How are the phobias, people?

[Canuck]

I've always thought of phobias as exotic and extreme, yet I'm pretty sure that I have one that qualifies.

Mine is sunburn. I was always fair-skinned and prone to sunburn, but in my late teens I developed a serious reaction to the sight and sometimes even just the thought of sunburn, even someone else's.

Some anecdotes:

--Just after I college I was living in Atlanta and dating a girl at UNC-Chapel Hill. Once, after visiting her in August, I drove back the whole eight hours with my arm out the window. Arriving home, I went to take a shower and, seeing myself in the mirror, realized that my left-arm was lobster-red. I immediately fainted dead away and later woke up on the floor.

--Sunscreen is associated with sunburn in my mind, even though it's obviously a preventative. Several times I've had the experience of getting severe shakes and curling into a ball on the floor at the prospect of applying sunscreen. It has only happened three or four times to the most serious degree, but I still get queasy every time I smell the stuff.

--Once in college, the first day of classes after Spring Break, I found myself sitting immediately behind a girl who had obviously spent the vacation at the beach. She was intensely red, and as soon as she sat down I started imagining that I could smell her skin roasting. I went panicky and sweaty and very nearly fainted. I had to get up and move to a far part of the room, and even then I felt sweaty and sick for a long time.

--Just this summer I took my kids to a water park on a sunny, sunny day. I thought I would be fine, but when it came time to apply sunscreen I had an attack of hyperventilation and wobbliness. I had to sit on the ground (in the shade) and concentrate just on breathing. After about five minutes I started to recover, but I was very surprised at how fierce the attack had been; I really thought I had somehow left it behind.

Those are the most extreme examples, but the general pattern, while less severe, is constant. I hate sunburn and I hate sunscreen, and I get very uncomfortable when I realize that I'm going to be out in summer sun for a long time. I've learned to cope--I can go to the beach with my family and enjoy myself, but only after an initial few minutes of talking myself down from phobic distress.

Anyone else have something like this, or am I the only phobic freak?

If there's a such thing as a sensible irrational fear then this sounds like one to me!

[mori]

Claustrophobia but only had it for a couple years which was weird. Never had an issue until my mid 30s and suddenly I could not get into enclosed spaces and the thought of something restricting my breathing would send me over the edge. I couldn't even hold my breath. I think it had to do with a medical condition at the time that screwed up my metabolism and got me severely overweight. But after I got that fixed and I lost weight, it went away as quickly as it came.

[KKBlue]

social phobia

That probably counts as my one true phobia.

Kraken! Now I feel very special. Thank you all those months ago for showing up at a bar to hang out for a few hours. Bonus your wife came over to visit too!

As for me, I don't particularly like a few things but none will render me paralyzed. Hell, I was even thinking how I should have gone on that thing at the amusement park so my oldest nephew could have ridden it. I would have braved my fear of heights to make him happy.

[Kraken]

social phobia

That probably counts as my one true phobia.

Kraken! Now I feel very special. Thank you all those months ago for showing up at a bar to hang out for a few hours. Bonus your wife came over to visit too!

She is my social ambassador. I can count on her to deflect most of the conversation so that I only have to chime in occasionally, and I don't feel awkward when I know that she has my back. I'm in charge of the home front and she's in charge of the outside world.

[dbt1949]

I had a fear of getting olde.
Now what?

[Holman]

I had a fear of getting olde.
Now what?

Now getting old fears you!

[JonathanStrange]

Probably the most detrimental phobia for me is that the idea of people watching me do stuff makes me uncomfortable. My dislike for lawn work becomes much much much worse if there are other people outside

I am the same way. I feel I'm being judged. It's not fair to the neighbors but I feel one of them is always driving out, coming back, walking by noting 'Hmm, Strange is out a 6:00 a.m. pulling weeds...he missed a few...again." Intellectually, I know they probably aren't and even if they are, so what? Well...it irks me having people know my business. I don't ask them about theirs.

LM, I've found that just shutting up my inner voice and doing it, works for me. Eventually. Until next time.

[dbt1949]

I feel that way anytime I do anything around the house.99% of the time it's my wife because she lives there but just anyone will do. I'll even stop what I'm doing and glare until the person goes away.

[Holman]

Arise, thread!

I've been thinking about phobias again because of my 14-y.o. kid's fear of spiders. "Spiders are gross" is probably a pretty common feeling, but his fear seems to genuinely cross into phobic territory. And it's striking because he is otherwise not squeamish about much at all.

What makes it OO-worthy is that it actually applies to computer games. There's a certain moment in one of the Dark Souls games where the player has to run through a dungeon of quasi-spidery/quasi-human monsters--here the kid always asks me to handle the passage for him. It's notable that the Dark Souls franchise features no shortage of disturbing graphic content, but it's only the arachnids that freak him out.

Also, he was delighted today to discover that there's a mod that transforms all spider models in Skyrim into bears. Problem solved! (Unfortunately, it sometimes means that you must slaughter adorably puppy-sized bears.)

[hepcat]

My fear of snakes extends into video games. I will literally inch forward in the last two assassins creed games while in a dungeon because they often have snakes in them. Tell your kid he ain’t alone.

[dbt1949]

I'm he same way with claustrophobia. Even on TV or in a game I get queasy.

[Isgrimnur]

I pucker at high places, which makes games like Portal and Assassin's Creed so much fun.

[Kraken]

I used to have two recurring nightmares.

In the first one, I flush a spider down the drain, and it crawls back out, bigger than it was. Every time I kill or banish it, it comes back bigger. I have also been known to leap out of bed in the middle of the night, throwing off the covers and brushing imaginary spiders off myself. I haven't had a spider dream in years, though.

The second one is about tornadoes. The hot, humid air takes on that characteristic green sky, and a funnel cloud appears nearby. I take cover. When I poke my head up, there are a dozen tornadoes moving across the horizon. I had this one so many times that I eventually came to recognize that I was dreaming. With that awareness, I'd pinch myself and fail to wake up, proving that THIS TIME it was really happening. Once I overcame that failsafe, I was able to dream lucidly, which was pretty awesome. I haven't had the tornado dream in years, either.

Maybe I'm over those two phobias. The pandemic has done wonders for my social anxiety, too. I no longer feel any pressure to socialize outside of Zoom, and I can handle that. In fact, I enjoy seeing my friends periodically...at a distance and through a screen. Coronavirus has changed the world for the better.

[Jaymann]

I literally have agoraphobia when it comes to shopping malls. If I am with other people it is fine, but by myself I am likely to just leave at the slightest provocation.

Pandemic = Solved!

[TheMix]

I pucker at high places, which makes games like Portal and Assassin's Creed so much fun.

I had some "fun" with that while playing Dying Light. Some of those towers are really tall. My mom had a fear of heights. I've found that as I've gotten older, heights have definitely become more of an issue for me. It's weird to get vertigo from a height in a game... or maybe it says something about how far graphics have come.

[Blackhawk]

How are the phobias, people?

How are the phobias? People!

[Kraken]

How are the phobias, people?

How are the phobias? People!

Scarlett Johansson's Golden Globes?

[coopasonic]

How are the phobias, people?

How are the phobias? People!

Yup, that's my biggest one.

Regarding Arachnophobia in games, I just saw there is a new game out (Grounded?) that has an arachnophobia option. It's a "Honey I shrunk the kids" type game where spiders are huge and actually threatening in relative terms.



I am irrationally afraid of spiders when there is a surprise factor, but I wouldn't say it's a phobia as I can generally talk myself down and deal with the situation. I handle spider issues for my wife just as I did for my mom.

[Blackhawk]

Regarding Arachnophobia in games, I just saw there is a new game out (Grounded?) that has an arachnophobia option. It's a "Honey I shrunk the kids" type game where spiders are huge and actually threatening in relative terms.



I am irrationally afraid of spiders when there is a surprise factor, but I wouldn't say it's a phobia as I can generally talk myself down and deal with the situation. I handle spider issues for my wife just as I did for my mom.

I've actually seen that in another game, although I can't remember which one right now. It's also a very common type of mod.

I will say this, though: Avoid anything with "Metro" in the title.

[TheMix]

Threw me there for a moment. I completely spaced the spiders in the Metro games. But.... yeah. They aren't common, but they are a pain when they do occur.

[Blackhawk]

There aren't a lot you fight with, but every single one has the ones in the webs, the ones that scamper off when you draw near. I don't mind spiders all that much, and even I ughed.

[TheMix]

Plus, don't they "chitter"? </shudder>

[em2nought]

I don't like being in public restrooms if children are present. I'm not too fond of babies or cats either. I'm fostering a cat, but I pretend she's a dog so I'll be ok with it. I am fond of lions though, or maybe it was just the actress who played Joy Adamson that I'm fond of.

[KKBlue]

Arise, thread!
... Spiders ...

What has helped me combat my fear is thinking about spiders in another way. Still not comfortable with looking at them (games, pictures) but have gained a pretty high level of respect for them. Maybe watching or reading Charlotte's Web (know it's juvenile) to start to come to terms with the insect world? E.B. White depicts a spider in another light with less graphic close-ups, giving the character human like qualities yet Charlotte still is a spider. Took me till my late 30's to make inner peace with the fear I had of them.