Phobia that controls your life.

Crystal

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I have for example a huge fear of balloons... it started out when I was a little kid and a balloon popped near me. Since then I've been scared of them.
With parties and on school I locked myself up in the bathroom to at least avoid them a while or walked around with my hands covering my ears. When I was around ten I didn't even go to parties anymore, assuming there would be balloons and I just didn't want to be around them.

At this moment I can accept that there are balloons in the same room but I keep looking at them, hoping no one will touch them. I rather want to run away of course but I can't just do that all the time. I especially hate it when people hold them and squeeze in it, >.< Just the fear it will pop.

I was wondering if there are any people on here who have a phobia that looks weird to other people or that controls a part of your life and how you deal with it.
 
Well, the only phobia that controls my life is a fear of flying. Because I absolutely will not fly anymore means my travel options are limited. I still drive and will go on trains and boats, but airplanes are a no-go. Won't do it. Thankfully, this occurred after we had already traveled to Europe. Since then, I've been to Mexico and Canada as well. There are a lot of places I'd love to go, but who knows.
 
I actually have a horrendous phobia of vomit.

Yes, vomit.

Anytime I start to feel nauseous (which is rather frequent) I break out into an anxiety attack. I think its mostly the fear of being in public and having to be sick all over the place. But I can't watch anyone vomiting on tv or in movies, read about it in books, etc. I've even talked to someone about it. Needless to say I'm really excited about morning sickness one day...

But, yes. It controls my life. I fear eating out in public and whatnot. :hmph:
 
Phobias are the worst (*゜―゜)... and yes I do believe I have some sort of phobia - although as to which I'm not quite sure.

Whenever I am reminded of wave like - watery like motions I start shaking and trembling. I used to dump out my waterbottles before walking home from school because all I could think about was the water sloshing around in my backpack, and sometimes, I could even feel it moving around. I also hated echo effects when I sing into microphones - this I'm not sure how it's linked... but I still get the same side effects. Large waves in the pools, music with large amounts of reverb or bass. I've never gotten myself checked because it never really went out of hand, most of the time, I think of or do something else in order to occupy my mind. Most of the time it works, but sometimes it doesn't, and I would have to go sit somewhere quiet, curled into a ball (this doesn't happen very often, but it has happened once or twice in my lifetime).

It can be very inconvenient. (・×・)
 
Personally, I have a fear of cats. They way they sneak around and their unpredicability, it worries me when they're in my presence. I remember a cousin visiting me when I was young and she was badly scratched up from a cat because it just randomly flipped out. I'd say my fear has waned some in time, but I never make an attempt pet a cat.

Now does this control my life? I suppose it does to some extent. I mean, when I find my companion some day, if she likes cats and I don't, that could create an issue. It is just a pet afterall, but it's still possible it could warrant some battles. I hope for my sake, that will never be the case. :lew:
 
I have a fear of failure/rejection, it stops me saying or doing things in case I make a fool of myself or end up being given a 'no' :mokken:

I also have a fear of shouting, whether directed at me or if i'm in earshot, so I guess it controls a lot of my actions and what I will and will not do :hmmm:
 
I am not sure, but I think I am a paranoid. That is, in other words, I am a phobophobic. I get anxious for every almost every single potential danger (even though they are not really 'dangerous'), and start to imagine undesirable worst case scenarios every time. And it often gets really bad that I lose concentration and get extremely panicky.

I feel that it will ruin my life if I continue to be such a worrywart, but it's really difficult no to 'start to worry' every single time. It's as if if I don't worry, bad things will happen. Like "I must worry so that I am not worried". I also get extremely sensitive to what others say. I worry that they might be thinking bad things about me or talking behind my back. As I said, I feel that I must worry so that these things are not true.

lol I am weird...
 
Anxiety in general does it for me. Even if I have a test I know I'm prepared for and can do, test anxiety kicks in and I can't sleep for hours, etc.

I also have a fear of flying, I just don't like it. I put my foot down last year and said I wasn't flying anymore, so I got into a massive fight with the parents who wanted to go to America >_> I get seasick too, so boats are out. x_x

Those are the only two phobias that really interfere with my life, I suppose. Although, I also have a phobia of needles, to the point where, when I had to get my blood taken, they had to strap me down >_> As well as a strange phobia of pigeons. I don't know where this one started, but they FREAK ME OUT, one time my friend phoned me, and a pigeon flew at me, and she said I shrieked down the phone for about ten minutes ._.
 
I think there's only one phobia that really interferes with my life.

The phone. People who I don't know or numbers withdrawn make me not want to answer it. I get anxious when I have to make important calls. Three years ago, I had to ring up Halifax to get a new card because a Tesco ATM swallowed mine and I was due to go to Holland in a week. I got so nervous on the phone that I put it down and then rang up again when I'd calmed down, lying that the line got cut off. I'm better now than I was a few years ago, but it still gets me when I have to make those calls. >_>
 
Well i guess i would say social phobia. its strange because if im with somebody i know ill scream in front of a group of people and not care. but if im by myself im so quiet and start licking my lips so much, sometimes shaking when spoken to. Really makes finding a job hard cause i dont want to work with people, so cash register is out. pretty much back of kitchens for me. Also just the job interview itself is so nerve-wrecking, but i guess everyone goes through that.
 
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I have a terrible phobia of deep water. I can't even walk out on the pier at the beach or on a dock because I panic. Granted the water probably isn't that deep in those areas but if I can't see the bottom, I still have trouble.

I remember going to a park with my cousin once and walking the nature trail. At the end of the trail there's this really long bridge over the lake. I seriously freaked out when we had to cross it. It didn't look very sturdy either. She tried to explain to me how ridiculous it would be to go back around the 3-mile trail to the beginning since the bridge was at the end. I eventually agreed but I clammed up halfway across and she practically had to drag me the rest of the way. I never walked that trail again. :lew:

I nearly drowned at the beach when I was a kid so I know what the phobia stems from. Luckily, I've never really had an interest in swimming or boating so it's not too big a deal. xD
 
Hydrophobia - that's something I've had for as long as I remember, and it's a rather common phobia as well. I've had an unpleasant experience at a swimming pool when I was five or something. I fell in without floats and I had water flow through my nostrils. So ever since then, I have had an irrational fear of being in or near swimming pools or any bodies of water. Therefore I cannot swim well at all and I have no intention to do much swimming either.

However, I have visited a pool recently though, with a couple of friends. My fear of the water has not been as prominent as it had been earlier in my life, but I refused to venture out of the shallow area. xD

There's also my fear of heights. I was in Paris when I was seven - on the Eiffel Tower. We weren't at the top - getting up there is ridiculously expensive - we were near the middle level. Nevertheless, it was still high enough to horrify me. I was picturing myself falling from where I was onto the Parisian streets below. I could not stomach a ride on the London Eye either. Furthermore my fear of altitude also means that I am particularly nervous on planes. I just cannot sit next to the window for some reason.
 
I am not sure, but I think I am a paranoid. That is, in other words, I am a phobophobic. I get anxious for every almost every single potential danger (even though they are not really 'dangerous'), and start to imagine undesirable worst case scenarios every time. And it often gets really bad that I lose concentration and get extremely panicky.

I feel that it will ruin my life if I continue to be such a worrywart, but it's really difficult no to 'start to worry' every single time. It's as if if I don't worry, bad things will happen. Like "I must worry so that I am not worried". I also get extremely sensitive to what others say. I worry that they might be thinking bad things about me or talking behind my back. As I said, I feel that I must worry so that these things are not true.

lol I am weird...

This isn't weird at all, I often go through the same thing :dave: Especially the part about worrying with the idea of prevention. Don't worry though, you're not alone in it :)

As far as phobias of particular things though, I have an irrational fear of being on very small sailboats :gonk: I went with some family friends on a sailboat in an inlet some years back, in a place where there were liable to be both sharks AND alligators, and whenever the others moved about in it the boat rocked back and forth so much that I swear I almost went in the water several times :rage: I was sitting up and my back was almost completely perpendicular to the water on quite a few occasions. It was absolutely horrific and ever since, it's been ridiculously hard to get me onto any sailing vessel that's small enough to be that unstable :mokken: I just can't do it. Especially since when I was younger, I also was forced by one of my "friends" to float across a canal in a sandbox lid that started sinking when I was halfway across, and then as I was scrambling to get out, my foot touched something underwater that felt like a large animal's ribcage :gonk: It was absolutely disgusting and scary as hell :sad3:
 
I'm not sure if this is a phobia or not, though I'll express it and you can interpret it how you will. I'm scared of quick change. I'm one of those people who are pretty stubborn with his beliefs and such, due to it has worked for me.

When people propose change I like to see details, not just "oh this is going to occur ... NOW" When folks act blindly and rash it's more often times to carry out their own desires and I believe deep down we are mostly all selfish at times. I hate this change and fear it at the same time.

For instance, I know there is a health care bill for instance, but I thought it was something to be put in effect in 2014. I come to figure out today from my wife that they will be having to raise their prices 10%. I am a pretty level headed business man, and I know this will affect the perception of tanning all together. Granted it does give you skin cancer when extreme amounts are used, but there are other alternatives as well like spray tanning. My wife spray tans, and if they go out business, she doesn't have the gear necessary to start her own business, let alone a business license. I honestly think Obama was not the brightest on this. So this is one of the many ... Quick changes.. I fear. I don't understand the situation fully, I just know there was a bill, and now folks were promised one thing, and are getting more or less the opposite =(.

Oops sorry for ranting.

Secondly.. my other irrational phobia is when someone stares in my eyes. I can't control what I do, but sometimes I just start to mumble or talk with my head facing the ground. I can give speeches like a mad man, but for some reason face to face, especially with a girl, it's quite embarrassing if they start staring into my eyes. I have excellent communication skills too, but not sure why this occurs. I assume it has to do with the soul, etc.. but I won't get deep with it. I'll just leave it at that =).
 
I am not sure, but I think I am a paranoid. That is, in other words, I am a phobophobic. I get anxious for every almost every single potential danger (even though they are not really 'dangerous'), and start to imagine undesirable worst case scenarios every time. And it often gets really bad that I lose concentration and get extremely panicky.

I feel that it will ruin my life if I continue to be such a worrywart, but it's really difficult no to 'start to worry' every single time. It's as if if I don't worry, bad things will happen. Like "I must worry so that I am not worried". I also get extremely sensitive to what others say. I worry that they might be thinking bad things about me or talking behind my back. As I said, I feel that I must worry so that these things are not true.

lol I am weird...

It is definitely not weird and I have been portrayed in the same light. When my family describes things about people, they have a tendency to use stories, parables, and what-not. This one is something I used to struggle with and the parable used sums it up perfectly. When I told my grandpa about my life for the first time (he is a little scary, so I didn't really want to, but I didn't want to lie either) he told me I reminded him of this man he met years before. He said he lived through millions of horrible tragedies that never happened, because he thought all of them up. Trust me, you are not alone, and it isn't weird.

Anyway, one of my phobias that is very strange that affects day to day life is similar to the water phobia, but it's very different in that I am not afraid of drowning. I swim frequently, go on boats, have even gone inner-tubing, but I cannot stand water on me if I am fully clothed. It actually makes me lose my temper, which rarely happens (I think twice in my whole life when water wasn't involved). When I see anybody with water in an open container, balloon, gun, etc., I freak out and actually have to leave that area most of the time unless I trust the person. Even with the trusted person, I am still always aware of where that water is at all times.

Another set for me is arachnophobia and fear of bees/wasps. I have a nearly Barry Manilow deep voice, but if a spider, bee, or wasp comes at me, I will sound like Shania Twain while running away at a speed that some cars might have trouble keeping up with. I have tried to be rational about them, but I can't. I know where these fears came from, the bee/wasp was because of my misunderstanding about the difference. I was stung by a wasp for roughly 20 minutes repeatedly when I was 9 because I thought that wasps were like bees and they would eventually stop stinging and then you would have to be careful getting rid of the stinger. I was wrong. The Spider was that same summer. We had a Brown Recluse in mine and my brother's room on the ceiling (for those of you who don't know, brown recluses are fairly poisonous) and my brother decided to kill it on the ceiling. He missed and it landed in my hair. I ran around for a long time screaming before we got it.

The last fear is my fear of heights. I have realized that I go all out when I get phobias (hoping for laughter...fail). Luckily this one has lessened over the years. I had such a drastic fear of heights that even getting on top of a car, tree trunk, table, etc. I would freeze up and be unable to move. I had to quit one of my jobs because of the heights problem, can't go mountain climbing, and just a number of other things. It's terrible. That fear came from the grand canyon. While my family went there when I was 7, my brother and I got the bright idea of going as close to the edge as possible and looking straight down. I tripped on my way over there and suddenly realized that if I had tripped a few steps later, I would not be here today. I am clumsy, so I began to fear heights.

All in all, I can't really have fun with water unless bathing or in a swimsuit, can't spend much time outside for fear of certain insects/arachnids, and can't climb much of anything. I think that is a pretty life altering set of phobias. My way of handling these phobias is to keep my mind preoccupied with other thoughts when it might affect me in a bad way. That's about all I have found that works.
 
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naturaldisasterphobia- It can be a real thing if it wants to be...

I absolutely hate watching tsunamis, earthquakes, and end of the world movies like The Day After Tomorrow and 2012 freak me out! I moved in to a brand new house last year, and the houses are fairly close together. So it was really windy one day and I HATE the whistling! It creeps me out because I always think there's a cyclone outside or something...also thunder shook my house once, so I don't like storms...

Has it changed my life? yes. I get so paranoid if I see a large cloud. I need to constantly watch the weather channel to see what will happen, and everything I feel I am scared of has happened as a result of climate change. Because I'm so anxious about this...I'm not getting a drivers licence, not until Hybrid cars come out.

pfft, and you thought you were weird...
 
I generally am very scared of planes for some reason. I want to overcome this but It will not happen anytime soon it seems. So a fear of heights in general really. I mean I have taken planes before. I always seem to think they will crash for some reason. I usually sleep to avoid that feeling on a plane. Though you never know who can be piloting the plane. Also the Ocean is very scary when you are on a plane. I mean if it falls its better to hit on water though you can still die....
 
Water.

I couldn't care less about heights, as long as I have my feet on something solid, and not something like water. The worst way of dying in my mind, is drowning. I know I have lots of nightmares where I'm just flailing around, trying to get back up to the surface, and just not being able to 'cause you're so far in the deep, under the water. :gonk: It scares me and I'm definitely not a big fan of swimming pools either.

I remember when I was a kid, and had swimming lessons, my older sister used to take me, because my mom was so fed up with me throwing a fit, and said if I didn't want to go, I shouldn't. My sis, however (almost 20 years older then me) used to make me go, and I'd just cling to the side. =/

Water is not my friend. I'm not scared to walk by it, or look at it or anything. Just that when I'm in it, I need to be like... in control of what I'm doing, and not getting tossed around by the waves in the sea, 'cause well... I'll panic. :gonk:

I would NEVER go to a swimming pool just for fun...
 
Secondly.. my other irrational phobia is when someone stares in my eyes. I can't control what I do, but sometimes I just start to mumble or talk with my head facing the ground. I can give speeches like a mad man, but for some reason face to face, especially with a girl, it's quite embarrassing if they start staring into my eyes. I have excellent communication skills too, but not sure why this occurs. I assume it has to do with the soul, etc.. but I won't get deep with it. I'll just leave it at that =).

I'm the same I pride myself on being a people person and having pretty decent communication skills but if anyone though mainly girls look at me in the eye at all I get really nervous. I normally have a slight stutter that gets worse and I look anywhere but at them and rigorously dry wash my hands, not the most fun thing ever.

I have a pretty bad phobia when it comes to sleeping, this is for a few reasons. I don't like the idea of not knowing when you're going to fall asleep that total lack of control freaks me out, as well as the duration of your sleep though that's not too much of a factor. I'm also afraid of dying in my sleep, that I'll somehow cut off my air supply by sleeping awkwardly or falling out of bed and banging my head, or sleeping funnily and trapping a nerve or cutting off circulation to a limb and becoming crippled. Finally, my main fear of sleeping comes from dreaming I really hate dreams. Not just nightmares which are horrible for obvious reasons, but that you are effectively living in something that's not real but you are certain this is reality it's terrifying. generally I stay up till 4 or 5 in the morning only falling asleep when my body can't physically stay awake.
 
I have a fear of failure/rejection, it stops me saying or doing things in case I make a fool of myself or end up being given a 'no' :mokken:

I also have a fear of shouting, whether directed at me or if I'm in earshot, so I guess it controls a lot of my actions and what I will and will not do :hmmm:

Like you Damon, I have a fear of rejection, and it does stop me from doing things that will end in a "no." I'm not worried of making a fool of myself cause I try not to look embarrassed...how effective that is will depend on how many long-term psychological scars I get.

I also have had in the recent past, claustrophobia (which I still kind of have) and astraphobia (fear of thunder and lightning), which of course makes me have an anxiety attack.
 
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