Why do so many people have phobias?

My girlfriend is terrified of spiders and snakes, though she's coming around with my snakes. A lot of people I know have various phobias, and I myself used to get all freaked out, twitchy and likely to scream when I was around Jell-O.

At some point I guess I just grew up, developed a strong enough mind, and pushed it all out. Ghosts, animals, random silly stuff, none of it ever freaks me out anymore and I dont see how all these people around me are in college, have been in philosophy/psychology courses, even have their own psychologists they see and so many of them still have goofy fears of things.

human.nature.


that simple :D

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Originally Posted by dc1

human.nature.


that simple :D

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Yes, but the nice part of being a human is that you can question the value of your phobias, then get over them. Just the opportunity to develop oneself further and to have more control over your life should have people chomping at the bit.

Spiders and Praying Mantis scare the bajeebus out of me, and Im 36 years old with Pythons, Lizards, and 2 kids! :D

If I have a camera in front of my face I will get right up next to them....otherwise I will walk a mile if I have to, to avoid them. Praying Mantis actualy scare me more than Spiders, Ooooh, and those GIANT foot long Walking Stick things, OMG! CREEPY !!!!!!
Also, if I am home alone and watch a really scary movie...I will sleep on the sofa so I dont have to walk down my dark hallway to the bedroom, and I HATE having to go to the bathroom, because I get freaked out having to turn my back towards the end of the dark hallway on the way back to the living room, I actualy get chills waiting for something to grab me from behind. And some movies I simply cannot watch at all.

This one has a reason....TIRES, I am terrified to air them up, or if I am on the highway and a semi passes me, I hit the brakes so he goes by faster, or if I have to pass them I floor it and fly by. Back in 2003 I was almost killed by an exploding truck tire when I worked for a grain elevator, it messed me up really bad and I am still partialy disabled from it today. If I have a flat tire I will put just enough air in it to get someplace that will do it for me, but I will never inflate another tire, I am even scared to air up the tires on my kids bikes when they need it. There was so much blood, my clothes were soaked...when the ambulance arrived they cut off my shirts thinking I had a huge chest wound because my clothes were red from my collar to my knees, every bone in my hand was broken and my little finger was touching the side of my wrist, its still bent to this day. A hand specialist from MN had to come down to do the surgery and he said it was the worst hes ever seen, my knee was the size of a softball, missing teeth, broken nose, sliced up face, dirt embedded in my eyes from the blast of air, 3 weeks in the hospital, 102 pins in my hand, 3 surgeries, a 43 days in bed after I got home, 28 of those days hooked to an ice machine that pumped cold water around my arm, a cane for another 8 months, a year of physical therapy before my insurance cancelled,. Im left with carpal tunnel because my carpal bone is destroyed, I have arthritis, I cant make a fist or move my wrist sideways or up, and only 1/4 of the way down, and other problems with my legs, and from being bashed in the head, I forget alot of things and cant remember alot of past things....oops, Im rambling...sorry, lol. 1:39am, Im kinda spaced out.

So some things come reason, like life experience - tragedy. Others I think we pick up along the way from our childhood, like my fear of spiders and scary movies. Even though I know there is nothing to be afraid of I still am, and some people are tought to fear things as well, thats the way they were raised. All of wich I feel a person can overcome, some things just may be harder than others.

Two things that I am terrified of:
Burglars/murderers
Falling from a great height and living.

I saw a TV show and a family was sleeping downstairs after watching a movie together. Someone broke into their house, and the dad was shot. Luckily he survived, and the burglar was caught. Until I can get a real gun to sleep with, my airsoft gun and pocket knife are half of the reason I can sleep at night. It took me months to be able to sleep in my own room after that. Not funtimes :( fortunately I've mostly overcome this fear, I just won't take the trash out after 9:30 and I don't look out the windows at night time ^.^

And after jumping off of 30+ foot cliffs, I know just how amazing it feels to be free falling for just a few seconds. Unfortunately, after watching several videos of people falling five stories down onto concrete etc. and living, the pain that they must go through for years, I'm terrified of falling and living. However, falling from thousands of feet onto solid ground I wouldn't really mind because that would be insanely peaceful until I died. However, I wouldn't want my family to have to deal with that so not falling at all is just fine with me lol.

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Originally Posted by SpencerShanks

And after jumping off of 30+ foot cliffs, I know just how amazing it feels to be free falling for just a few seconds. Unfortunately, after watching several videos of people falling five stories down onto concrete etc. and living, the pain that they must go through for years, I'm terrified of falling and living. However, falling from thousands of feet onto solid ground I wouldn't really mind because that would be insanely peaceful until I died. However, I wouldn't want my family to have to deal with that so not falling at all is just fine with me lol.

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I got over my paranoia of falling by hanging out a window at 10 stories by my waist. Used to be scared to go near the window when I lived in that place. As for robbers, you just need a good deadbolt. I have one on my bedroom door... mostly to keep my pothead roommate from going near my room, but partially to at least give me some warning when people try and break in.

I assume phobias come natural in most of cases. I think it might have come natural from when humans first started as the snakes and spiders would be venomous and dangerous so avoiding them at all costs was something regularly done. I could be wrong but it sounds reasonable.

Others have had bad experiences which cause their phobias, which is understandable.

I love both snakes and spiders, although I hate big flying bugs, like the palverde beatles that are coming out. Saw two of them last night, ugghh. Have you ever had a big black bumblebee land on you?:O

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Originally Posted by CoolioTiffany

Have you ever had a big black bumblebee land on you?:O

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I chase after them trying to catch them gently. I also have not told people before when they had bees in their shoes. Probably saved them from getting stun, too, since any motion may have provoked the bee and the first reaction of people is to freak out.

I mean I hate a lot of things, like these big yellow beetles that are a plague in Pittsburgh right now, and all the spiders in my community (everything with an angle on it has a spider web or... 12... In fact the other day I saw some webs all along the power lines on the way to the store.

As for the "natural" phobias, that's part of the whole growing up thing, you should be able to have control over your own mind.

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Originally Posted by Oxylepy

I got over my paranoia of falling by hanging out a window at 10 stories by my waist. Used to be scared to go near the window when I lived in that place. As for robbers, you just need a good deadbolt. I have one on my bedroom door... mostly to keep my pothead roommate from going near my room, but partially to at least give me some warning when people try and break in.

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Dead bolts are nonsense unless you have a steel door frame. Been robbed three times in the past year and they kicked the door in once. If you have a wooden door frame the dead bolt will blast right through the frame with enough force.

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Originally Posted by Zach Nasty

Dead bolts are nonsense unless you have a steel door frame. Been robbed three times in the past year and they kicked the door in once. If you have a wooden door frame the dead bolt will blast right through the frame with enough force.

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Thats to my bedroom :P

Also, thats an idea for SpencerShanks. Try a steal door and frame.

im scared to death of black widows cuz when i was younger i was moving cinderblocks with my dad and i picked one up and a black widow ran across my hand...i didnt get bit thank god, but that scared the ever lovin' outta me. to this day i will kill every black widow i see in our garage. i have a spine tingling feeling there are some underneath our garage stairs but im too scared to look.
tarantulas & other spiders i find creepy but im not scared to death of them.
oh & bees & wasps scare the bejeezus outta me too. ive been stung quite a few times as a child.
just the mere sight of ants will send me into the shower to scrub away the itchiness i get when i see them. [shudders]
heights, being alone, being hurt again & being abandoned are my other fears.
i dont know where the fear of heights came from.
my fear of being alone and my abandonment fear came from my childhood & my fear of being hurt came from a rapist & my last 3 ex's.
yes, it took 3 abusive relationships for me to get my head on straight and say "no more!"
wow! i need counseling...lol.

Being scared of something is totally different than having a phobia of something. A phobia is a mental thing you can't just think about and say "Oh that's silly" and get over it. Being scared of something, even terrified by something, you can think through it.

I can't stand scorpions, because i've been stung SO many times, and once I went to squish one, and the babies scattered EVERYWHERE, and it really creeped me out. But I don't have a PHOBIA about them. I just find them creepy and icky and my skin crawls and I'll jump when one appears, even if it's a few feet away and I KNOW it's not going to "get me".

A true phobia will take over your mind, and just saying "oh you should have a strong mind and get over it" isn't going to work. I do have phobias, and I understand that they are ridiculous, and I work VERY hard to overcome them, but it's just not a regular fear. It's a unreasoning terror that is tied to whatever object the phobia is about. Yes, you can overcome them, there's several techniques that have decent success rates. But to just dismiss a true phobia as just being silly is really not correct.

Most people who don't like snakes or lizards, or fear them, DON'T have a phobia. They have been taught to hate snakes, either by example of seeing parents and others hating and fearing snakes, or by personal experiance of being scared by a snake, or the general instinct to dislike snakes, or the media of snakes being bad and evil and dangerous. That is not a phobia. That's a fear. Big difference.

Being scared a burgular will break in and murder you is a fear. It can be a trigger to an anxiety attack even, if you think for some reason it's happening or will happen. I'm paranoid, and will doublecheck doors, or go check the house just because I MIGHT have heard something, or it's too quiet. Doesn't mean I have a phobia about it, just that I personally am a paranoid person, which I am.

oh ok then i wouldnt consider my fears phobias.

I have seen a person with a phobia of roaches...they were consumed by it..making lifestyle changes.....If you have ever seen the movie "Bugs" with Ashley Judd....very creepy....

Yes, it's important to distinguish between phobias and fears.

<RANT>
I have a blood phobia. The blood/injury/injection phobia is somewhat unique because it has a proven genetic predisposition. Most phobias seem to be linked solely to environmental factors and childhood experiences.

In any case, about having a phobia and the difference between that and just a fear. It is possible to be very afraid of something and not be phobic. It is my experience that 99% of people who say "I have a phobia of spiders" do not really have a phobia; they just REALLY don't like spiders.

In order to actually be diagnosed with a phobia, the object of your fear must induce a panic attack. Again, that doesnt mean you scream and run away. Panic attacks are much less fun; sweating, dizziness, nasea, tunnel vision, blacking out/fainting and the feeling and belief you are going to die are all common occurances during a panic attack.

So that's right; when I see blood, I think I'm going to die.

Now obviously, to address the point of "just getting over it", I KNOW how irrational my fear is. I'm not an idiot. I know that no one was hurt in the movie Hostil and I know that it's not going to hurt me. I know, when I have a panic attack, that I'm not going to die. No amount of rationalization can stop a phobia. We know how rediculous they are! It takes a lot of training, practice, and determination to overcome them.

So if all these people claiming they have phobias are just "really afraid" of things... They don't know what phobia means.

</RANT>

I think people have phobias because they are told what is scary and what isnt at a young age, they are taught what they should and shouldnt b afraid of, which usually causes irrational fears of different things.

Yeah everybody is afraid of something. Only Movie heros are immune to that. Like rambo, boy I'd hate to see what scares him.


I am afraid of bugs, any bugs, even large crickets, even moths and butterflies. :rofl:

I can't explain it very well I just am.

Fear: refuses to touch a snake.
Phobia: Refuses to be on the same floor of a house as a snake. <lol>

It's hard to say what causes a phobia in some cases. I have a couple myself--spiders, and bees/wasps. I have worked over the years to overcome my spider phobia, but I will still have a full-blown panic reaction if I find one crawling on me. I can peer at one in a web or on a wall all day long.
I actually like spiders, I think they're neat creatures, but that doesn't change my reaction.

Bees/wasps will also send me into a panic if they fly too close to me. I've desensitized myself by watching them on flowers and things, but I'm more frightened of them still than I am of spiders.
Again, I admire them, and I have no problem watching them from a safe vantage point, but I panic if they're too near.

I have a phobia of hypodermic needles, and I wonder if all of the above are related. lol (Since having two children, I've been desensitized to that as well, but I still hyperventilate half the time).

Did anyone teach me to be afraid of any of these things? No, on the contrary my father did his best to alleviate my fears, but there is no rational foundation for a phobia. The trigger for a phobia can be any experience in early childhood that causes intense fear and involves the object of the phobia--even if that object didn't even cause the fear. For some reason, the brain just reinforces it and takes it to a whole new level. Phobias aren't taught--ordinary fears are taught.

I've seen a phobic person's reaction to their phobia and its not funny or amusing. Our office manager had a rodent phobia and we worked in a Steel frame building surrounded by corn fields. Once she found a mouse dropping on her desk and had a panic attack and was hyperventilating. We wanted to take her to the hospital but she refused. It scared the living day lights out of me!! Another time (before I worked there) a designer put a fake mouse in her desk as a joke and when she saw it she collapsed! Got to her feet and ran out the door screaming. Got in her car a drove home! She called the owner and needless to say the designer was suspended for the rest of the week. Someone that was just afraid of mice would have jumped, maybe screamed but probably would have laughed it off as a joke.

Now paranoia...that is a pain in the butt! I totally have a burglar paranoia and a zombie paranoia. I've seriously warned my friends NOT to mess with me and dress like a zombie or burglar to try to scare me. I would be afraid that I might clobber them with something. But I can overcome it by thinking rationally.

I agree that phobias and fears are very different. Personally, I'm terrified of mounted (dead) animals some people and restarunt owns seem to like to hang on their walls. I mean, I have a fear of bugs, but won't have a heart attack or pass out over one of them if they touch me like I would with a mounted deer head or something. I don't know that it's something you're told to "fear" as a kid either though. My dad has always had mounted animals in his house ever since I was little. I used to not be afraid of them, then I was, wasn't, and now I am. Don't know how someone can flip flop like that, but it happened to me...

Interesting question though. I know there are people you can go to to help you get over a (full blown) phobia, not just a fear, and people have done it before...