What defines a phobia? Do you have a phobia?

[hachimitsugirl]

I am incredibly skeptical that the folks professing to have a legitimate phobia regarding clowns are anything more than weirded-out by them.
Everyone says they're scared shitless of clowns.
I mean, what are the odds?  

[Dathu]

hachimitsugirl

I am incredibly skeptical that the folks professing to have a legitimate phobia regarding clowns are anything more than weirded-out by them.
Everyone says they're scared shitless of clowns.
I mean, what are the odds?

I think the movie "IT" is responsible for a whole generation of clown-a-phobics. xd It sure freaked me out.  

[Meirelle]

I have a phobia of loud noises. stare  

[Dathu]

Meirelle

I have a phobia of loud noises. stare

Oh no! I have mermaid-a-phobia! *Runs off screaming like a girl!*  

[banryuu]

Dathu

Meirelle

I have a phobia of loud noises. stare

Oh no! I have mermaid-a-phobia! *Runs off screaming like a girl!*

Wow Dathu that almost sounded like you were making fun of her fear. I know you were just playing around, but that did come off a bit harsh.

For a person to share their phobia(s) it takes alot of trust. I for one have had too many people chase me around with a mustard bottle, whipe letchup on me, or state "stop being over dramatic eat it I won't kill you."
The number of people that would rather joke your fears then understand them are outragous.

A phobia of clowns may rank up there on most common Phobia(s) along with the fear of hights, fear of the dark/unknown, ect.
It is still a phobia. Alot of people dislike clowns for but many people fear what lays behind the fake smiling face.  

[Dathu]

banryuu

Dathu

Meirelle

I have a phobia of loud noises. stare

Oh no! I have mermaid-a-phobia! *Runs off screaming like a girl!*

Wow Dathu that almost sounded like you were making fun of her fear. I know you were just playing around, but that did come off a bit harsh.

Huh? I think maybe that reads way different that what I meant. I wasn't replying to her comment, just reacting to her avi. Guess maybe my goofy got mistaken for sass. xd  

[banryuu]

Dathu

banryuu

Dathu

Meirelle

I have a phobia of loud noises. stare

Oh no! I have mermaid-a-phobia! *Runs off screaming like a girl!*

Wow Dathu that almost sounded like you were making fun of her fear. I know you were just playing around, but that did come off a bit harsh.

Huh? I think maybe that reads way different that what I meant. I wasn't replying to her comment, just reacting to her avi. Guess maybe my goofy got mistaken for sass. xd

I know you didn't mean it that way but to let you know in case some one did take it the wrong way. Btw about four years ago I submited a idea to gaia about those mermaid tails and how they should look. Can you see my suprize at seeing those yesterday. xd I so going to take credit where I can. (they still haven't made one of my ideas if you wanna know ask me in the lama)  

[Sanguvixen]

hachimitsugirl

I am incredibly skeptical that the folks professing to have a legitimate phobia regarding clowns are anything more than weirded-out by them.
Everyone says they're scared shitless of clowns.
I mean, what are the odds?

Clowns are a common phobia and I think I undertand why. It's just...the personal space issue is a very important thing for some people, and clowns tend to break the bubble when it comes to personal space.

Personally I used to be morbidly afraid of all things in costumes including the Easter Bunny...but I grew out of it. Clowns are different I guess because they disrupt the space bubble out of nowhere...and that can be freaky.

 

[sora987]

I used to be terribly afraid of spiders, but I got over the fear a few years ago.
I think I developed the fear from one time when I was six years old my brother and his friends, as a joke, gathered a bunch of spiders and put them in my bed. You can guess what happened when I layed in it a short while later. After that, I was so afraid of spiders even a picture of one would have me running and screaming out of the room.
A few years ago my parents sent me to an outdoors camp where I spent the summer camping at various national parks and learning about the Chesapeake watershed. There were spiders EVERYWHERE. In fact, even when eating spiders would fall from the trees into our food and in our cloths and hair. I would wake up and find a bunch of wolf spiders on my tent, and not little ones. When it comes to insects, everything is bigger in national parks. After a few weeks of being forced to live with them and deal with them getting on me so much I lost my fear of spiders. In fact now I can pick them up (not with my hands though because I can't remember which ones are poisonous and which ones aren't).  

[Dathu]

sora987

I used to be terribly afraid of spiders, but I got over the fear a few years ago.
I think I developed the fear from one time when I was six years old my brother and his friends, as a joke, gathered a bunch of spiders and put them in my bed. You can guess what happened when I layed in it a short while later. After that, I was so afraid of spiders even a picture of one would have me running and screaming out of the room.
A few years ago my parents sent me to an outdoors camp where I spent the summer camping at various national parks and learning about the Chesapeake watershed. There were spiders EVERYWHERE. In fact, even when eating spiders would fall from the trees into our food and in our cloths and hair. I would wake up and find a bunch of wolf spiders on my tent, and not little ones. When it comes to insects, everything is bigger in national parks. After a few weeks of being forced to live with them and deal with them getting on me so much I lost my fear of spiders. In fact now I can pick them up (not with my hands though because I can't remember which ones are poisonous and which ones aren't).

I totally feel you. I used to be border-line phobic of spiders until I lived in a house that was infested with them. And I mean, infested! After a year or two, my first reaction went from jumping out of my skin to casually looking for my shoe. xd  

[Super Perfundo]

Dathu

hachimitsugirl

I am incredibly skeptical that the folks professing to have a legitimate phobia regarding clowns are anything more than weirded-out by them.
Everyone says they're scared shitless of clowns.
I mean, what are the odds?

I think the movie "IT" is responsible for a whole generation of clown-a-phobics. xd It sure freaked me out.

Personally, I never really saw anything or had any kind of horrible experience with a clown that prompted my fear of them. Those pictures someone put up on the second page of this topic made me scroll down really quickly. Surprisingly, the first picture scares me while the second and third don't. I think for me it's the idea of something being so eerily happy. It seems so fake to me, and I know that nothing that happy can be good or safe. I don't know what made me fear them as a child, but I know now that's what drives the fear. I didn't see IT until I was in 6th grade, and yes it scared me, (although the book scared me even worse) but then it wasn't even so much the clown as the evil hidden in everyone, hiding behind a mask.

I'm getting chills just thinking about clowns.

I hate thinking about fears and phobias. They just remind me that there's so much to fear out there, whether it makes sense logically or not.

 

[Death God Hitsugaya]

I have:
- Apiphobia/Melissophobia: Fear of bees
- Ichthyophobia- Fear of fish
- Ostraconophobia- Fear of shellfish
- Zeusophobia- Fear of God or gods (just kidding)

Some people have sad my made-up phobias)
- Atheistophobia - (figure it out.)

My phobias are completely logical though, as I have lethal allergies to fish and seafood, as well as an allergy to bees.  

[Dissnitive Blade]

I have a deep fear of roaches. Oddly enough I think tarantulas are the best thing out there, but a roach makes me stop dead in my tracks. Anybody know the technical name for the phobia of roaches?  

[Prince Rilian]

A phobia is a fear that disrupts your life.

If you avoid bathing for a month because you are afraid of bugs in the shower, that's a phobia.

If you avoid brushing your teeth because you can't see your feet when you lean over the sink to spit and a monster might come out from under the counter and grab you, that's a phobia.

If you can't go swimming, even though you love it, because the shadows from the waves look like fish, and the shadows in the deep end look like bigger fish, that's a phobia.

Or maybe you're just neurotic due to some traumatic event or series of events in your life.