need help with my fear

I have claurophobia, fear of clowns...My fear is so bad I screamed so loud an long I ran out of air and about blacked out...I have punched clowns in the face, I have ran people over trying to get away from clowns, I have ran away and cried over 5 year olds being in clown suits, I have smashed clown pictures trying to smack them away when people shove them in my face, I have ran out of school and got in huge trouble from a clown on a friends shirt, I have sprayed my boyfriend with a hose washing the clown make-up off his face, etc. Anyways Im tired of being afraid of them, I cant hang out with some of my friends because they have clowns at their houses. I went to go to a friends house for a tattoo and almost had a heart attack when her daughter came out in the living room with a clown mask on. Alot of people say they are terrified and have the phobia but not all actually have the phobia they are just scared of them...no I am deathly afraid of clowns. Now I am moving in with my boyfriend and his friend and they are clown freaks, I want ideas on how to get over this phobia if at all possible? By the way I love ZombieLand because the clown gets his face smashed in! :D Oh the reason Im terrified of these things is because when I was 5 my mother had bought me this clown toy where you turn the key and it would play music and rotate its head......yeah....it was on my dresser across from my bed with a window above my bed, so it would cast a huge shadow across the wall, I would watch that every night till it shut off just so I knew it wouldnt get me...I had dreams about it and never for a year slept with my back to it....the one day it stopped working I went to throw it away without my mom knowing, she found it in the trash, put new batteries in, and stuck it on my dresser while I was with my dad. I came home and it was on my dresser imagine throwing it away and it appearing there again and not knowing how it happened? Sorry this is long...alright Im done lol please help!!

Your fears are justified...

http://www.freeinfosociety.com/media/images/1135.jpg

^^^lol not cool :rofl:

im terrified of gorillas and will never get over that fear, some people just dont.

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Originally Posted by python_addict

I have ran people over trying to get away from clowns

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:O what what what?? lol

I'm a little frightened that your boyfriend and his friend are clown freaks...
Clowns, imo, are a tad creepy. No matter how goofy or innocent they look.

To get over your phobia, maybe you could try a number of things. Things such as exposing yourself to a clowns slowly over time. Whether it be a photo, a toy, or even a full sized live clown. Just a little exposure every day might condition you to get used to them w/o fear. Like start out w/ a minute of looking at a picture. Then to being in the same room w/ it for 5, 10, 15, etc minutes all the way to an hour. Just slowly expose yourself to clown things.

It's key to take things step by step. So something like what I said above, but with physical distance. So maybe start small then work your way up to bigger clown things...
For example:
1) Look at photos of clowns
2) Watch videos with clowns in it
3) Look at a clown person/item in person from a distance
4) Stand 10 feet away from the clown person/item
5) Stand 5 feet away from the clown person/item
6) Stand next to the clown person/item
7) Touch clown person/item


Try relaxation techniques as well. Being relaxed in fearful situations will help immensely.

I hope that helped.

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Originally Posted by drama x

^^^lol not cool :rofl:

im terrified of gorillas and will never get over that fear, some people just dont.

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I'm scared of gorillas too...primarily because one could rip me limb from limb...chimps are even worse...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBe1v-qtOnQ this may or may not help, but here ya go c:

Find a clown in your area and watch him/her put on makeup so that you can see that they're normal people?

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Originally Posted by satomi325

I'm a little frightened that your boyfriend and his friend are clown freaks...
Clowns, imo, are a tad creepy. No matter how goofy or innocent they look.

To get over your phobia, maybe you could try a number of things. Things such as exposing yourself to a clowns slowly over time. Whether it be a photo, a toy, or even a full sized live clown. Just a little exposure every day might condition you to get used to them w/o fear. Like start out w/ a minute of looking at a picture. Then to being in the same room w/ it for 5, 10, 15, etc minutes all the way to an hour. Just slowly expose yourself to clown things.

It's key to take things step by step. So something like what I said above, but with physical distance. So maybe start small then work your way up to bigger clown things...
For example
1) Look at photos of clowns
2) Watch videos with clowns in it
3) Look at a clown person/item in person from a distance
4) Stand 10 feet away from the clown person/item
5) Stand 5 feet away from the clown person/item
6) Stand next to the clown person/item
7) Touch clown person/item


Try relaxation techniques as well. Being relaxed in fearful situations will help immensely.

I hope that helped.

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X2. Exposure therapy. Just like they did on the animal planet show about people with extreme animal phobias. It really works.

Take the plunge, youre a snake owner on bp.net!

I was scared of the dark still when i was 12 or 13. So to gget over it i stood on the basement stairs w the lights off as long as i could, with my back to the basement. After that, no more fear of the dark. After about 10 min your breathing and heart rate will slow down again and you can talk yourself off the ledge. So...take a nice creepy clown doll, put it up on the dresser where it casts a nice creepy shadow and sit in a darkened room w it for a while. You'll be fine after that once you realize youre still alive and its just a doll :)

im scared of dying.. but i guess that's not a phobia - more of an instinct :8:

The little bit about phobias that we talked about in psychopathology seemed to come to the conclusion that the only way to treat phobias successfully is with exposure therapy.. the exact opposite of what most people with phobias want to go through.

But really, the idea of living without a phobia is being exposed to a would-be trigger, and not being afraid.

You can work on exposure therapy yourself and with anyone who provides emotional support, it's pretty self explanatory, paying a professional to help you with it is expensive. When facing a new exposure, it's important to think of it as a challenge (because it IS challenging!) that you take on, and not someone forcing you into a situation you didn't sign up for.

Maybe watching The Devils Rejects could help you. Captain Spaulding isnt your typical clown and happens to be the only one thats ever made me laugh lol

so it has taken me this long to just go through the thread after seeing the first clown picture...no I did not watch the video thanks guys Im going to post a picture of one on my bathroom door on the outside I figure I will see it everytime I go into the bathroom. If I need something so bad it wont scare me off eventually.

I say you save up some money and purchase a Clown BP and start from there. That way you learn that some clowns are lovable.

What about if you painted you OWN face like a clown? Exposure might help too....start with rodeo clowns, they actually save lives! "I know, rodeo comes from the kid from Oklahoma"

picture them as a baby like waterboy did

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Originally Posted by python_addict

so it has taken me this long to just go through the thread after seeing the first clown picture...no I did not watch the video thanks guys Im going to post a picture of one on my bathroom door on the outside I figure I will see it everytime I go into the bathroom. If I need something so bad it wont scare me off eventually.

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Good luck!!! Stay strong!:banana:

I have a mix of hypochondriasis and being a germaphobe, and I have/had terrible anxiety because of it. One day, about a week before starting high school, I was walking up the stairs and was suddenly hit with an overwhelming fear that I was going to die. All of a sudden I couldn't watch any show like CSI or anything that had death or dying in it. I had to leave the classroom when they showed the movie "Armageddon". I couldn't sleep at night and throughout the day I was constantly checking my pulse. I HAD to wash my hands if I thought they might be the slightest bit dirty and I would not touch my face unless I KNEW my hands were clean. I ran screaming and climbed onto a car roof from someone who had car oil on their hands and was trying to touch me (they thought it was hilarious, I thought I was going to have a heart attack.)

I still have these fears to a degree, but I'm much better about them now. Every time I started to have an anxiety attack, I would tell myself that I was overthinking things, and was there any REAL reason for me to start getting so worked up? I would check my vitals, my heartbeat was steady, my breathing was fine and I had no pain anywhere. Then I would tell myself to relax, and I'd go do something I enjoyed: reading a favorite book, listening to music or watching a movie or a TV show I liked. It takes time, and your fear will probably never go away completely, but if you learn to talk yourself down from it and show yourself there isn't anything to be so worked up about, it will stop dominating your life. :gj:

Definitely agree, the only successful way to overcome a phobia is through gradual exposure to the thing you fear.

Start small, like looking at a black-and-white photo of a clown. Then a color one, then maybe look at a clown doll from across a room (get a friend to help you with this part, lol).

Take it slow, but make sure you force yourself to graduate to the next level of exposure. It's the only way to gain a foothold of control over the affliction.

Good luck!!

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Originally Posted by xFenrir

I have a mix of hypochondriasis and being a germaphobe, and I have/had terrible anxiety because of it. One day, about a week before starting high school, I was walking up the stairs and was suddenly hit with an overwhelming fear that I was going to die. All of a sudden I couldn't watch any show like CSI or anything that had death or dying in it. I had to leave the classroom when they showed the movie "Armageddon". I couldn't sleep at night and throughout the day I was constantly checking my pulse. I HAD to wash my hands if I thought they might be the slightest bit dirty and I would not touch my face unless I KNEW my hands were clean. I ran screaming and climbed onto a car roof from someone who had car oil on their hands and was trying to touch me (they thought it was hilarious, I thought I was going to have a heart attack.)

I still have these fears to a degree, but I'm much better about them now. Every time I started to have an anxiety attack, I would tell myself that I was overthinking things, and was there any REAL reason for me to start getting so worked up? I would check my vitals, my heartbeat was steady, my breathing was fine and I had no pain anywhere. Then I would tell myself to relax, and I'd go do something I enjoyed: reading a favorite book, listening to music or watching a movie or a TV show I liked. It takes time, and your fear will probably never go away completely, but if you learn to talk yourself down from it and show yourself there isn't anything to be so worked up about, it will stop dominating your life. :gj:

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Yeah thats a strong case of OCD and Panic Disorder, anxiety attacks are ALOT less worse compared to a Panic Attack (im speaking out of experience as i am also diagnost with OCD, Anxiety Disorder, and Panic Disorder). I went through the SAME exact things you did, it makes life so much worse...washing your hands every 5 mins and avoiding anything that may trigger a Panic Attack (which is called agoraphobia).

But now im on Xanax so im good :gj: