# Phobias? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 26, 2000, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phobias/30834 "2000-08-26T14:35:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ad\_Noctum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b19c9b/32.png) [@Ad\_Noctum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ad_Noctum)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phobias/30834/1 "2000-08-26T14:35:36Z")
what kinda phobia’s y’all got? ---
**Author:** ![Amthystre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Amthystre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amthystre)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phobias/30834/2 "2000-08-26T14:40:22Z")
I don’t drive on the freeway. Other people can drive me but I freak so badly that mI can’t drive myself. It is actually an incredibly confining phobia since almost to get anywhere almost one needs to use a freeway. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phobias/30834/3 "2000-08-26T14:44:08Z")
Social Phobia and Acrophobia . ---
**Author:** ![Ad\_Noctum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b19c9b/32.png) [@Ad\_Noctum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ad_Noctum)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phobias/30834/4 "2000-08-26T14:49:52Z")
hmmm… Social-Phobia=Anthropophobia or Sociophobia. and Acrophobia=Fear of heights. for all the Laymen or people of low Phobia Culture… ---
**Author:** ![Silo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@Silo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silo)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phobias/30834/5 "2000-08-26T15:50:44Z")
I was scared of heights when I was young. I think it’s because when I was 2 or 3 years old I fell from a 15 feet slide. Now I’m not bothered by heights at all, on my last vacation I walked right up to the edge of cliffsides (that dropped thousands of feet). It’s like I realize that I’m in control. ---
**Author:** ![Osip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4491bb/32.png) [@Osip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osip)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phobias/30834/6 "2000-08-26T15:53:53Z")
I would say I fear high places. Not because I fear falling. but because everytime I am standing on a cliff,bridge,rooftop or such I have this close to overwelming urge to jump. Not an urge to go splat below, just to jump and see how far I can jump. Osip ---
**Author:** ![Ad\_Noctum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b19c9b/32.png) [@Ad\_Noctum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ad_Noctum)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phobias/30834/7 "2000-08-26T16:02:53Z")
OK, OK, in ALL fairness… I should post mine… don’t laugh… I have an irrational fear of cows… bad deer-hunting experiances, cow stampedes, and someone I know getting, I kid you not, mauled by a female cow… chewed up part of his face… can tell you something though, that cow got one helluvan ass-whoopin’ later from that kid… ---
**Author:** ![Brynda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phobias/30834/8 "2000-08-26T16:13:38Z")
Bugs. Especially leaping bugs like crickets and grasshoppers. I can outrun a spider or whatever (not that I like them) but a leaping bug could LEAP ON ME and touch me with its NASTY feet! I even dislike crabs because their legs have that awful mechanistic look that bug legs have. ::shudder:: ---
**Author:** ![mega\_the\_roo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@mega\_the\_roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mega_the_roo)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phobias/30834/9 "2000-08-26T19:09:31Z")
I’m a xenophobe… aliens make me cry. ---
**Author:** ![mega\_the\_roo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@mega\_the\_roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mega_the_roo)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phobias/30834/10 "2000-08-26T19:31:10Z")
I’ve just been informed that xenophobe, (although I specified aliens) is not the appropriate term to use, so because I can’t find one more suited, I will make up my own: I am an alieaphobe. ---
**Author:** ![AETBOND417](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@AETBOND417](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AETBOND417)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2000, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phobias/30834/11 "2000-08-27T17:01:31Z")
Take your pick. This list is rather comprehensive: [http://www.uselessknowledge.com/trivia/phobia.shtml](http://www.uselessknowledge.com/trivia/phobia.shtml) I will go with didaskaleinophobia, maybe my teachers will believe me. ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2000, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phobias/30834/12 "2000-08-27T18:00:05Z")
Balloons. Not hot-air balloons. Not even mylar balloons. Just run-of-the-mill rubber party balloons, whether air or helium-filled. My heartrate, breathing, and anxiety always go up a few notches when I am near a balloon. You can imagine how fun I must be at birthday parties. ---
**Author:** ![JavaMaven1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cab0a1/32.png) [@JavaMaven1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JavaMaven1)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2000, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phobias/30834/13 "2000-08-28T01:17:01Z")
aeronausiphobia: fear of vomiting/air sickness Really. I’m terrified of vomiting–and when it happens, I feel like I’m going to _die_. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalMuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecccb3/32.png) [@DigitalMuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalMuse)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2000, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phobias/30834/14 "2000-08-28T01:42:28Z")
I have fears of the following: spiders being in confined spaces of being crowded by a bunch of people intimacy in any sense of the word but at the same time, fear of being left along, rejected or being disapproved of having my legs touched-I completely spazz that’s all for now ---
**Author:** ![lolagranola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ea5d25/32.png) [@lolagranola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lolagranola)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2000, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phobias/30834/15 "2000-08-28T02:05:58Z")
I’m scared of the dark. Yes, I’m 29, and still sleep with the lights on. I’m also scared of fire. I can’t even stand to have candles lit in the house. Recently, my SO tried to have a romantic evening. He lit candles in a dark room. Talk about combining two of my worst fears! ---
**Author:** ![Jester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jester/32/8223_2.png) [@Jester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jester)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2000, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phobias/30834/16 "2000-08-28T03:04:51Z")
I have a tremendous fear of dolls. The porcelain ones, that just…stare. brrrrrr…I’m getting chills just thinking about it. When I was a little kid, I was walking through a toy store, and went into a room, that turned out to be completely dedicated to porcelain dolls. This huge room, all the walls covered in dolls, just staring at me. I swear, I almost ran out screaming. ---
**Author:** ![Baglady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Baglady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baglady)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2000, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phobias/30834/17 "2000-08-28T03:39:31Z")
has a real insect phobia. I didn’t realize it was an actual phobia until a group of us went on vacation earlier this year, and I got to see the phobia in action. The guy would totally freak out when a bug would land on him (be it a fly or a love bug or whatever). He’d be perfectly fine if he didn’t know it was there, but once he found out, he’d want it off his body immediately. If the bug wouldn’t fly off on its own or shake off with a wave of the hand however, he was in trouble… because he couldn’t touch the bug to pick it off his clothes! He’d have to get his wife to do it for him. At one point we were sitting and resting in a shaded area with quite a few flying insects, and within minutes, he was in a hysterical tizzy that had him slapping his body all over the place to rid himself of (half-imaginary) flying gnats. ---
**Author:** ![brachyrhynchos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brachyrhynchos/32/376_2.png) [@brachyrhynchos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brachyrhynchos)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2000, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phobias/30834/18 "2000-08-28T03:43:21Z")
helminthophobia: fear of worms, especially army cutworms. My place of employment? An entomology department. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2000, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phobias/30834/19 "2000-08-28T04:22:32Z")
I’m afraid of… the dark… house spiders (I don’t mind tarantulas)… being alone (not alone as in no partner, alone as in by myself)… short heights (20 feet or so. I’m okay in airplanes)… large crowds… elevators… escalators… men (especially taller men) that I don’t know… big dogs… deep water (as in, my feet can’t touch the ground)… growing old (as in too old to take care of myself)… I’m also very paranoid. Most the time I won’t even answer my phone or get the door when someone knocks. I know, it’s all in my head. Fear not, I am seeing a professional. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![zenith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zenith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zenith)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2000, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phobias/30834/20 "2000-08-28T04:52:33Z")
Apiphobia, spheksophobia and cnidophobia. Bees, wasps and stings. I’m slightly allergic, my brother is deathly allergic and I’m afraid my allergy will get worse. Also I was once caught in a swarm of bees. Scary! also: Hippopotomonstrososquippedaliophobia- scary just typing it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phobias/30834.md?page=2)