu]

Many phobias are tough to understand (at least for me). For instance, I love to fly and getting into an airplane for hours just doesn't even begin to bother me in the slightest. However, driving through the mountains? Terrifying. Tall buildings? Uncomfortable inside, with any big windows or observation deck, I am going to be sick to my stomach or worse.

[ShockerPrez]

Many phobias are tough to understand (at least for me). For instance, I love to fly and getting into an airplane for hours just doesn't even begin to bother me in the slightest. However, driving through the mountains? Terrifying. Tall buildings? Uncomfortable inside, with any big windows or observation deck, I am going to be sick to my stomach or worse.

I know what you mean about heights. Some instances make me anxious but I love roller coasters and while I get nervous being on high cliffs at national parks, eg I still want to get as close to the edge as possible. Airplanes do not bother me at all, but just watching people climb the tall towers makes me cringe.

Needles, scared to death.

And the Trypophobia thing (small holes). Yes, but oddly drawn to look at pics. But they give me chills to see it

[WuShock16]

My toddler daughter is a trip. She loves the hair dryer. When my wife is getting ready and uses hair dryer, my daughter will gleefully run into our bathroom and giggles when my wife turns the hair dryer towards her.

However, she hates…HATES…the vacuum. It scares the out of her…one time, quite literally. Vacuum doesn’t even have to be running. I could simply place it in her bedroom, and she’d go nuts with terror.