Phobias

@sometime sun,

sometime sun;136004 wrote:

Phobias;
What exactly are they?

Got one?

Got rid of one?
How?

Mine was frogs.

Generally, the easiest way to find out what something means is to look it up in a dictionary:

Quote:

phobia
-noun
a persistent, irrational fear of a specific object, activity, or situation that leads to a compelling desire to avoid it.

Phobia | Define Phobia at Dictionary.com

Often, the way to get rid of a phobia, insofar as one can get rid of it, is through desensitization to the relevant stimuli, via repeated and controlled exposure to that stimuli, gradually increasing in intensity. For example, if one is afraid of heights, one can sometimes get over this by exposing oneself to small heights that cause minor fear, and doing this over and over, over a long period of time. One gradually increases the heights to which one is exposed, in order to become less afraid of heights. Eventually, one may no longer have a problem with an excessive fear of heights.

If that does not help, seeing a psychiatrist may be in order.

@sometime sun,

Phobias are in my mind are fears that are attached to direct objects that are in most respects normal YouTube - Iceberg Collapsing off Battle Harbour, Labrador YouTube - The Amazing Shrinking Iceberg *Parental Advisory*

Sometime Sun,
How could you not like these guys?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00jrXRMlZOY&feature=related
YouTube - Frog Fail! (Dragonfly escapes frog attack)

@sometime sun,

Sun,

I found this article interesting:

Phobias

Echoing VCS's sentiment, what could possibly be scarey about a cute little frog? Please elaborate on this -- was there a precipitating incident or reason, or have you just instinctively always felt weird about frogs?

Has anyone tried "surprise-shock desensitization"? If you're hesitant about trying this radical technique, and if you have children, just let them find out the object of your particular phobia...

rebecca

@melonkali,

melonkali;136141 wrote:

Sun,

I found this article interesting:

Phobias

Echoing VCS's sentiment, what could possibly be scarey about a cute little frog? Please elaborate on this -- was there a precipitating incident or reason, or have you just instinctively always felt weird about frogs?

Has anyone tried "surprise-shock desensitization"? If you're hesitant about trying this radical technique, and if you have children, just let them find out the object of your particular phobia...

rebecca

I did, i went back in time and discovered it was a fear of death and a fear of being laughed at and abandonment issues.
I used to love them, we lived by a stream and we would go out and the biggest accolade was given to those who could catch a frog, my speciality was newts (this is all before the stream became polluted).
One day when i was out on an adventure i must have been 9-10 years old at the time and there in the bottom of a pool was the white as a ghost dead body of a rather large frog, sunk and with his belly and legs facing skyward, and all i can remember thinking was, 'that frog is dead'. I think it was the first time i ever faced death that day.
The second incident was that when i was about 10-11 we had this club where we would jump the stream, we would find the highest possitions or the deadliest drops or widest expances and whoever could get from one sid eof the stream to the othe rin one leap would be ranked higher in the clubs hierachy. And one day i decided i was going to take the big boys jump, and leap i did, and fall i did and land in the cold stream i did, and as i sat there and the boys all started to laugh down at me i saw a frog leap from next to me. I cried.
The third time was when i was 12-13, my parents had just been divorced and my mother had found a boyfriend a little to quickly to not raise suspicions, but we were having a barbecue and at tthis time i already feared them rather alot, there was a pond at the bottom of the garden and as i told this new partener of my mothers i did not like the frogs he decided to lift me up off my seat and carry me to the pond where he threatened to throw me in, i screamed, he let me go.

But as i have always found the psychiatrists i have met to be of poor quality i figured this all out my self, death, ridicule, abandonment.
I fixed it all, i no longer fear death, i laugh at myself, and i forgave my mother, i am not sure which was the most dificult.
But i no longer fear frogs even though i still think they are extremely ugly, did the whole desensitivity starting with those poisonous tiny frogs then those cute tree frogs and the others i find i dont have the time for.
Thoes huge Bull frogs or toads i still find offensive, but all for the grace of god, maybe they were created as a vehicle for me to no longer fear death.
But hey who knows when the time comes right?

And that would have just cost me $100 in therapy, so thanks for being free.

You never had a phobia? i know it is a big question, people dont like to talk about what scares them, less talk even of the irrational ones.

@sometime sun,

sometime sun;136157 wrote:

I did, i went back in time and discovered it was a fear of death and a fear of being laughed at and abandonment issues.
I used to love them, we lived by a stream and we would go out and the biggest accolade was given to those who could catch a frog, my speciality was newts (this is all before the stream became polluted).
One day when i was out on an adventure i must have been 9-10 years old at the time and there in the bottom of a pool was the white as a ghost dead body of a rather large frog, sunk and with his belly and legs facing skyward, and all i can remember thinking was, 'that frog is dead'. I think it was the first time i ever faced death that day.
The second incident was that when i was about 10-11 we had this club where we would jump the stream, we would find the highest possitions or the deadliest drops or widest expances and whoever could get from one sid eof the stream to the othe rin one leap would be ranked higher in the clubs hierachy. And one day i decided i was going to take the big boys jump, and leap i did, and fall i did and land in the cold stream i did, and as i sat there and the boys all started to laugh down at me i saw a frog leap from next to me. I cried.
The third time was when i was 12-13, my parents had just been divorced and my mother had found a boyfriend a little to quickly to not raise suspicions, but we were having a barbecue and at tthis time i already feared them rather alot, there was a pond at the bottom of the garden and as i told this new partener of my mothers i did not like the frogs he decided to lift me up off my seat and carry me to the pond where he threatened to throw me in, i screamed, he let me go.

But as i have always found the psychiatrists i have met to be of poor quality i figured this all out my self, death, ridicule, abandonment.
I fixed it all, i no longer fear death, i laugh at myself, and i forgave my mother, i am not sure which was the most dificult.
But i no longer fear frogs even though i still think they are extremely ugly, did the whole desensitivity starting with those poisonous tiny frogs then those cute tree frogs and the others i find i dont have the time for.
Thoes huge Bull frogs or toads i still find offensive, but all for the grace of god, maybe they were created as a vehicle for me to no longer fear death.
But hey who knows when the time comes right?

And that would have just cost me $100 in therapy, so thanks for being free.

You never had a phobia? i know it is a big question, people dont like to talk about what scares them, less talk even of the irrational ones.

Interesting that you tracked your phobia to its source -- that takes courage, since you don't know exactly what you might find, but you can be pretty sure it isn't going to be pretty.

My "biggie" has always been spiders. There's no particular reason I can recall, in fact, I can't remember ever feeling comfortable around a spider. I think my children's frequent "rubber spider" pranks did help desensitize me a little -- at least enough for me to make sure I've encountered a real, living spider before I scream and run away! The worst are the jumping spiders, the ones that suddenly appear in mid-air from out of nowhere, heading straight for your nose.

rebecca

@melonkali,

melonkali;136172 wrote:

Interesting that you tracked your phobia to its source -- that takes courage, since you don't know exactly what you might find, but you can be pretty sure it isn't going to be pretty.

My "biggie" has always been spiders. There's no particular reason I can recall, in fact, I can't remember ever feeling comfortable around a spider. I think my children's frequent "rubber spider" pranks did help desensitize me a little -- at least enough for me to make sure I've encountered a real, living spider before I scream and run away! The worst are the jumping spiders, the ones that suddenly appear in mid-air from out of nowhere, heading straight for your nose.

rebecca

Maybe you were an Australian Aboriginal in a past life, they got soem spiders you need to fear.
Begs the question whether some fears are not generational?
Are fears genetic?

@sometime sun,

to get rid of a phobia simply experience it with out reacting and becoming attached to it. you can practice with objects that are less upsetting and develop the skill for more intense fears.

@sometime sun,

sometime sun;136004 wrote:

Phobias;
What exactly are they?

Got one?

Got rid of one?
How?

Mine was frogs.

Google it please?:shifty:

@sometime sun,

Everyone has phobias it's just some are not really given much thought.

Like the fear of yellow snow.

@sometime sun,

I think that phobias represents physical projection of psychical awareness. Phobias are different, because there are different type of attitude of other people, which is for the subject harmful.
I had and still slightly have phobia of mosquitos and like all type of flying insects.

Why Im saying this is the reason, that there is strong probability, that these types of phobias (and I think even allergies) represents the feeling of ourselves in any prestadium of our evolution. So if you hate frogs, that could be in fact because of the feeling you had about them when you were bird or monkey (example). Maybe there were any situations which made you feel exacly like you feel now about any kind of people's behaviour.

@sometime sun,

sometime sun;136004 wrote:

Phobias;
What exactly are they?

Got one?

Got rid of one?
How?

Mine was frogs.

I think I once read that it was being unecessarly scared of something. I mean, it's natural to a bit scared of snakes, but looking at pictures of them shouldn't make you feel ready to faint. I am really scared of throwing up, can't stand it. But it's probably better than to be scared of yoghurt...

@Lily,

Lily;139073 wrote:

I think I once read that it was being unecessarly scared of something. I mean, it's natural to a bit scared of snakes, but looking at pictures of them shouldn't make you feel ready to faint. I am really scared of throwing up, can't stand it. But it's probably better than to be scared of yoghurt...

Pictures can stir the emotions and other biochemical responses in people, and specifically in men if you want to talk about pornography. So I can imagine that some people with a strong phobia could still get scared while looking at a picture of what they are phobic of.

@Krumple,

Krumple;139105 wrote:

Pictures can stir the emotions and other biochemical responses in people, and specifically in men if you want to talk about pornography. So I can imagine that some people with a strong phobia could still get scared while looking at a picture of what they are phobic of.

Yeah, of course they do. Even I can find some pictures really scary, if people are staring at me from the picture. But when it comes to spiders, most people seem to be scared by how they move. Don't know why.

@sometime sun,

:eek:If I ever saw one I think I'd pee myself. I'm not joking.

@mister kitten,

mister kitten;139180 wrote:

:eek:If I ever saw one I think I'd pee myself. I'm not joking.

We have those here -- they spend most of the night digging little holes all over your lawn looking for grubs.

When frightened they first spring straight up in the air -- only a short distance but enough to hit the undercarriage of a vehicle while crossing the road....if nothing is over they they simply run away. Never heard of one even attempting to take on a human.

Did you know they were used in the discovery of the cure for leoprosy?

Lost1

@sometime sun,

sometime sun;136179 wrote:

Maybe you were an Australian Aboriginal in a past life, they got soem spiders you need to fear.
Begs the question whether some fears are not generational?
Are fears genetic?

:bigsmile:No ; most are conditioned. Hercules was not afraid of snakes.:a-ok:

@sometime sun,

my first is explosion-and fires is attached to it somehow. even if i smell something i cant identify i will start to think it is some gas or chemical leaking and it is going to ignite. i had a dream in usa of making my home all electric and blocking off the gas connection at the street. i read if a gas water heater explodes it is equivalent to 40 sticks of dynamite going off...and they do explode sometimes.

here everyone uses cng gas cylinders attached to their stove to cook, but i had to get an electric stove from delhi. the whole thing is stupid because there is a gas cylinder next to my part of the house and above me and if they go off i think i will be a goner anyway. they freak me out-they are transported on these three wheeled dwarf version of pickup trucks, and when they are loaded an d unloaded they are thrown like soccer balls...i mean and no one catches them, they just land on the truck bed. my hotel was across the street from an agency where i could look out the window every morning and see hundreds of them (they look like fire hydrants but bigger, and are red) all standing together like pop bottles in crates but without the crates. one time i was in an autorickshaw and turned to look out the back window and saw that the driver had hooked one up to his engine and there we were putting along...illegally of course. if i wasnt already freaked out about going to have eye surgery i would have cared a lot more.

my mother was a fraidy cat-she put a lot of stuff on me i think, she was afraid of elevators, taxi drivers, bugs, dead mice...these were the easiest to get rid of. she also used to read me stories in the newspaper about how little kids were left alone in their house and got burned up in a fire. mommy dearest...then she left me at home watching my two little brothers (i was ten) and expected me to start dinner cooking. i had a pan of oil heating up and forgot about it until it had flames almost three feet high. i carried the pan outside and set it in the driveway because i didnt know what else to do with it-but after that i was not afraid of fire any more-unless i actually see a fire i mean.

after that is anything being put into bodily orifices that dont belong there-like eye drops, ear drops, nose drops, thermometers, syringes, etc. i mean tooth brushes are ok...i never regressed to find out why and i aint gonna go there either...

one of the ways phobias have disappeared on me is when i find something way more scary to be afraid of-so the small stuff becomes unimportant. in other words, now i dont think anything of eye drops since i had to take them daily for two months totally about 300 drops. in comparison it is nothing after the operation and all the horrible stuff that they did to me then. likewise i got over spiders when i saw millipedes.

other ways phobias have disappeared is when there is an impossible way to avoid them...this is not exactly a phobia, but probably related: i used to get carsick all the time when i was little, and when i got out of high school i had to ride a bus to work every day. the first time i got sick and try getting off the bus 7:30 in the morning in the worst part of town dressed in a short tight little skirt and high heels and look for a place to throw up. so i got back on the bus and it never happened again.

unfortunately i could write volumes on tthis subject...

@salima,

Salima i have exactly the same fear of gas as you, maybe not as pronounced, but i almost let the house and home i now live in go by the wayside because it is gas and my old hole was not. It also has to do with those cylinders, i used to work in hospital and supply the building with the oxygen etc cylinders they needed, one day i was one man down so was rushing and forgot to put the gaurd in place when shifting the big oxygen tank and as i sped off up the hill the this fell and hit the ground breaking the flow meter (the nozle the gas can be regualted from) and the sound of the air rushing almost gave me a heart attack.
But i learned quickly that they are pretty indestructable those cylinders, you just never put on the flow meter on until the gas is needed.
And just slow the heck down.
Speed costs more lives than gas explosions. Smile

@sometime sun,

seeing those huge tanker trucks of 'flammable' :eek: liquid scares the bejeebers out of me too-

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