Heathen!!

LYING to yourself again! you still gotta beat resident evil 1!

But I don't achiev.....Damn it I'll go do this when I get home

Least I've made progress, I've killed at least 10 zombies now and don't die at the first one anymore
I just wish there was more ribbon But I suppose that's part of the horror

Cockroaches. I will crap myself if one of those [censored]s is coming at me.

I have a fear of being old.

Not so much growing up, just being old. Youthfulness gives you so much potential, you're young, you do kid stuff, you go to school, you gossip, you spend hours on the phone, there's a lot of drama, you know kid stuff! But when you're old, it's none of that. You don't go to school, you don't gossip, you don't spend hours on the phone, hardly anything happens when you're an advlt unless your one of those party people advlts.

When I say not so much growing up, I mean, it's not advlt responsibility that scares me, it's not being young that scares me. Ugh, being wrinkly, in pain, ugly. UGH. I want to be young forever, being young can't get old. There's always something new happening in your young age but when you're old, everything just stops.

I used to suffer arachnophobia. I got over that by working at a pet store. I started by simply touching the tarantulas. I then progressed to picking them up, and allowing them to crawl on me. It started when I was a kid, me and 2 friends were exploring the back country out behind our cottage. As the day was ending we decided to walk through a field so we could get to a road that would get us back quicker. Half way through, one of my friends starts yelling and flailing about like mad. I looked on my friends back (we were walking in single file, but had turned back to see what was going on.) and he had at least a dozen huge spiders on him. By the time we got the the road, all of us were just crawling with spiders, young and old. From almost microscopic to HUGE. (Like a 2 year old child's hand.)


I'm surprised to see so many of us mention this. I to am bothered by swimming in lakes/oceans. Wading in is one thing, dangling my feet down into the dark depths scares the pee out of me. I can trace it's origins right to the second this fear was forced upon me as a young kid. Though I know of 3 things total that lead to it, it was my brother freaking me out by pulling the plug on my air mattress and letting me sink. There was a log on the bottom of the lake right below me. He and my step father had gone on for years about the "Silver Lake monster". In my panic while sinking, my rational went out the window and that log was the "Silver Lake monster". To this day I don't do lakes, oceans or seas. Well, short of floating on top in a boat.

I'm also claustrophobic. Kinda funny for a home body like myself. I'm find being in small spaces, as long as I know I can leave. Remove that option, panic, then freakout city sets in quick!

Though not a phobia, others have mentioned, and I to suffer from anxiety/panic attacks. It doesn't help with the aforementioned phobias that's for sure. Hell, they may be why I suffer them.

Since 'phobia' is defined as an 'extreme or irrational fear', I wouldn't say I have any.

Needless to say I dislike, spiders and various other insects, heights and deep water. I wouldn't call them phobias, as much as I don't have a phobia of onions. I just don't like them.

Why do people fear insects or spider?
I've never understood this and could get an answer from my sister, mum or girlfriend without them screaming "Get it away!" amoung other things - thing was I never had one to begin with I was merely asking.

This not a good enough reason?



I used to catch and play with spiders before that happened.

No, being hit with shoes or other launchable objects will not suffice.

You do know the meaning of the word "phobia" right?

"An extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something"

Seems my reason is as good as any for a "phobia". Though rational if you ask me. Who enjoys having hundreds of critters crawling all over them?

Owls.... I hate them. They look so creepy and soulless... I use to run to my house whenever I would get home late because one use to hoot all night from a tree next to where I lived. I have since moved and have to put up with squirrels that chase eachother and a blue bird that keeps flying into my sliding glass door

I really wish I hadn't clicked on that. I don't really mind spiders but I hate bugs.


This sounds a little like me. I always thought I was claustrophobic (small spaces) but I guess crowds trigger it too. Not travelling though, I relish it. Getting lost makes me feel alive.


Again, this one sounds a little like me, but it's very specific. It has to be my own blood that triggers it. I have very thin blood that bleeds very fast. I accidentally cut my finger with a knife last year and was trying to clean it under the tap when I blacked out and nearly drowned in the sink. Thank god my flatmate was home at the time. I woke up on the kitchen floor with blood and water everywhere, he looked scared to death. I've passed out after a blood test as I was trying to get out of the doctors office as well. Best place for me I guess, passing out in a building full of doctors, and not when I'd got in the car to drive home.
If anyone was wondering about that other thing, that doesn't affect me for some reason. Perhaps because if it did affect me, I'd never get anything done one week out of every 4, so I have to pull myself together.

I can see other people's blood no problem though. I've patched up a friend who cut her knee open outside my house, and I watch gory films no problem. It's strange.

You'll get back to the kids-state once you retire and reach the age of 60+.

I forgot to mention I'm also agoraphobic. Wide open spaces are great, it's crowds & uncontrollable social situations that initiate my anxieties. I'm ok 1 on 1 or 1 on 2 but I flee from crowds. I can't sit or stand still in public. I have to keep moving. I ride a bike everywhere for 3 reasons.

1. Healthy
2. Cheaper than a car
3. Keeps me off the sidewalks away from people!

I am scared of -

Spiders
Sharks
The Sea
Enclosed spaces
Heights

That's actually considered agoraphobia, I think. Not claustrophobia. Small spaces don't bother me, it's the fear of being "stuck" that does. Like elevators don't bother me if I were absolutely sure they would open, the small space is absolutely fine, but the "stuck" factor is what causes me anxiety. Could you be put in a cardboard box without freaking out? Those are easy to get out of... if you could, then you're definitely not clasustrophobic.

I think it all depends on the person and how severe their phobia. Personally, I use to LOVE getting lost and traveling around. Even after the initial agoraphobia set in.. it took a few years of it before the traveling became impossible. I envy you though - I wish I could travel or just get on the road and drive and not care where I ended up. Don't lose that!

I thought claustrophobia was a fear of small/enclosed spaces and agoraphobia was a fear of wide open spaces? Naxos, you have me confused. Explain please.

It's really not black and white. The best way to explain agoraphobia is the fear of no escape. You can't "escape" a wide open space easily because you're far from the edges of that space. Same goes for large crowds - it's not easily escapable so you're left feeling "helpless" in an uncontrolable situation. Personally, I can't work because the idea of the social restraint of HAVING to be somewhere (I'm responsible to be at work the times I'm scheduled) makes me feel trapped and I have no "escape". Traveling is a little more difficult to explain as I'm not a doctor but I can try to tell you what I've learned having it... it's like... agoraphobics have "safe places", which is usually their home, and they don't like to venture too far from there in case of a panic attack or anxiety. Again, the idea of "escaping" the thing that causes you discomfort.

Claustrophobics are afraid of the actual spaces they're in because they fear death within them. The cardboard box is a perfect example: there really is no need to fear death, as one little kick would free you, but a claustrophobic feels like they're going to suffucate in it. It's not as much the fear of "escape" for them, it's the actual fear of the space. Does that make sense?

It does mean "trapped". I'm fine as long as I know I am not trapped.

Yeah, but it's the fear of being trapped in the small space. Not just a fear of being trapped.

Edit: Obviously, I'm not a doctor.. I can only try to explain things from the way I've personally been taught about my disorder, which is agoraphobia. I have meet claustrophobics and they don't fear the same way I do. They can work, travel, be in large open spaces (not crowded areas), so *to me* it's more of a confinement issue, not the actual escape.

Yeah, I interpret "is the fear of having no escape and being closed in small spaces or rooms" as:

...is the fear of having no escape! (Full stop.) and/or being closed in small spaces or rooms. (Full stop.)

Either or, possibly both.

It's all in our own interpretation I guess.

This was fascinating. Thanks, Naxos.

I thought I had somewhat severe claustrophobia and only very mild agoraphobia. Turns out I just have a kind of sort of serious agoraphobia. So I have a fear of not being able to escape... Makes so much more sense.

Now I'm wondering whether I need to see a shrink for this. Probably not... Maybe... ? I don't know...

[Why is my reply all in italics?]