Do you have an Irrational fear?......?

My daughter had a fear of spiders. My SiL asked what she would do if they had a baby and a spider was between her and the baby. So she went to her GP who sent her for therapy. At first she had to write the word spider on bits of paper and put them around the house where she thought she might see one, and the treatment proceeded very gradually from there. It took a few months but she did her "homework" every week. As she said, she never wanted to hug a tarantula, but she needed to be able to deal with spiders in a sensible way. Two children on, she still doesn't like spiders, but she can cope with them, which is all she wanted. My DH won't go for therapy about his snake phobia as he reckons he is unlikely to find one in the house. But it does affect where we holiday. As an aside my DD went to the doctors a good few weeks into her therapy. She saw a different GP and all round his walls were bits of paper with "spider" written on them!

I am terrified of drowning. This has stopped me swimming in more than 4’ of water (my feet must always be able to touch the bottom). It is the same reason why I don’t like showers - I gag when water goes over my head.

There is no reason for this fear.

I have had the same fear of deep water or even shallow ponds if it’s peat brown coloured . If the water isn’t clear I am instantly feeling fearful. I have been told that it stems from a past life . Unknown to me many pagan or ancient Celts practiced human sacrifices by placing people in peat bogs and bodies of water . I still don’t like unclear water . I’m terrified of snakes and scorpions. This has been since childhood ? probably a past life issue too ??

froglady when they built the New York skyscrapers they employed members of the Mohawk native American tribe as they have a natural aptitude for working at great height and no fear of balancing on narrow girders. So, no, the photos aren’t doctored, and no, I couldn’t look either!!

Skeletons and skulls. The sight of them makes my heart race and fills me with a cold dread. I went to Paris on holiday with friends years ago and I was appalled when they blithely went down into the catacombs. It would have turned me into a gibbering wreck. I'm surprised more people don't share my phobia, as it seems quite logical to me - 'those are pearls that were his eyes..' etc.

Hospitals scare me so much I feel faint if I have to go in one. I now need an operation but keep putting it off. I have had cognitive behaviour therapy but it didn't help

Froglady

When I'm watching something on TV and either the camera films over the edge of a precipice or something similar or one of the characters stand on the edge of a long drop. I feel physically sick when I see this and it seems to be getting worse. There's an advert with Lego workmen perched on a steel girder eating their lunches. This is taken from a picture of real workmen doing the same thing (I presume with the men that's trick photography? I hope) and I can't even watch the advert or think about it as I feel sick with the fear of falling of the girder.

That photo of the workmen on the girder is quite genuine Froglady

Height and water . The actual height doesn't even have to be high. Even a stroll alongside a canal gives me the shivers if someone goes near the edge.

I'm terrified of heights.Also very very scared of sailing.My husband loves to sail but when those sails go out and the yacht starts to tilt I'm gone.Well gone below deck anyway.Im not sure what's worse ....being below deck when all you can see is water,or above deck when it's tilting and you feel like your going to be flung overboard!!! I shall stick to a caravan.Safer ....for me anyway.??

Maggots motorways the sea the dark frightens me. I don’t like steep stairs as heights terrify me. Even seeing a high building or mountains on tv makes my legs quiver.

Someone falling on me. I can't pass scaffolding without looking up and if workmen are above me I'm afraid.

Programmes or pictures of the earth. When a child at school we had a lesson on the earth, I asked where the stand was for the earth
When told we were twirling around in space not attached to anything I was terrified and to this day still feel uneasy. Cannot fly or go on boats .

Bridges and country roads that are high up like the Snake Pass. That may not be irrational as they could be dangerous. Wooden floors... now that’s irrational. My mum said that it was probably a memory from a previous existence whenI dropped through a trap door. If I can hear my footsteps on a floor, I feel panic spreading through my body . ...wooden bridges... NO CHANCE

Lorries that mix cement, I shudder if one passes me in the street. I have a fear that the bit that turns is going to come off & flatten me. Irrational or what?

That is just so terrifying! Won't be looking at that picture again! I think it stems from the pull that can affect people in that they feel a sort of gravitational pull when they're on the edge of high cliffs or a roof or something . I don't get vertigo in that I don't feel dizzy or anything. Just looking at these images now makes me feel sick everytime!

Ladyf

Frogs terrify me. There is a commercial on TV with 3 dancing frogs that I cannot watch. Can't watch anything on TV with people crawling though tunnels either. I sometimes have nightmares about having to crawl through a tunnel to get away from some unknown danger.

You see, I love frogs and toads, that is why I have the name I have. Aren't out fears strange?

Someone here said they didn't have the door shut in a room they were in because of claustrophobia - I tried to find it again so I could quite but couldn't find it - I never have the door shut while I'm in a room (except bathroom if I am visiting or have visitors) because I am frightened of being burgled and not being able to hear them because the door is shut. I feel that I could have a heart attack if someone suddenly came into a room I was in.

Hospital! I have an overwhelming urge to run out when I'm waiting for my appointment. Even writing this post is giving me palpitations ?

i have a fear of the dark, i leave a small hall light on, my other is having my face covered due to a dentist years ago holding the black gas mask over my face, that has caused problems recently when i was in hospital and needed oxygen and now with the masks, both of these have brought on my epileptic seizures, the fear i have managed to overcome is needles, only because they gave me cream to numb the area, at the time i had cancer so was getting so many injections, you feel stupid because they are silly things to other people but very real to the person who has the fear

kjmpde -

Why try to swim if it scares you? I can’t swim, because I have never wanted to learn. Swimming might be useful in a very few circumstances, but it isn’t a necessary skill.

When I was a child, about nine I think, my father said that my brother was going to have swimming lessons, and would I like them, too? I said no, thank you, and that was the end of that. Swimming was not taught at my school, thank heavens.

I’m like Jaxjacky maggots make me cringe.
Husbands fear is Bats.
He was told when he was little, bats would get tangled in his curly hair and never come out.

I don't like locking doors like toilets .maybe it stems from being locked in a portable toilet with my mum and daughter.I can't HSE toilets on trains as you have to lock the doors.so I make sure I go before my train arrives and usually its an hour to my brotherbrother.then there's toilets there

I don't gave any doors shut either.my noisy neighbour slams hers and I am a nervous wreck

Staircases, especially strange/new ones. I hesitate to take the first step down in case I fall. One of my nightmares is falling downstairs; luckily I manage to wake up before I reach the bottom.

butterflies