Your Weirdest Phobias

[Krynn72]

I think I'm slowly getting over my Arachnophobia. Mostly because my room for some reason is crawling with them. I imagine a big spider, the size of a small dog or something just giving birth to all these ****ers, because they seem to come in waves. But they're the worst kind, because the rappel down on their web, just straight down from the ceiling and hang around about chest high. NO ****ING REASON. They just hang out there. But they're sorta small so its hard to see them. Just yesterday I was walking to my computer after being out for most of the day, and I as I'm moving through the middle of my room, in mid-stride I notice one like 8 inches in front of me. I've never jumped back so quickly in my life. My mom yelled at me for swearing, and then I grabbed a piece of paper and pinched the **** in it. But the whole rest of the day, sitting at my computer, I could feel imaginary spiders landing on my head.

But still, at least I could sleep that night. I used to not be able to sleep if I found even one spider in my room. Now, so long as I kill the one I found, I can sleep. But god help me if I don't kill it, because I'll turn my room inside out looking for it, and if I don't find it, I sleep on the couch.

 

[Unfocused]

^Some time ago I was sitting in my room and suddenly a spider rappels down right in front of my face and is like OH HAI! Good thing I'm not afraid of them, but I'd imagine that could cause a lot of people to jump.

 

[Stigmata]

I consider myself very lucky to have never had rooms infested with spiders, roaches, or any other type of insect. However for the past two nights, a blind molerat has somehow found its way under my door and into the crap that's strewn across my room. I get into bed at 3am, turn out the light, and just as I shut my eyes... *rustle*... *nibble*... *scritchscritch* OKAY WHAT THE **** IS IN MY ROOM

When I first turned on my light, I didn't have my glasses on, so when I caught a glimpse of the molerat sliding its way under a towel I assumed it was a giant ****ing millipede crawling all over my clothes. I was ready to chop it into thirty thousand pieces D:

 

[Remus]

Mole rats are ****ing hideous. I probably would've crushed it and splattered it's guts all over the room.

I've always lived in apartments well above ground level, so I consider myself extra lucky for never having to deal with rats. I assume you're staying in a house?

 

[Stigmata]

Yeah, I'm renting a room in a two-bedroom basement unit of a house. We don't have any problems with bugs, mold, mice, (standard) rats, ants, or anything like that, just this single molerat that popped up Sunday night. It has yet to be confirmed by my roommate, so for all I know I've been imagining it the whole time.

 

[Sheepo]

Damn, I forgot to mention ants. ****ing ants.

 

[morgs]

Spiders or insects on me, near me, in my sight. Here are some photos I took while holidaying in Australia this past week.

I woke up to find this bastard in my tent one morning.

This guy was on the path

and this guy tried to get into the tent, I was a step away from standing on it

 

[Bad^Hat]

Sweet christ, what in the world is that first one?

 

[morgs]

I saw something similar to it in the museum in Brisbane, it's some kind of net casting spider.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deinopidae

 

[Warped]

I think those insects that burrow into people's bodies are the worst. its bad enough when someone gives you a wet willy when your in grade school, but to have an insect or animal inside your body is just disgusting to the 100th degree.

 

[//engel]

Don't know if you'd call it weird per say, but I am absolutely terrified of mannequins. Makes clothes shopping rather interesting sometimes.

 

[Vegeta897]

Don't know if you'd call it weird per say, but I am absolutely terrified of mannequins. Makes clothes shopping rather interesting sometimes.

You need to play Condemned, or if you don't want to buy a game, Nightmare House 2 (source mod).

 

[//engel]

You need to play Condemned, or if you don't want to buy a game, Nightmare House 2 (source mod).

Funnily enough, Condemned was actually one of the main catalysts in that phobia.

 

[dfc05]

I have recurring nightmares that I'll be at a store or restaurant and it will be time to pay for something, but I forgot to bring my wallet. I don't think there's a name for that one.

I think those insects that burrow into people's bodies are the worst. its bad enough when someone gives you a wet willy when your in grade school, but to have an insect or animal inside your body is just disgusting to the 100th degree.

Ah crap, you just reminded me about chiggers. Two summers of chiggers. Always around the waist. Something like 50-75 of them at a time. I would just sit up at night itching and putting ointment on all the tiny little pink dots and count 'em as I went around. I'm not sure if they have these up north because I've mentioned them around a few times and nobody seems to have heard about them, and therefore doesn't understand the horror.

Supposedly scabies are worse though.

 

[Krynn72]

Supposedly scabies are worse though.

I did a google image search to see what scabies are... now I have the honor of saying that I've seen a penis with scabies.

 

[Ravioli]

Dolls, particularly little girl dolls. I keep expecting them to wake up and talk to me, then stab me in the face.

 

[morgs]

Now that mannequins are mentioned...

I remember my first ever nightmare when I was about 3 or 4, was about a town full of those museum mannequins inside their glass windows in different displays, except they were alive and moving around. My sister ended up being trapped there and as we drove off down the road they all sort of shuffled behind the car in a zombie like fashion.

Ever since then the museum display mannequins have freaked me out.

 

[Katamariguy]

3.Banging my funny bone
4.Not having my throat slit, but I feel vulnerable in the spot in the bottom rear of my skull, and the point on my chest right below the ribcage.

Spiders? Big ones can be creepy, but when I see a tiny one I'm all D'AHHHHH.

Mannequins? Creepy, but in an amusing way.

 

[Iron Kat]

I have that as well. I do have claustrophobia so I consider it part of that, but if, say I'm at a gig and there's people pressing in on me from all sides I feel like I'm about to pass out. It's the same in any crowded situation, like on crowded buses and/or trams as well. I just feel like I can't breathe, I have a sort of panic attack and like I'm going to faint. So you're not alone there!

 

[Iron Kat]

Crowded places(if you consider that weird).

I have that as well. I do have claustrophobia so I consider it part of that, but if, say I'm at a gig and there's people pressing in on me from all sides I feel like I'm about to pass out. It's the same in any crowded situation, like on crowded buses and/or trams as well. I just feel like I can't breathe, I have a sort of panic attack and like I'm going to faint. So you're not alone there!

Also, Morgs, please spoiler those pics! That one with the snake trying to get in your tent creeped me the f*ck out! I think that's going to put me off camping for life.

 

[MuToiD_MaN]

People in character.

"No I don't want to interact with you in this goddamned themed restaurant! Just take my order and go away!"

... and ...

"Alright you can go take your picture with Mickey and Minnie. I'm just going to be over THERE ... OF COURSE you have to ask someone else to hold the camera! Are you kidding me? I'm not getting that close."

--

And all you people with your ocean water fears. Jesus, people, enjoy your swim FFS. Nothing will hurt you. Then again I did grow up going to the beach dozens of times every summer so there's that ...

 

[Ren.182]

And all you people with your ocean water fears. Jesus, people, enjoy your swim FFS. Nothing will hurt you. Then again I did grow up going to the beach dozens of times every summer so there's that ...

It's more to do with the fact I'm not the strongest swimmer, and if I started to fail there wouldn't be much to stop me from sinking. Something coming at me from underneath does play a small part of it also, though.

 

[Warped]

woman has no fear!

A 44-year-old woman who doesn't experience fear has led to the discovery of where that fright factor lives in the human brain.

Researchers put out their best foot to try to scare the patient, who they refer to as "SM" in their write-up in the most recent issue of the journal Current Biology. Haunted houses, where monsters tried to evoke an avoidance reaction, instead evoked curiosity; spiders and snakes didn't do the trick; and a battery of scary film clips entertained SM.

The patient has a rare condition called Urbach–Wiethe disease that has destroyed her amygdala, the almond-shaped structure located deep in the brain. Over the past 50 years studies have shown the amygdala plays a central role in generating fear responses in various animals from rats to monkeys.

The new study involving SM is the first to confirm that brain region is also responsible for experiencing fear in humans. "This is the first study to systematically investigate the experience or feeling of fear in humans with amygdala damage," lead author Justin Feinstein told LiveScience.

The finding, the researchers say, could lead to treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in soldiers and others. "My hope is to expand on this work and search for psychotherapy treatments that selectively target and dampen down hyperactivity in the amygdala of patients with PTSD," said Feinstein, who is a doctoral student studying clinical neuropsychology at the University of Iowa.

Over the past year, Feinstein has been treating PTSD in veterans coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan, seeing first-hand the effects.

"Their lives are marred by fear, and they are oftentimes unable to even leave their home due to the ever-present feeling of danger," Feinstein said. In contrast, SM is immune to this stress. "Traumatic events leave no emotional imprint on her brain," he said.

Are you scared?

Previous studies with this patient revealed she can't recognize fear in facial expressions, but it was unknown if she had the ability to experience fear herself.

To find out, Feinstein and his colleagues measured the patient's experience of fear with several standardized questionnaires that probed different aspects of fear, ranging from the fear of death to the fear of public speaking. [Fear of Spiders & 9 Other Phobias]

In addition, for three months SM carried a computerized emotion diary that randomly asked her to rate her current fear level throughout the day. The diary also had her indicate emotions she was feeling from a list of 50 items. Her average score of fear was 0 percent, while for other emotions she showed normal functioning.

Across all of the scenarios, she showed no fear. Looking into her past, the researchers found lots of reasons for her to react with fear. In fact, she told them she didn't like snakes, but when brought into contact with the two characters, she was fearless.

The good and bad of being fearless

Her eldest son (she has three children) in his early 20s recalls this instance: "Me and my brothers were playing in the yard and mom was outside sitting on the porch. All of a sudden we see this snake on the road. It was a one lane road, and seriously, it touched from one end of the yard all the way to the other side of the road. I was like, 'Holy cow, that's a big snake!' Well mom just ran over there and picked it up and brought it out of the street, put it in the grass and let it go on its way..."

That's not all. She has been held up at knife point and at gun point, physically accosted by a woman twice her size, nearly killed in an act of domestic violence, and on more than one occasion explicitly threatened with death, the researchers wrote in the journal article. Police reports corroborated these experiences and revealed the poverty-stricken area where she lived. SM has never been convicted of a crime.

"What stands out most is that, in many of these situations, SM's life was in danger, yet her behavior lacked any sense of desperation or urgency," the researchers wrote.

And when she was asked to recollect how she felt during those situations, SM said she didn't feel fear but did feel upset and angry about what happened. "Without fear, it can be said that SM's distress lacks the deep heartfelt intensity endured by most survivors of trauma," the researchers wrote.

Essentially, due to the amygdala damage the woman is "immune to the devastating effects of posttraumatic stress disorder," they wrote.

As always, there are tradeoffs as such an inability to detect and avoid threatening situations likely contributed to the frequency with which she's had life-threatening run-ins, the researchers suggest.

To firm up the phenomenon, Feinstein says studying other patients with damaged amygdalas would be great. "Unfortunately, such patients are so rare that it is nearly impossible to find them," he said, adding that there is much to be learned from a single patient.

The National Institutes of Health and a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship provided funding for the study.

I bet in the future many soldiers will have this trait right out of boot camp during the lobotomy

 

[YROC]

I'm scared to lean on any type of ledge railings. I feel like they're going to give out at the exact moment that I decide to rest on them.

 

[FrostedxB]

I'm scared to lean on any type of ledge railings. I feel like they're going to give out at the exact moment that I decide to rest on them.

Oh this. Its even worse when the railing is made of wood.