Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Fears and Phobias

Are you one of those people that likes to experience fear?  Do you have a particular phobia?  What is the difference between a fear and a phobia?

Fear  to be afraid or apprehensive

Fear from a distance is great!  Many people like to experience fear through books and movies.  The scary scene in a movie frightens you at first, but then sometimes you're left laughing afterward.  The rush of adrenaline is intense and thrilling.

Fear in reality is different.  Did you just lock your keys in the car?  You can't find your wallet when you go to pay for something.  You turn around and notice that your small child is not by your side in a crowded store.  With hope, you've made it through your predicament without anything to worry about.  Your keys were safely in your purse.  Your wallet fell out of your pocket while you were sitting in the car.  Your little one was standing by the gumball machine.  You can take a deep breath.  It's all behind you now.

Phobia an exaggerated usually inexplicable and illogical fear of a particular object, class of objects, or situation

Phobias are not fun.  They can be debilitating.  Phobias range from the fear of heights to the fear of clowns to the fear of spiders to the fear of going outside.  There doesn't always have to be a reason for the fear, it just has to be there.  There are ways to fix a phobia and sometimes you can just grow out of them. 

I used to be afraid of ghosts but now I love to go in search of them.  I've always been afraid of spiders.  This phobia has gotten better over the years but is still very much there.  Spiders and I have come to an agreement...if they don't try to eat me, I won't kill them.  Though the urge to stomp first and ask questions later is still there, I can usually let spiders go upon their merry way.

How about you? What are you afraid of?

The above definitions were found at www.merrian-webster.com.
 

11 comments:

  1. OHHHhh Where to begin? I have lived my life by fear. My brothers and father are all adventure seekers. They make decisions based on pleasure. I make decisions based on fear. It sounds bad, doesn't it? It's not really. I'm also afraid of regret, so I try to live my life by avoiding regret, pain, trouble. My brother 's jump off cliffs. I do not.
    That said, my real phobia is heights. It's a very physical experience, unpleasant doesn't begin to describe the sickness from my belly to every nerve ending. And it's not just for me. If I see someone else too close to an edge, I feel sick then as well.
    Well, there you have it. My story of fears and phobias. Did I leave room for any other comments?

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    1. Mardra, my son is afraid of heights too. I'm not really, but my family and I recently visited the Grand Canyon. I was wandering around by myself and went a little farther to the edge (still about three to five feet away, mind you). I started to get dizzy so I stepped back another foot or two!

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  2. We definitely share that fear of spiders! And I don't try to abate my instinct to squash first - no questions needed. They are not allowed in my "bubble" :) . As for the ghosts, I think we have something in common too. When I was very young I was deathly afraid, but as a teenager I loved to go in search of them in abandoned buildings. There was an abandoned hospital (Glen Dale Hospital - you can google that term and find more info about it on Wikipedia), a few miles from my childhood home which was rumored to be a psychiatric hospital that my friends and I loved to explore to the dismay of local law enforcement. I had a couple minor experiences there but it's hard to be sure they were real because of the number and playful nature of the people I was with at the time. I still love reading about ghosts and hauntings and watching movies/TV shows about them, but if I were alone in my home I'm not so sure I'd want to experience anything of the paranormal for myself. And as for heights, I get that tummy-turning feeling if I'm too close to the edge of a cliff as well

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    1. Thanks for sharing! Everyone's afraid of something. And getting used to the paranormal happening to you takes time. ;-)

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  3. My only phobia is needles. It is not a pain association but a visual. I do fine as long as my eyes do not see what is about to be jabbed into me.
    Beyond those, I desire to be scared. That adrenaline rush you get when something startles you and endorphins are released. I love the thrill, the anticipation.

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    1. I do not have a phobia of needles BUT I do have a creepy needle story - when I was small (starting age 5 or so), I had a nightmare that recurred for years wherein I would be dreaming about something positive, a carnival for example, and then, in my peripheral vision, I'd spot my evil doppelganger. She would always be pointing a needle very nonchalantly at me. Actually, I'm surprised that didn't trigger a needle phobia...

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  4. I'm with you, Jason. I love the thrill! But I'm okay with needles. :-)

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  5. I like the excitement of protected or safe fear, like watching a horror movie. My problem is when it sticks with me, lingers, plagues. I've learned there are certain things I'll no longer watch.
    In normal day to day situations I prefer to keep fear far away. LOL!

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    1. I agree! Off the top of my head, two movies that really freaked me out were EVENT HORIZON and THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE! Can you say creepy?!

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  6. Ok, so I have two major ones (confession time).... I LOVE the thrill that being at very large heights gives me. I'm not afraid of heights, but I am nervous when driving on skinny mountain roads or on mile-high towers swaying in the wind. That adrenaline is addictive! The other one is dealing with rude people. I can't stand them and yes, I can become afraid of them because in this day and age, who isn't packing? But I force myself to confront them anyway ... talk about a high.
    Not really spiders or snakes but there ya go!

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    1. I don't like the mountain roads either. For driving, I usually leave those to my husband! And I don't like rude people either. Although, I never thought about them "packing" before....But I can see your point. I do fear confrontaions a lot though.

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