What is your phobia?

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » October 2, 2007, 1:07 pm

Most people have at least one, and have a vivid memory of when they first realized what terrified them.

Lalanae · Post by **Lalanae** » October 2, 2007, 3:02 pm

Sharks

I'm sure Jaws is to blame, but don't know for sure. My parents would not have let me see Jaws at such a young age, so it could have been something else, or maybe even just seeing the commercials/movie poster.

My phobia is pretty irrational. I can actually get freaked out in a swimming pool if I think about sharks. About a year or so ago I was reading an article about famous people and their phobias. Apparently Drew Barrymore also has the same phobia of sharks in swimming pools.

When I was about 14 I was in the ocean with my sister and my dad. It was about chest deep water. My dad got all excited because he could see a porpoise fin a little ways up. I FREAKED out and literally climbed up my dad's body. It looked too much like a shark fin to me I immediately went into hysterics. He had to carry me out of the water.

My other big phobia is heights, especially involving bodies of water below. I can't do roller coasters because I literally think I am going to die. The falling sensation is the most terrible feeling in the world to me. I get nervous on bridges and do not like tall buildings AT ALL, even when inside. I could never work in a building that was over 10 or so stories.

When I was younger I had a vampire phobia. My dad thought it would be cute to explain to me what vampires were by example, as he was tucking me into bed. I slept with covers around my neck until my late teens/early 20's...

cadalano · Post by **cadalano** » October 2, 2007, 3:18 pm

bees and wasps. was stung by a bee when i was 6ish and later moved to AZ where they have carpenter bees which are totally black, huge, and sound like a blackhawk helicopter. those actually dont bother me now that i know theyre harmless, but normal bees and wasps still make my bowels evacuate

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » October 2, 2007, 3:20 pm

Mine is heights.

When I was a young boy, around 5-6ish, my older cousin held my by my ankles over a hotel railing, about 6 stories high. I believe that planted the seed. I had no sort of phobia or flashback until much later in life.

Years later, I was on a high school field trip to the capital in Lansing, MI. Apparently, the foyer has a pretty unique feature. It is made of glass, and the higher you get, the more "bowl shapped" the floor appears. As we toured the building floor by floor, kids would race to the rail to look down at the floor and see the illusion. I remember looking over about the 2nd floor level and feeling pretty goddamn scared. "Odd", I thought. "I'm not even scared of heights". By the time we got to the 4th or 5th floor, I couldn't even approach the rail to look over. I've been like that ever since.

I can psych myself up and do small stints of heights, but it's difficult for me. I don't mean to sound like a pansy or anything. I mean, I can go on rooftops and such. My limit appears to be about a 4th floor height. I start getting a bit of anxiety at that level if I near anything that isn't solid ground. Think glass elevator or theme park ride. I don't like that stuff.

I have never flown due in large part to my phobia, followed closely by the fact I have never had to fly anywhere

I feel those days may be coming to an end, and I'm "pre-scared" of the day I have to get on a plane to fly for a vacation or something.

Several times a week, I walk up to the top floor of the parking ramp where I work at about 1am. Most of the people have gone home, and the top 4 floors are completely empty. I put on my headphones and inch towards the edge of the structure, evetually looking over the edge and trying to get comfortable. I'm doing this to hopefully easy my anxiety a little. I've been doing it for about a year, and every night it's like the first time.

Post by **Sylvus** » October 2, 2007, 3:23 pm

I've got a somewhat crippling fear of flying on airplanes. I still fly relatively often, but I need to be heavily sedated with alcohol and xanax. It's not heights, as I love roller coasters and tall buildings and such.

I'm not sure exactly what caused it. When I was like 10-13 I used to love flying, and then one day I just stopped loving it and started being terrified. I think it came about as a result of me getting older and not feeling immortal, coupled with me being a control freak and putting my life in the hands of an essentially faceless pilot.

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » October 2, 2007, 3:29 pm

Heh, I thought I was scared of spiders until I was around a friend that has a true phobia. He literally freaks the fuck out. After seeing his reaction, I downgraded my "phobia" of spiders to "I just don't like spiders".

I also wanted to bring up my ex-wife's phobia because it's kind of unique. Vomit. If she saw/heard someone vomit, she had an immediate panic attack. We're talking full body seizure here. She would cover her face, put her face between her knees, and freak out. You have no idea how many movies have vomit in them until you're with someone with a deathly fear of it! Throughout the years, her phobia sort of rubbed off on me. In hindsight I realized I was more worried about her reaction and wasn't really having a reaction of my own. We've been divorced for years, and I have absolutely no issues with vomit.

rhyae · Post by **rhyae** » October 2, 2007, 3:37 pm

cadalano wrote:bees and wasps.

Ditto. Got into a nest of them when I was ten, never recovered.

Leonaerd · Post by **Leonaerd** » October 2, 2007, 3:54 pm

I have a mild fear of rejection but I'm not sure immaterial stuff is what this thread is about.

Truant · Post by **Truant** » October 2, 2007, 4:22 pm

When I was a wee lad I was scared of heights and the dark. I got over them, by just putting myself in those environments to make me realize that it was irrational. (which led to me doing some pretty dumb stuff in my indestructable teen years!)

My only real fear is that I'll die alone. Not like, single without a family...but quite literaly. That when I die, there won't be anyone there for me to give my last messages to those that are important in my life.

With my sarcastic defense mechanism I twisted this into, "My greatest fear is that when I meet my untimely demise, I won't be able to come up with a terribly clever and funny joke."

Spang · Post by **Spang** » October 2, 2007, 4:58 pm

I guess I suffer from claustrophobia, although I don't have a problem being in small confined spaces as long as I can move around. If I were to get stuck beneath a car or collapsed building or something similar and be unable to move, I would most likely begin to panic.

Maybe there's another phobia for that?

Fash · Post by **Fash** » October 2, 2007, 5:02 pm

Spang wrote:I guess I suffer from claustrophobia, although I don't have a problem being in small confined spaces as long as I can move around. If I were to get stuck beneath a car or collapsed building or something similar and be unable to move, I would most likely begin to panic.

Maybe there's another phobia for that?

Normalcy?...

Neziroth · Post by **Neziroth** » October 2, 2007, 6:14 pm

Spiders.

When I was young I used to catch them and play with them all the time.

Until one day, I was maybe 5 or 6, we came home from visiting relatives, my mom was in the kitchen and my dad was in the living room watching TV, and for some reason I crawled under the dining room table and found a spider that was yellowish brown and black (I think) and about the size of the palm of my 6 year old hand.

Anyhow, I picked it up bare handed and set it in my other palm and carried it into the kitchen to show my mom.

When I showed her, she obviously flipped her shit and started to scream, which is probably a major cause of my phobia. When she freaked the spider bit me in the palm, and I threw it against the wall and it ran off somewhere, we never found it.

I heard my mom still upset, talking about poison and whatall, but I kept telling her I felt fine. She kept asking -- over and over -- if I felt ok, and I did. I never got sick from it.

The next day I had a nasty looking blister thing where it bit me that I had to keep poking with a needle to drain. It didn't hurt at all and it itched a little after it drained, nothing major. Just so happens I was in elementary school and a kid had heard about spiders biting people and laying eggs in them, so I had that on my mind constantly too. That's probably another major factor.

And I saw alien for the first time right before then as well. That also probably didn't help.

Anyhow, to sum up, I can't be near spiders without going all 2 year old girl, no matter who's around. I can't hide it. I can't stop staring at it, waiting for it to swing over and attack me on it's demon web string. I can't simply roll up a newspaper because I can't bring myself close enough to kill it for fear of it falling or jumping on me.

If i happen to look down and see one crawling on my pantleg or shirtsleeve or god forbid, my skin, I do one of those moves where every limb flails hopelessly at it at once and I go from sitting to standing in about a hundredth of a second.

I literally have to throw things at them from across the room and hope I hit it, because if I miss and it gets away to where I can't find it / see it, 9 / 10 times I'll just leave the room and find something else to do.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » October 2, 2007, 6:22 pm

Spang wrote:I guess I suffer from claustrophobia, although I don't have a problem being in small confined spaces as long as I can move around. If I were to get stuck beneath a car or collapsed building or something similar and be unable to move, I would most likely begin to panic.

Maybe there's another phobia for that?

You stole my phobia.

As long as I can move around or know, within a time frame, that I'm going to be somewhere, I am not claustrophobic...but, as an example, I'm on an airplane and it gets delayed before takeoff due to a hailstorm and we sit there grounded on the taxiway for an hour+, I get real jumpy as I have no idea when it's going to end.

Another example, I may have used already, is packing into an elevator to head to the bottom of Hoover damn. I'm OK as I know I'll be getting out of the elevator within a minute or two...but when we get to the bottom, it opens into a very tight tunnel with a 30 minute line of people waiting to get back up to the top...then the phobia kicks in big time...same as when a ski lift stops and I'm sitting motionless for an extended period of time.

Last example. I could stay in a small closet for hours without being uncomfortable due to the small space, but if the door is locked...not so good.

Bubba Grizz · Post by **Bubba Grizz** » October 2, 2007, 6:28 pm

Yuppers claustrophobia. More to the point though, being trapped with no way out. Buried alive like the scene in Kill Bill freaked me out.

I actually wrote a paper on this in college stating that because I, my mother, her mother and her mother were all first born children that the fear was probably ingrained in us at birth coming through that tight tube trying to get out and get breath. It was worth an 'A' so I was happy.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » October 2, 2007, 6:46 pm

Bubba Grizz wrote:Yuppers claustrophobia. More to the point though, being trapped with no way out. Buried alive like the scene in Kill Bill freaked me out.

The scene in Tank Girl where she is slid down head first into a long metal pipe that gets smaller and smaller until her shoulders are wedged and stop movement is a pretty nasty claustrophobia scene as well.

laneela · Post by **laneela** » October 2, 2007, 11:01 pm

Pnigerophobia - Fear of choking.

Whenever food or drink goes down the wrong path, I freak the fuck out thinking I'm going to choke. Also, if I take too big of a bite of something and my mouth isn't moist enough, I freak out, my throat freezes and I have to spit it out instead of trying to swallow in fear of choking.

Sueven · Post by **Sueven** » October 2, 2007, 11:13 pm

Nothing really. Heights bother me more than most things, but it's not a 'phobia'- I just get freaked out at the edges of cliffs and similar places where I actually could die or get badly hurt if I fell. I'm fine with glass elevators, roller coasters, bridge jumping and so on.

I'd also probably snap if I was buried alive, but I think that's fairly normal.

masteen · Post by **masteen** » October 3, 2007, 1:04 am

Mildly claustrophobic, but talking actual movement-preventing confinement here, not just tight spaces. Sometimes kicks in on airplanes, but it goes away if I get up and walk to the toilet or get something from the overhead. But I shelled out the extra dough for first class when I flew to England, because I didn't even want to chance it on an 11 hour flight.

I'm not super fond of bugs or extreme heights, but not panic attack kind of fear. I just couldn't be a beekeeper or a high-rise construction monkey.

Siji · Post by **Siji** » October 3, 2007, 1:38 am

Claustrophobia if I had to name one.. but I can generally calm myself I've found. Had a car accident and was getting lots of MRIs and getting slipped into that long ass tube got my heart racing. As long as I didn't try to move and realized that I couldn't move it was ok. Cave diving was odd, because I'd be ok for awhile until I started to realize just how damn far into an underwater cave I was.

And I fucking hate cockroaches.

Legenae · Post by **Legenae** » October 3, 2007, 2:01 am

Spiders and heights.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » October 3, 2007, 2:58 am

laneela wrote:my throat freezes and I have to spit it out instead of trying to swallow

not good! not good!

Lalanae · Post by **Lalanae** » October 3, 2007, 11:53 am

Morgrym · Post by **Morgrym** » October 3, 2007, 12:41 pm

Zemmiphobia- Fear of the great mole rat.

Seriously though, I guess if I had to pick a major fear it would be of drowning...damn that would suck.

Drolgin Steingrinder · October 3, 2007, 3:47 pm

Fairweather Pure wrote:Mine is heights.

When I was a young boy, around 5-6ish, my older cousin held my by my ankles over a hotel railing, about 6 stories high. I believe that planted the seed. I had no sort of phobia or flashback until much later in life.

Years later, I was on a high school field trip to the capital in Lansing, MI. Apparently, the foyer has a pretty unique feature. It is made of glass, and the higher you get, the more "bowl shapped" the floor appears. As we toured the building floor by floor, kids would race to the rail to look down at the floor and see the illusion. I remember looking over about the 2nd floor level and feeling pretty goddamn scared. "Odd", I thought. "I'm not even scared of heights". By the time we got to the 4th or 5th floor, I couldn't even approach the rail to look over. I've been like that ever since.

I can psych myself up and do small stints of heights, but it's difficult for me. I don't mean to sound like a pansy or anything. I mean, I can go on rooftops and such. My limit appears to be about a 4th floor height. I start getting a bit of anxiety at that level if I near anything that isn't solid ground. Think glass elevator or theme park ride. I don't like that stuff.

I have never flown due in large part to my phobia, followed closely by the fact I have never had to fly anywhere I feel those days may be coming to an end, and I'm "pre-scared" of the day I have to get on a plane to fly for a vacation or something.

Several times a week, I walk up to the top floor of the parking ramp where I work at about 1am. Most of the people have gone home, and the top 4 floors are completely empty. I put on my headphones and inch towards the edge of the structure, evetually looking over the edge and trying to get comfortable. I'm doing this to hopefully easy my anxiety a little. I've been doing it for about a year, and every night it's like the first time.

Heights for me as well, but it's weird...it really comes and goes. Sympathetic vertigo sets in very easily, though - I hate seeing people doing stupid shit off high ladders or leaning over railings etc. I can feel myself falling if I look down from high enough, and I lose all sense of balance - I've managed to fall backwards on a hotel balcony once, just from looking down.

The strange part is that I've done tons of work involving ladders, narrow walkways and such through the years, and it never bothered me much. I think perhaps it's the act of climbing ladders that's worst, not being up there, I'm not sure.

Neziroth · Post by **Neziroth** » October 3, 2007, 4:59 pm

I just looked over out of chance and saw a spider about an inch across including legs crawling on my bed.

I threw a magazine at it and hit it on the first try, and then I just stripped all the sheets off of my bed to be thrown in the washer even though I just washed them the day before yesterday... just in case there was more.

Now I keep thinking I feel things crawling on my legs.

Seriously. Fuck spiders.

Lalanae · Post by **Lalanae** » October 4, 2007, 2:57 pm

I hate when people kill spiders. Killing a spider was like killing a kitten in my house. My father taught my sister and I at a young age how to move them outside using a piece of paper.

Spiders eat the annoying bugs in this world. If you keep your distance, they are generally pretty harmless. Plus they look cool as shit hanging out on their webs...

Akanae · Post by **Akanae** » October 4, 2007, 6:52 pm

Neziroth wrote:Anyhow, to sum up, I can't be near spiders without going all 2 year old girl, no matter who's around. I can't hide it. I can't stop staring at it, waiting for it to swing over and attack me on it's demon web string. I can't simply roll up a newspaper because I can't bring myself close enough to kill it for fear of it falling or jumping on me.

If i happen to look down and see one crawling on my pantleg or shirtsleeve or god forbid, my skin, I do one of those moves where every limb flails hopelessly at it at once and I go from sitting to standing in about a hundredth of a second.

I literally have to throw things at them from across the room and hope I hit it, because if I miss and it gets away to where I can't find it / see it, 9 / 10 times I'll just leave the room and find something else to do.

That is *exactly* how I am around spiders. Although my first line of defense for killing them is husband or my cat (the cat is actually pretty good at eating spiders, plus I figure its a little extra protein for him).

I think my fear spawned from my older brothers holding me down and putting spiders on me/ hanging them over my face at a young age. Also this one time I opened a door to the outside and a dime sized spider jumped onto me, ever since then I have been petrified of them jumping on me or attacking me.

I really do feel bad about killing spiders... or in most cases ordering their deaths (my husband calls me the spider Hitler) but I just can't get close enough to them to take them outside.

I also have a phobia of windows at night. Unless there is a very bright light on outside and you can clearly see what is outside at a distance I can't get near them, or open any blinds etc. This fear also spawned from one of my older brothers, this one time he put his face right up against my bedroom window at night which was made scarier because it was on the second story.

Ashur · Post by **Ashur** » October 5, 2007, 1:56 pm

Sticking shit in my eyes. The thought of laser eye surgey scares the hell out of me.

I worse contacts for about 6 months when I was in high school before I gave up. It took me about 35-45 minutes to put them in and they felt beat up all day.

My eyes are watering just thinking about it.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » October 5, 2007, 2:47 pm

Ashur wrote:Sticking shit in my eyes. The thought of laser eye surgey scares the hell out of me.

I worse contacts for about 6 months when I was in high school before I gave up. It took me about 35-45 minutes to put them in and they felt beat up all day.

My eyes are watering just thinking about it.

I guess girls with an eye-licking fetish are out for you!

Ashur · Post by **Ashur** » October 5, 2007, 3:04 pm

Umm, yes. Lower please.

Siji · Post by **Siji** » October 6, 2007, 2:52 am

Ashur wrote:Sticking shit in my eyes. The thought of laser eye surgey scares the hell out of me.

I worse contacts for about 6 months when I was in high school before I gave up. It took me about 35-45 minutes to put them in and they felt beat up all day.

My eyes are watering just thinking about it.

I hate shit around my eyes too, but can say from experience that the lasik procedure was worth it and I was able to handle it. That and they give you valium before you begin..

Keverian FireCry · Post by **Keverian FireCry** » October 6, 2007, 4:07 am

I have severe Bolshephobia.

edit:

I hate when people kill spiders. Killing a spider was like killing a kitten in my house. My father taught my sister and I at a young age how to move them outside using a piece of paper.

Spiders eat the annoying bugs in this world. If you keep your distance, they are generally pretty harmless. Plus they look cool as shit hanging out on their web

I love you.

Canelek · Post by **Canelek** » October 9, 2007, 2:42 am

When I had long hair I had a fear of having my bangs magically removed via dream. I did not want a mullet, and would not abide by it. Luckily, dreams end. In reality, I do not like heights--used to work atop tall ladders on demarcs and punch-down panels for phones and whatnot. Dropping hass tools and buttsets was scary.

ps: I cannot spell

Lalanae · Post by **Lalanae** » October 9, 2007, 5:49 pm

Canelek wrote:When I had long hair I had a fear of having my bangs magically removed via dream.

wtf

Dregor Thule · Post by **Dregor Thule** » October 9, 2007, 7:38 pm

Bees/wasps/hornets. Allergic to them, so at least there's a reason!

We made Lala touch a shark!

Aabidano · Post by **Aabidano** » October 9, 2007, 9:12 pm

Siji wrote:...was getting lots of MRIs and getting slipped into that long ass tube got my heart racing. As long as I didn't try to move and realized that I couldn't move it was ok.

If they need a stable reference point, they have a targeting frame they bolt to your skull, then bolt the frame to the MRI table before they slide you in.

Don't have any phobias.

Morgrym · Post by **Morgrym** » October 10, 2007, 11:11 am

http://www.veeshanvault.org/forums/view ... 343&hilit=

Topic from 4 years ago, wierd seeing old names pop up.

Midnyte_Ragebringer · October 12, 2007, 12:44 pm

Home invasion.

redeemed · Post by **redeemed** » October 14, 2007, 3:50 am

I don't really have a "phobia" per-say but ever since I hydroplaned across the freeway going northbound, spun in circles across the divide, and ended up (thank God facing the right way) going southbound I've been pretty wary of driving in the rain. every time I do and my car hydroplanes just a little I have mini freak-outs but nothing crippling..
just thought of this since it's kinda been raining here lately ;p

Asheran Mojomaster · Post by **Asheran Mojomaster** » October 17, 2007, 4:50 pm

redeemed wrote:I don't really have a "phobia" per-say but ever since I hydroplaned across the freeway going northbound, spun in circles across the divide, and ended up (thank God facing the right way) going southbound I've been pretty wary of driving in the rain. every time I do and my car hydroplanes just a little I have mini freak-outs but nothing crippling..
just thought of this since it's kinda been raining here lately ;p

I had something similiar happen, but after it was over I went back to no fear when driving again. It has been raining all day and I was going about 75 on I-65 in the left lane, having just passed someone going like 50 in the right, and the car in front of my slammed on its breaks for no reason. I was able to dodge the car but then I started to lose control and spun backwards into the right lane, saw lots of headlights, then spun back into the left lane in front of the stopped car. I was going the right direction again and speed was down to like 45 but I was fine. I had to pull over and call my mom though haha.

My real phobia is heights, which is why I plan on going skydiving before I graduate from college.

Arborealus · Post by **Arborealus** » October 18, 2007, 9:04 pm

I have a sympathetic vertigo (which further confirms that Drolgin and I were seperated at birth)...I'm fine on top of a tall building...hanging off a cliff to take a photo etc. But frequently experience vicious vertiginous symptoms when I see a photo/film of someone else in a high place. In fact the invisible ramp in kunark would make me ill if I watched it in 3rd person.

No real phobia or particular irrational fear that I am aware of. Active wasp nests in closeup (like through a telephoto lens) do give me the willies...but that's not really irrational.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » October 18, 2007, 10:31 pm

Arborealus wrote:In fact the invisible ramp in kunark would make me ill if I watched it in 3rd person.

What a out the ice ramps in Velketor's Labrynth? Those had to have been the worst!

BTW, that exact ramp that the group is above was the biggest bitch of them all to get up with the triangle hole right before it!

Lalanae · Post by **Lalanae** » October 19, 2007, 4:02 pm

lol, am I remembering correctly that you'd slide around on the ice?

Fash · Post by **Fash** » October 19, 2007, 4:10 pm

Oh man.... I freakin' loved Velks Lab! I was a crazy puller!

Dregor Thule · Post by **Dregor Thule** » October 19, 2007, 8:50 pm

Those ramps were the best. Got to the point where I was navigating them with the skills of a skateboarder, crazy stunts and all.

Arborealus · Post by **Arborealus** » October 21, 2007, 8:37 pm

Nah it wasn't Velk's I loved Velks...It was the invisible ramps in that dungeon where the SK Epic mobs was...City of Mist I think?...

Post by **Sylvus** » October 22, 2007, 4:46 pm

If you're having trouble figuring out what your phobia is, here is a list of ten uncommon phobia.

For years, I've been trying to cure women of that first one. PM me if you need my help.

Cracc · Post by **Cracc** » October 22, 2007, 6:25 pm

Whos the people in that group winnow?

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » October 22, 2007, 9:00 pm

Cracc wrote:Whos the people in that group winnow?

It's a random pick from google images. Unfortunately I lost most of my EQ screens in a HD crash.

Midnyte_Ragebringer · October 23, 2007, 6:56 pm

Looks like Leelee and Adex to me.