Fears and Phobias

Originally Posted by Marilyn Ferguson

Fear is a question: What are you afraid of, and why? Just as the seed of health is in illness, because illness contains information, our fears are a treasure house of self-knowledge if we explore them.

Everybody has something that they fear. What do you fear the most, and, if you can remember, how was the fear first instigated? Do you have any idea why you fear the thing that you do, or is it primarily based on a self-preservation reflex? Do you think that this fear can be overcome?

I'll start off the discussion by stating that I have acrophobia -- the fear of heights. I don't know what caused the fear at first, per se, but every single time I've looked down at the ground from a height of six feet or more, I get a little nervous. The thought of impacting the ground painfully startles me.

Also, there's a list of phobias at www.phobialist.com for further discussion.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by kat

You know I heard somewhere that fear of heights actuallys stems from this fear that when some people look down really tall places, they have this subconcious urge to jump and that urge is what really scares them.

That makes sense, I guess. I haven't really delved all that deep in psychology (I've taken a basic class on the subject, and, well, I don't find the subject interesting enough to take more classes in.), but it sounds very... Freudian. I doubt that I have any urges to jump off of cliffs, but I guess that's what makes the urge subconscious.

Originally Posted by Twikite

I, personally, fear public speaking. Like, a lot. There are other things I'm annoyed with, or discomforted by, but they can't measure up to the sheer terror I experience when I'm in front of a room of people who are all judging me.

I hate public speaking. It gets irritating to see everybody listening but nobody talking. This even applies to long, awkward silences after I know I've done something wrong.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Chibi Neko

I have a big fear of hornets. whenever one buzzes around me i squeal and run around.

Oh, yes, I can't even get near anything bee-like out of fear of being allergic to them. I don't know if I am allergic, but those stingers look very, very painful as well, so I'm not inclined to find out.

Originally Posted by Infernal Monkey

Spiders are still up there though. Can't bloody stand them.

Meh, I haven't had too much trouble with spiders. Spiders seem to do more good than harm for me by getting rid of pesky flies. Then again, I wasn't really traumatized by any in my early years, just heights, I think.

Late response liek whut.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by DarkWingedAngel

In AP Psychology, we learned that people who are born vaginally are more proned to be fearful of heights compared to those babies born C-section. My teacher's son who was a C-section baby sky dives for fun and my teacher, born vaginally, wouldn't think of it and hates flying.

But on topic, I'm afraid of flying in planes. I'm not afraid of the height, but the crashing or the possible hijacking. It's been like this forever. I've never been on a flight so I guess if I were forced to fly I'd overcome it.

Interesting, that wasn't even covered in my psychology class. My birth was vaginal, so this sort of makes sense. I'd like to know the correlation between vaginal births and acrophobia, though.

Also, I've been on a plane twice. Both times I had to close the window otherwise I'd get a little panicky. As long as I'm under the delusion that I'm not several thousand feet in the air, I'll be fine. Also, sleeping in the middle of the flight helps.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?