Phobias

Boogie

Phobias are strange things aren't they?

You can't think or rationalise them away.

I used to have a fear of spiders which has completely gone now. Nothing caused it to go, it just went. I'm glad about that because when I'm gardening the wolf spiders are everywhere.

I now have a new fear which started four years ago - cows. I avoid being anywhere near them. I have no idea where it came from. My brother used to be a farmer and I would bring in the cows for him and happily lead the bull (Willy!) back into his pen.

This morning I was in the field, I had checked for cows - none to be seen.

I was halfway up the field when several young bullocks galloped from the other field, not towards me - towards the gate. They were expecting the farmer with food. But that cut me off from the gate. Adrenalin pumping I jumped into the stream and scrambled up the banking then through the fence. My dog had to follow the best he could!

Do you have a phobia? Have you overcome a phobia?

Tell us your funny/scary stories!

Wesley J

I was briefly wondering if this was about some high priest or other from the Old or New Testament!

'Phobias, causing many a disturbance, but finally thrown into prison.'

Firenze

I'm afraid my arachnophobia is as present as ever.

I have lurking claustrophobia - one reason I dislike London - besides the crowds and air 90% petrol fumes - is the Tube. There was one time we were delayed entering a station when I was very near losing it

Bishops Finger

Wesley J wrote: »

I was briefly wondering if this was about some high priest or other from the Old or New Testament!

'Phobias, causing many a disturbance, but finally thrown into prison.'

Me too!

Aravis

I really do not like spiders. Fortunately I have a cat who is obsessed with tracking and eating all such tiny creatures, so I rarely have to face them. I can just about cope with tiny spiders or spindly spiders (though I would rather they were removed), but not scuttly spiders or hunched ones with knees.

I used to have a manager who was absolutely terrified of tortoises.

Cathscats

I once had to collect a friend from hospital, where she had ended up after finding a spider in her car and freaking out. Fortunately she freaked out onto the verge of the road, not the middle, but still her leg was broken and her car a write off.

Caissa

As a non-swimmer, I tend to have mild aquaphobia.

Sipech

My phobia of spiders had a distinct start point. It was our first overseas holiday, when I was 7 and we'd travelled to Crete. Upon arrival at our room, there was a monstrosity the size of which I had never seen before. Legs stretched out, it was about mid way between the size of a tea plate and a dinner plate.

These days, the phobia tends to be of the other kind: I just hate them. I can tolerate their existence, but not in my home. If one comes in, it will die.

The other main phobia I have is claustrophobia. It's not too bad, but it can set me into a negative spiral when I have a heavy cold and can't breathe through my nose.

The above two phobias explain two things about my film-watching. 1) I maintain that Arachnophobia is the scariest film ever made. 2) The cave-in scene in The Descent is the scariest scene in a film ever made.

Piglet

Interesting that this thread should happen just now.

I'm (luckily) not scared of spiders, but I've been host to a few quite large ones over the last few days, mostly in the bath. I don't really want to share my shower with them, but I don't want to harm them either, so I coax them on to a bit of bog roll and let them out somewhere else.

What I am scared of is mould on food: if it could be killed, it would be!

I also think that I caught a bit of David's fear of snakes; he couldn't even watch that bit in The Jungle Book without going and making a cup of tea/ hiding behind a cushion/ changing channels. I'm not quite that bad, but I'd rather not look at them if I don't have to.

Aravis

One of the cats is currently chasing a large spider around the kitchen, but unfortunately she hasn’t managed to catch it yet, or has possibly decided it’s more fun to leave it running around for a while. I am trying to persuade the other cat to go down and help her dispatch it.

Sarasa

I’m somewhat claustrophobic and also can’t cope with really dark bedrooms. My main phobia though is indoor plants. I can cope with some but cacti and anything creeping and I won’t stay in the rooom. I think I was frightened by Quatermasswhen I was small.

mousethief

Either acrophobia or precipiciphobia or both. Which I didn't have as a youth; I climbed mountains and looked over the edges from the top with no fear. I don't know it developed. Weirdly I can watch a drone video showing a city from above just fine, until a building tall enough to be close to the drone comes onscreen. Then I get the fear symptoms. Short buildings from a height, no problem. Tall building from the same altitude, make it stop.

Boogie

Sarasa wrote: »

I’m somewhat claustrophobic and also can’t cope with really dark bedrooms. My main phobia though is indoor plants. I can cope with some but cacti and anything creeping and I won’t stay in the rooom. I think I was frightened by Quatermasswhen I was small.

How do you cope with visiting other people's houses?

I've taken to propogating tradescantia - I sell them for charity - I've got creeping plants all over the place!

Sandemaniac

I can't say as I have any phobias.
I do have an uneasy relationship with heights, but happy to get there by non-wobbly means and happy when I'm up there. Just don't like wobbly means of ascent.

Coarse nylon, on the other hand, creeps me right out. I don't know if it's a hangover from nearly setting nylon shirts on fire by leaning on the Rayburn as a kid but I worked in a lab where we sieved things with nylon mesh and I really had to steel myself to handle them.

Dafyd

mousethief wrote: »

Either acrophobia or precipiciphobia or both. Which I didn't have as a youth; I climbed mountains and looked over the edges from the top with no fear. I don't know it developed. Weirdly I can watch a drone video showing a city from above just fine, until a building tall enough to be close to the drone comes onscreen. Then I get the fear symptoms. Short buildings from a height, no problem. Tall building from the same altitude, make it stop.

I think I have a mild form of that. I can stand near open air balconies with only mild jitters but indoor balconies at the same height near the ceiling, or worse, where there are things hanging from the ceiling, make me stay well back.

Tree Bee

I have claustrophobia so avoid lifts. It’s surprising how many hotels only allow guests to use lifts not stairs. It’s a problem! Also aircraft toilets, in fact any toilet with a full door, no gaps top or bottom or a dodgy lock.

Sarasa

Boogie wrote: »

Sarasa wrote: »

I’m somewhat claustrophobic and also can’t cope with really dark bedrooms. My main phobia though is indoor plants. I can cope with some but cacti and anything creeping and I won’t stay in the rooom. I think I was frightened by Quatermasswhen I was small.

How do you cope with visiting other people's houses?

I've taken to propogating tradescantia - I sell them for charity - I've got creeping plants all over the place!

I'm very wary, my cousin had to move the cactus from her bathroom before I'd use it. She has a needle phobia so understood. I loathe tradescantia with a passion!

Doublethink

I feel morally obliged to point out that phobias are amongst the most successfully treated mental health conditions - if they are significantly effecting your life it is well worth asking your GP for a referral - or using whatever self-referral service is available at your local NHS trust.

(There is even a protocol for treating spider phobia in a few hours with the therapist and the patient curing their phobia at the same time, though this particular protocol is rarely used as it required access to some spiders to use in the therapy room.)

Firenze

I have a friend who tried to rid me of my arachnophobia by posting pix of clever, friendly and possibly Guardian-reading sp*ders on FB. Which I would instantly delete.

Doublethink

That was not helpful of them.

MaryLouise

I wouldn't call my wariness of small spiders a phobia because we have an abundance of poisonous spiders (neurotoxic or cytotoxic) that hang out in old houses or country garden sheds, including black and brown button spiders, sac spiders, violin spiders etc. The names are different for the same species in Australia. Large spiders are mostly harmless and very shy.

The same shyness is true for most snakes out here and with the exception of mambas, most are not aggressive. I had a frightening experience years ago when I inadvertently backed a cobra into the corner of a very dusty cluttered verandah in Limpopo province: it gave a high thin cry like a baby before rearing up and striking, just past me. I still shiver to think about that.

What does scare me (after surviving a few bouts of malaria) are whining anopheles mosquitos even when I'm not in a malaria-prone area because even under nets and covered with Tabac, I am convinced they can get at me.

Oh, and scorpions creeping into a pair of slippers under your bed.

Priscilla

A long time ago, Darllenwr And a young friend were Bishops chaplains at a confirmation in our church. She held the bishop’s crook, and Darllenwr heard her say” I’m going to die” . A spider had let itself down from the rood screen onto the Bishops crook and was making its way down towards her.

Baptist Trainfan

Wesley J wrote: »

I was briefly wondering if this was about some high priest or other from the Old or New Testament! [/i]

So did I!

My wife loves birds of prey and she is happy with any birds in the garden (mind you, she thinks magpies are bullies). But she can't go into an aviary or butterfly house where birds or insects are fluttering around close to her.

Bishops Finger

Heights. I hate heights.

I've been up the Eiffel Tower, and a few other high structures, but the worst was Liverpool C of E Cathedral, where I found it hard to even get out of the lift, and a short way onto the leaded roof...there were balustrades (or whatever), of course, but I simply couldn't sum up the courage to approach them...

Firenze

It's not so much the height, it's if the way down is a steepish slope, or a flight of steps without any railing or banister. A few year ago I was staying at a hotel, with a path leading down to the river with, at one point, no more than half a dozen shallow steps. I couldn't do it: I could just see myself taking a header and somersaulting into the Tay.

ThunderBunk

I have discovered that, in addition to a hatred of heights and voids (buildings with atria are my particular nemesis, along with escalators strung across voids and glass lifts), I now have a fear of falling. This usually kicks in once the heights thing - which appears to be linked to my neurodivergence in its sensory sphere, but it is quite distinct. It makes my legs turn to jelly, which the fear of heights doesn't always of itself.

Aravis

I was scared of numerous things as a child. Lifts, caves, cliffs, fires, and dogs come to mind, but there may have been more. I am reasonably OK with everything except spiders now.

When I was teaching in a primary school (this was 30 years ago - changed career after that) there was a girl who was so terrified of spiders that she would start crying if she found a picture of one in a book. There were two other children in the class, Alex and Rebecca, who were not afraid of spiders at all and were very sensible, so if I ever noticed a spider in the room I quietly gave them suitable containers and asked them if they could dispose of the spider outside as discreetly as possible before the phobic girl noticed. I was immensely grateful to them for this and made them special bravery certificates at the end of term.

The teacher next door was also completely unable to remove spiders himself, so I occasionally had a message sent by another child asking if he could borrow Alex and Rebecca for five minutes…