fears throughout your life that were considered odd

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Maybe it's not the extreme "need therapy to overcome the event" kind, but I still think it's there. The way I understand PTSD, the traumatic event is relived over and over again as if it was actually happening, not just as a general memory. Think of war veterans, accident and rape victims, and storm survivors having flashbacks and nightmares about the event. If you can recreate the details of the event with just a sound, I'd say you're pretty traumatized. Hopefully it's just a temporary condition...

I have a fear of heights. That is not uncommon. But I am afraid when watching a scene with a long drop down on television.

Boat propellers ever sense reading about the titanic - a former special interest. This can extend to a ceiling fan in a dark room.

I have a fear of heights but only when there might be an actual risk of falling. A few years ago I was able to stand on the last floor of the highest skyscraper in Tokyo and enjoy the sight (though I was not feeling completely fine) because I was behind something like 20cm of solid high-resistance glass in a country which has among the most stringent construction norms in the world. On the other hand, even in third or fourth floors of regular buildings I won't feel at ease on a balcony or at a window if the guardrail is a bit low, I will either remain away from the edges or tightly grip the guardrail. And I will stay at least 2m away from any opening on the void which has no protection at all.

Movies scenes like people walking on a cornice in the mountain or fighting on the roof of a building tend to make me nervous too.

I also have a constant fear of getting poisoned. I don't imagine someone is trying to willingly kill me (or anyone), it is more that something highly toxic may somehow, by accident, arrive in my food or drink. It is very easy to manufacture poisons or highly toxic substances (even unwillingly by mixing the wrong chemicals) and some of them are active at very small doses and impossible to detect until it is too late. Those thoughts freak me out.

I also have a similar fear when trying new prescription drugs ; I often imagine I may make a rare adverse reaction that will kill me. It can manage it a bit better now but it used to make me anxious to the point where I could have a small anxiety attack. (This is even more problematic if the drug was something to treat anxiety to begin with -_-)

Last edited by ouroborosUK on 18 Dec 2013, 4:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.

When I was young, there was a streetlight in our backyard that would shine in through my bedroom window at night. It cast a pattern on my wall that always looked like a scary face to me. I would stare at it until I fell asleep because I was scared to look away from it...

There was a time when I would refuse to ever so much as read an article about cancer because I had this fear that if I read about it, it would give my body ideas that my body might act out on. I can't believe I ever thought that (and it wasn't that long ago, a few years ago).

Now (because of that or in spite of it, I'm not sure), I am fascinated by the science of oncology and read medical journals about it even. I went to college late in life, but I think that really helped me to stop thinking in superstitions so much.

Warning: about to temporarily derail the thread--sorry.

@wozeree: do you know anything about acute lymphocytic leukemia? My ex's twin brother was diagnosed in June, and treatment hasn't been working too well. He's starting a clinical trial at Mayo in January, and my ex has been researching everything he can on his own, but new information is always welcome, if you have any. Thanks.

Back to the topic:

I understand the loud noises thing very well. Had a "buzzing" smoke detector in the apartment where I grew up--could barely stand to walk underneath the thing, for fear that would somehow set it off. Felt that way until I moved and got away from it, and I was 28 years old then. Same used to apply to balloons when I was very young (too loud of a bang when they popped).

Still can't drive--I keep thinking I'm going to cause an accident. I do not multi-task well, to put it mildly. I still want to try again, but even the thought of re-taking the written test freaks me out.

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who got excited when a movie used Dolby Digital instead of THX, I used to look for that on the poster.

I used to fear the grader that plowed the streets, no other kid had issues with that.

I have a fear of street cleaners, bin lorries, mushy peas, the Joker from Batman and subsequently Jack Nicholson in anything. I also hate asking things of people, especially if I have to phone them up to do it.

I had forgotten about this one. I was afraid of the Joker too, from the original TV series -- I guess it was the clown thing. But I was also scared of the Munsters and the Addams Family TV shows. Interesting that I was afraid of those things for so long, and now I work in a professional "spook house" during the Halloween season and do the goriest makeup you can imagine...lol

Being new at work or school, meeting new people, talking in front of people, when I'm new I also often feel nervous eating in front of people. Sometime I get an almost panicky feeling when I go to shopping malls by myself especially if the mall is crowded (think this agoraphobia). Ok to me this is an odd fear, I'm afraid to yell or raise my voice in front of people unless it is immediate family or a very close friend. Also I feel very uncomfortable showing extreme emotion around people who are not my family or a close friend. (This is more social anxiety and yet to me it is a strong feeling of dread and uncomfortableness).

I should have mentioned this one as well. I don't like eating in front of people I don't know AT ALL. I don't trust my manners and worry that someone will say something to me about eating like a pig.

As for going to new stores or malls...it doesn't bother me now all that much. But years ago (20+), I moved to Houston and lived a mile or so from one of their major malls. In the year I lived in that apartment, I never once set foot inside that mall. I was terrified that somehow it was going to be different from the other malls I had been in, or find out it wasn't a mall at all but some other kind of business, and I was going to be ridiculed for not knowing that.

Yes....I have major social anxiety problems...can you tell?

OMG the THX thing used to terrify me!!