Do you have any phobias?

[dorsetdesiro]

Thunderstorms, being struck by lightning

 

[SuspectUsual]

I forgot something in my previous answer. I have a fear of open tread staircases. I absolutely hate them and find it very, very difficult to use them on the few occasions when I have to

 

[JGurney]

I also have a massive issue with dogs, but that’s based on a horrific event that actually happened to me so probably isn’t a phobia in the sense that it isn’t irrational

The cause being known does not stop a reaction being a phobia. If you are aware that it is most unlikely that a dog which you see might harm you, but you still feel compelled to avoid it although intellectually aware that the reaction is irrational, then it is a phobia.

 

[Sun Chariot]

Thunderstorms, being struck by lightning

Sounds a very sensuble and rational aversion. It's the folk who don't have the same aversion, who should be worried.

 

[philjo]

I forgot something in my previous answer. I have a fear of open tread staircases. I absolutely hate them and find it very, very difficult to use them on the few occasions when I have to

I have the same issue which is mainly why I have problems with some Station footbridges and paths over motorways etc.

The old footbridge at Hatfield had open tread staircases. Seeing a train approach at 100pmh as you went up the stairs probably didn’t help matters!
I much prefer staircases that are boxed in so you can’t see through either the tread or through the sides below the banister.

 

[Purple Train]

I do always struggle to work out what counts as a phobia and what's just me being silly. But I cannot stand, among others, enclosed water slides (I love small enclosed spaces, and am okay with water, but for some reason cannot stand these), sudden loud noises or bangs, sudden alarms or sirens, animal corpses, and precipices or steep drops (despite partially growing up by the coast). I also constantly look over my shoulder when walking on the pavement next to a road in case a car is going to hit me from behind...

Ok, it’s a bit weird but holding people up. As in I don’t cope well with being the front person in a queue etc.

It’s especially bad for me if I’m with Mrs C at a supermarket checkout and she suddenly starts hoiking 10% off vouchers out of her bag. At that point (she’s used to this and finds it amusing), I have to walk out of the shop.

It feels to me like people are tutting, harrumphing and standing on my heels, even though they’re really not!

I get this too, and always excuse my way to the back of a queue for this reason. I think it's a similar brain process which makes me incapable of starting a conversation, in case said conversation is a waste of somebody else's time, as it so often is!

 

[MerlinRail 804]

I don't know if it's a phobia as such, but for some reason I cannot cope with someone else being told off/in trouble within my vicinity, even when I'm completely innocent and clearly have nothing to do with said situation. It's not something I've always had, as it was not a problem at school when this was obviously a daily occurrence. Of course when I'm the one in trouble I can struggle to come to terms, but even this is often less bothersome than the former case

I get this one too. I think its called RSD (Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria) - it's essentially a fear of rejection, and can cause intense emotional and sometimes even physical pain (eg nausea, gut punch, etc). It's a common experience for many ADHDers.

 

[The_Train]

Yeah quite a few for me. Snakes and spiders & voyagers are a definite issue and I am not great with heights either!

 

[The exile]

I get this one too. I think its called RSD (Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria) - it's essentially a fear of rejection, and can cause intense emotional and sometimes even physical pain (eg nausea, gut punch, etc). It's a common experience for many ADHDers.

So now I know what I have a mild form of! What I personally find worse is when it is obvious that someone else is about to “put their foot in it” and cause themself embarrassment - even if (especially if) it’s a character in a tv or radio comedy. I will sometimes have to turn off programmes not because what I know is coming isn’t funny - but because the “squirm factor” is too great.

 

[E27007]

As a railwayman on the P-Way , I have no issues working under live 25kV Overhead or crossing live 750V juice rail, one day sent to the stores, on the bay, a pallet of OHL HV insulators fresh from the maker, ie entirely safe, yet I felt very uncomfortable being near the pallet and if doubt if I could touch the insulators if asked to unload the pallet

 

[Springs Branch]

My particular burden is a version of Emetophobia - a fear of vomit and vomiting.

Not so much feeling nauseous or being sick myself (I generally have a strong constitution and have thrown up quite infrequently through my life). Rather it's a fear of other people vomiting on me or close to me - especially if I'm trapped in a place where I can't get away.

Flying on full planes, where you're strapped into a confined space for a long period of time with nowhere to escape to, usually causes me great anxiety due to the risk of a neighbour having motion sickness, or boarding the plane very drunk, or drinking heavily during the flight. My worst nightmare would have been travelling on that infamous Qantas flight from Sydney to London in 1989, when cricketer David Boon allegedly downed 52 cans (= 34 pints) of beer.

Flying in proper long-haul Business Class is a big help, as there's that much more space between you and other random punters, but it's a bit of an expensive option to avoid a phobia.

Other situations where there's a higher-than-normal risk of encountering the contents of someone else's stomach also make me feel nervous - crowded last trains on a Saturday night, night buses, seagoing ferries in rough weather and any form of public transport in the immediate lead-up to Christmas (i.e. office party season)

 

[SteveP29]

In, on or under open water deeper than up to my knees.

If I can't see the bottom, I'm not going in there.
But I also find pictures of lakes etc with crystal clear water where you can see every stone and fallen branch sitting on the bottom very beautiful, but at the same time, very un-nerving.

I do have a bit of a problem with cattle. I'd say I'm a bit more fearful than the average person, and always try to avoid them in fields. If I get a herd of bullocks running around I will go as far as to scramble under barbed-wire fence and hack through undergrowth in some copse adjacent to the field, to avoid them!

A Great Uncle of mine was a dairy farmer and I used to walk round the farm (when he wasn't letting me steer his tractor) when we stayed there when I was a kid.
I used to turn and run from the cows when they were coming to the dairy for milking or when we were pottering around in the fields fixing stuff and they'd come to us for a look at what we were doing.
He always used to say, they're more frightened of you than you are of them.
As I've got older, I don't see cattle as much as I used to but always stand at a gate if I see any wherever I am, they always come up to me in curiosity, but as soon as you move, they recoil and move away.

 

[Strathclyder]

Thalassophobia - fear of deep bodies of water (as described above by @SteveP29 above). In my case specifically, barring the vast emptiness of the ocean, it's structures plunging down into the abyss (think oil rig supports) or being underneath a large ship - specifically propellers - that really unnerve me. The latter explains my deep-seated fear of being being sucked down by a sinking ship and drowning anyway even if I had managed to escape the ship itself. An entirely rational fear to have? Yes of course. But there's always that lingering thought at the back of my head even during a routine ferry crossing. Not to the point I'm put off travelling by sea entirely, but still there all the same.

I'm not too great with heights either tbh.

 

[Ashley Hill]

I don’t like church towers especially those with clocks. I don’t mind looking at them from a distance, but don’t stand me under one. Or get me to climb to the belfry.

 

[Bayum]

Fear of being sick. Not an ‘I don’t enjoy being sick’ but even if I feel sick, I will not eat or drink so I don’t throw up… and make myself ill in the process.

 

[GusB]

I'm not too great with heights or things like cliff edges, even if I'm not physically there. There's currently an advert for Arc'Teryx that depicts someone climbing a sheer rock face and it really puts me on edge. If ever there's footage of someone standing by the edge of a tall building I have to turn away.

 

[MoominAndChips]

Certain heights, but I haven't quite figured out the logic to it. I think the idea of falling through something is worse than falling down the outside of it. I went up in a tethered balloon once, it had a ring-shaped basket with the cable running up through the middle; I was perfectly happy looking out at the world, even straight down, but when I turned to look down through the middle, my hands clamped onto the rail and I was stuck there till we were back down on the ground.

The idea of underwater machinery, and in particular dams give me the heebie-jeebies. So many deeply unpleasant ways to die, in one place. I'm okay being on them, just about, but in my kayak, if I can see one in the distance I'm too close.