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JCC Do you have any phobias?

Discussion in 'Community' started by solojones, Dec 13, 2012.

?

Do you have any phobias?

  1. spiders (arachnophobia)

    25.0%
  2. snakes (ophidiophobia)

    10.4%
  3. heights (acrophobia)

    33.3%
  4. crowded or open spaces (agoraphobia)

    12.5%
  5. small, enclosed spaces (claustrophobia)

    22.9%
  6. dogs (cynophobia)

    6.3%
  7. needles (trypanophobia)

    6.3%
  8. public speaking (glossaphobia)

    14.6%
  9. other

    37.5%
  10. I have no phobias

    25.0%
Multiple votes are allowed.
  1. leiamoody

    leiamoody Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 8, 2005
    Is there a phobia for the phobia of revealing a phobia? Because that would definitely be one that I have.
     
    Juliet316 likes this.
  2. Darth Morella

    Darth Morella Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Apr 5, 2004
    The problem with the first climb is that it's too slow, giving you time to think about what's going to happen. After things go downhill, **** happens too fast and you have nothing else to do but scream.
     
  3. Merlin_Ambrosius69

    Merlin_Ambrosius69 Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Aug 4, 2008
    Mine is "other". I have an irrational fear of water creatures (sharks, alligators, unknown beasties) and so I will no longer swim in deep (natural) water. The idea of an unseen THING lurking in the depths below my kicking feet FREAKS ME THE HELL OUT. I'm fine in swimming pools and clear water where I can see to the bottom.

    I'm also anxious about cockroaches, which I cannot even look at without feeling deep, horrified loathing. They are filthy little disease-carrying pests, though, so maybe that's not so irrational.
     
  4. DantheJedi

    DantheJedi Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Aug 23, 2009
    I know this may sound silly, but I have a phobia of grey aliens peeking in my windows at night. I think it stems from watching cheesy alien abduction documentaries on Fox when I was younger, but it has kinda stuck with me.
     
  5. RC-1991

    RC-1991 Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 2, 2009
    Sitting through the Forbidden Forest sequence of Chamber of Secrets was a nightmare back when I was 12.
     
    anakinfansince1983 likes this.
  6. GenAntilles

    GenAntilles Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 24, 2007
    Spiders...
     
  7. solojones

    solojones Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Sep 27, 2000

    Well, it would be a phobia if it made you afraid to go in the ocean at all, or afraid of any and all sharks. I know I don't actually have a phobia of this precisely because I've been swimming with nurse sharks and loved petting them :p I definitely wouldn't be happy to see a Great White, and yeah, I think in that case it would be a perfectly rational and reasonable fear. They're super rare but do occur in my area. It's irrelevant, though, as the water in the Pacific is way too cold to go into in the first place.


    I once fell down some stairs at a castle I was staying at in Austria, even though I was holding the railing. Stupid really old and worn slippery stone steps. I had to go to an emergency room where no one spoke either English or French. So think about that prospect the next time you go down stairs :)


    This one's a bit different, as some people have an actual phobia and some people simply have a strong vagal nerve response, which is a natural built-in part of the body. My dad kind of has both, and can't stand even talk of needles because he knows it will make him shaky. He has passed out in doctor's offices because they told him they were going to numb his skin or teeth (saved money on anesthesia for his wisdom teeth removal...)

    But I don't have a needle phobia yet I still used to get a little shaky when having my blood drawn. I wasn't afraid of needles, it was just a vagal response. However, once I started having to get blood drawn monthly for a medical condition, my body adjusted to that and realized the needles were not in fact a threat to my life/heart. But I was never actually afraid of them and had no trouble seeing them when they weren't draining blood from my arm.

    And again, some phobias make sense. But I have a friend who has absolutely no reason to be afraid of birds, and she can't even go outside if there's a robin on her deck.
     
  8. Spider-Fan

    Spider-Fan Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 15, 2008
    I also voted agoraphobia. I am not actually afraid. I just hate people, especially in crowds and would be much happier as a recluse. (Srsly though, heights and small spaces, especially relating to my head or hands)
     
  9. MarcusP2

    MarcusP2 Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jul 10, 2004
    I don't like black and white birds, as I always assume they are a magpie which is going to dive bomb at my face. This has happened a few times, once almost knocking me off my bike into traffic. **** magpies.

    Not a phobia though as I won't completely freak out. I did cross the street to avoid a neighbour's front yard which was full of them once though. :p
     
  10. Adam of Nuchtern

    Adam of Nuchtern Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    Needles. Ironically both my parents have careers in medicine.
     
  11. DarthLowBudget

    DarthLowBudget Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jan 17, 2004

    Mine was full on phobia. Like someone would mention that I might maybe need to have a shot later that day and I would start tensing up and breathing hard.

    EDIT: When I was away at college I actually snapped at my dad when he suggested over the phone that I go down to the local clinic and get some blood work.

    But I should note that earlier this week I had a novocane injection for a tooth filling and even though I could feel the metal of the needle resting in the muscles of my jaw I was totally calm, so like I said I seem to have licked it.
     
  12. I Are The Internets

    I Are The Internets Shelf of Shame Host star 9 VIP - Game Host

    Registered:
    Nov 20, 2012
    I'm deathly afraid of message boards. [face_nail_biting][face_worried]
     
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  13. Point Given

    Point Given Manager star 7 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Dec 12, 2006
    Did she get exposed to Hitchcock at a young age?
     
  14. solojones

    solojones Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Sep 27, 2000
    Yeah but her mom also let her watch Silence of the Lambs when she was 5 and she's not afraid of lotion or dresses.
     
  15. TahiriVeilaSolo69

    TahiriVeilaSolo69 Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Sep 27, 2002
    Cockroaches will send me into fits of hysteria. I once had a 3 hour stand off with a roach in which I nearly poisoned myself with bug spray and ended with me waking up in a pool of my own vomit and a dead cockroach smeared across the tiles.

    True story.
     
  16. Asterix_of_Gaul

    Asterix_of_Gaul Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Sep 13, 2007
    [​IMG]
     
  17. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    Spiders creep me out, but I wouldn't call it a phobia.

    I'm definitely somewhat afraid of heights. Which is hilarious because one of my favorite things to do is hike in the mountains. But once I'm at the summit, I can't stand at the edge and yell "I'm the king of the world," I have to stand behind a railing or large rock and take pictures. I hiked to the top of Chimney Rock, North Carolina, stood behind a railing and tried to take pictures, and got dizzy.

    Probably not a phobia either, because it doesn't stop me, but it definitely interferes.
     
  18. Bender666

    Bender666 Jedi Knight star 2

    Registered:
    Oct 30, 2012
    No mention of metamfiezomaiophobia or coulrophobia? These creatures should be feared!
     
  19. SWpants

    SWpants Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 28, 2004
    I am terrified of fire. When I was a kid, I'd have nightmares of my neighborhood burning down or friend's houses combusting at random. The thought of having a fire in a building that I'm in makes me shake.

    I don't like public speaking, but it's not a fear as much as something I just have to get over.
     
  20. Bender666

    Bender666 Jedi Knight star 2

    Registered:
    Oct 30, 2012
    I'm not a big fan of public speaking. People always told me to imagine myself naked while doing it. Never worked.
     
  21. Rogue1-and-a-half

    Rogue1-and-a-half Manager Emeritus who is writing his masterpiece star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 2, 2000
    I have a complicated relationship with both spiders and snakes. Like solojones said about her fear of sharks, it's kind of a simultaneous fear and fascination. I realize that for some people, fear and fascination aren't like this, but for me, that's kind of what a phobia is - something that you have a deep, somewhat irrational fear response to and yet are fascinated by. A while back, I was writing in a thread about the narrative of the Fall in Genesis and I went into some detail about my relationship with snakes. Thought I'd just repost the pertinent section here:


    *Now, the casting of the serpent here in the role of the villain is incredibly on point. Because who among us doesn’t get a chill at all things slithery. I’m fascinated by humanity’s fraught relationship with the snake kingdom.

    *I mean, there are those whom snakes do not send screaming in terror, but those who sort of actively like snakes . . . are fairly rare among us humans. Why is this? Some snakes are certainly ugly; the strange arrow head of some of the snakes found in the Southwestern US are certainly striking and somewhat grotesque.

    *Some other snakes, however, are aesthetically quite beautiful. Later, in Proverbs, the author will bring up a snake in a positive context, as something too ‘wonderful’ I think he says, for him to understand, specifically, the ‘way of a serpent upon a rock,’ or the way that a snake moves across the ground. And he’s right; you see a snake slithering across the ground and . . . it’s kind of gorgeous in a way.

    *A snake swimming is even more aesthetically beautiful, but if I see that I really am beating it to the door, screaming.

    *Why do we find them so frightening? I hang out at the reptile house a lot at the zoo, testing my fear response. I like to get right up to the glass and, if possible, lock eyes with them. Consider them as they move, try to see what they’re thinking, feeling . . . and I am never anything less than amazed and puzzled by the black terror response that wells up in me.

    *It’s as though humanity shared some sort of deep, dark history with the snake; as though in our very deepest part, we collectively, sub-consciously recall a moment of absolute evil linked with the snake . . . as if . . .

    *You see what I mean about how perfect this is?

    *And this isn’t just Biblical? Snakes are villains all over the place, from the Epic of Gilgamesh, considered by some to be the world’s oldest written story, all the way up to . . . well, some book or movie from just last year probably had a scare moment with a snake in it. Let’s face it: the snake = stark, horrible terror.

    *I remember at the zoo one time seeing a live presentation of a snake. It was a beautiful albino sucker and it didn’t even have the ugly head. The light bounced off it quite beautifully. But I was sitting there, not five feet from the presenter who was sort of cradling the snake and holding it . . .

    *And I will never forget this moment. The snake sort of wiggled around and the keeper kind of fumbled it and anyway, it about halfway dropped. That is to say that about half of its body swung down. It didn’t get anywhere near the ground and the keeper never let go of it. It wasn’t poisonous; it was actually very friendly and acclimated to being around people. And yet . . .

    *I will never forget the absolutely primal flight response that exploded in my stomach as that snake’s body swung down. It was, specifically, that motion of it, of the snake’s body falling. It literally began in my stomach and just burst up my throat in a black wave of terror. I didn’t run out, but I certainly wanted to. I didn’t scream. I think I laughed nervously. But I’ll never forget that moment when a tiny animal like that snake managed to touch the animal buried deep inside me. And people say you should follow your emotions. Good Lord, no.
     
  22. DarthLowBudget

    DarthLowBudget Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jan 17, 2004
    Well, it probably doesn't work because you're supposed to picture the audience naked.
     
  23. Bender666

    Bender666 Jedi Knight star 2

    Registered:
    Oct 30, 2012
    How the hell would that work? I'd be too busy gawking at the women.
     
  24. Lord Vivec

    Lord Vivec Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Apr 17, 2006
    I hate small enclosed places.
     
  25. Darth McClain

    Darth McClain Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Feb 5, 2000
    I'm not a big fan of heights, but it's not a crippling paranoia. It's not really the height, though - it's the possibility of falling.