r/Phobia

First, i'd like to apologize if this breaks rules, I don't want to trigger anyone, but i'd like an answer if anyone can give it to me. So I feel like I may have entomophobia, but I don't want to claim i have something unless I know full well I do. As a child I had around three-ish bad experiences with bugs >!(Lice, got a tick on my head, got a NASTY bite on my leg from i think a horsefly)!< and I noticed around that time I had nightmares about them as well >!(My most vivid dream and the one I remember most from when I was a kid is one where I was sitting on the couch in my old house, and HORDES of bugs were coming out of the carpet. I somehow end up on the floor, and I was watching myself get viciously swarmed by these bugs and like- they were making me sink into the floor as they were attacking me.)!<
I confuse things like my own hair, sticks, and other harmless things with bugs, I won't enter a room if there's any kind of bug in there and only feel safe if the room is closed and/or locked. I also believe that >!any bug that's bigger than a fly will kill me. Even if it has no way of biting me, I still feel like i'm in life-threatening danger.!< Thoughts?

Hi! I find real life ants kinda cute because they are silly lil guys but when I play games that makes these giant... oh boy...

Encountered in Elden Ring and Fallout 3, I am just grossed and creeped out by them, like for me they bare wayyyy creepier than like "scary" monsters.

So I am curious if that's form of Myrmecophobia or fear of something that's unnaturaly big - altho I don't have same responce to like giant scorpions or giant flies, just seems to be ant specific.

I've looked everywhere, used chat gpt to try and figure out what it is, if it's a phobia or an anxiety disorder or something, but it's driving me crazy no knowing so any help is really appreciated.

Basically, I'm terrified of situations where I'm not in control, for example, being locked in a tight space or swimming in deep water (since I'm not a very good swimmer), my chest feels tight and I panic. It's not Agoraphobia, I'm not afraid of being in large crowds or being away from a safe place. But whenever I'm basically helpless, I get hysterical. The dark used to do it to me as well, but especially swimming. I don't think it's thalassophpbia because I've done a lot of googling, and I don't feel nervous when imagining deep water or seeing pictures of it?? It's when I'm physically in a situation where I can't do anything that I panic.

I don't know if this is classified as a phobia or just a basic human emotion but I'm stressed out trying to figure out what's wrong with me. I think the thing that fits best is maybe Cleithrophobia (fear of being trapped) but nothing really aligns with how I feel. I'm really confused, I hope I explained this well enough, and thank you for any feedback. :/

As the title says: I have a fear of grapes, like, the fruit. It's been with me since I can remember and honestly it hasn't effected my life massively as it is quite easy to avoid them and my family were quite understanding about it.

I genuinely can't bare to look at them, (and I have to be a good few feet away from them to feel safe enough) let alone touch them and I get disgusted when someone touches/eats them normally and I won't be able to touch that person if I know they've been in contact with even a single grape. Same goes for if any thing (such as cutlery) is in contact with them. I will start freaking out and cry if someone puts even a single grape on me and as a kid it was very hard for me to tell and explain to friends as they would find it funny and chase me with grapes. (lowkey traumatic experience)

I generally don't really like fruit that much, and I also can't eat berries in general but they're more of a dislike rather than a fear. My friends have asked if it could be a type of trypophobia but I'm fine with looking at things like honeycomb... So I don't think its that.

I've never met or heard of a fear for a specific fruit, and or anyone with the same sort of fear so I was wondering if anybody would know what it is? Does it have a name? And also if anyone knows/has a similar sort of phobia.

The first being an overwhelming fear of the sky itself and the other being the fear of falling into the sky, this would be the second time in my life I’ve experienced these phobias. The first time was when I was young and I felt weightless when I would look up. It gradually subsided I aged but a few years ago I had a traumatic experience with an edible that was so strong it gave me a panic attack and during that trip I once again I felt weightless. Has anyone else dealt with these and how do you manage them?

(my main question is in the title, but this part's mostly a vent/context)

i didn't think it was a full-on phobia, but i really think it's too severe to be a fear. i'm sorry if this isn't taking things seriously enough, i could just be overreacting, but i thought i might as well try. i really don't know. i've been really scared of bugs for a while now, but not my whole life. i actually loved them as a kid. the worst part is, for some reason, i'm just fine looking at them on a screen, and can actually like seeing them. i really like them on paper, too. i appreciate them deeply. but when i see something, even an ant, i'm horrified. i either freeze entirely or run away. i'm an adult now and i'll probably be moving out soon, and one of the worst bugs for me (centipedes) are incredibly common in the area. just now (the reason i'm posting this) i was just going to grab something for a headache, and as i was coming back to bed, i saw something really big on the stairs, like a giant mosquito. it looked like the insect from this one movie i keep seeing clips of online, where it buries its way into a guy's leg and the doctors have to pull it out, i think it was a comedy or at least had comedic elements (that's not important though, i only realized as i was typing this). i was using a flashlight to see, so it must've just been the angle, because it turned out to be a centipede. i didn't get another look at it or anything, i just woke my dad up to take care of it (another reason this life isn't sustainable for me, i'm a grown ass woman asking my dad to help in the middle of the night???), but as he was getting up, i was really nervous, asking him to put on a jacket and thick shoes and everything so if it was something venomous he'd be fine, and the whole time i was horrified something would happen, despite us living in a place that would never have that as a concern at all. i really hate it and i don't know what to do.

I'm scared of blood what should I do

The sight of icebergs is truly disgusting and terrifying. A photo of just the mountain above the water makes me uneasy because I don't know what might be below. When I see graphics showing what's above and below the water, it makes me sick inside. Another thing is the awareness that it moves, that today it is there and tomorrow morning it may disappear and be somewhere else.

Something happened to me involving doctors when I was little that I never told anyone about. Not getting into the story here. I didn’t even tell my therapist when I had one, because I thought maybe it wasn’t that bad.

I was wrong. I’m in my late teens, and I have not been near a doctor’s office, dentist‘s office, or a hospital in years.

And I know it’s gotten worse because I used to be fine with the dentist until something happened there that triggered what I’m assuming was a flashback to that original event.

It’s preventing me from getting ID, finding a job, or going into the career I wanted because I literally can’t handle the simplest of testing without breaking down.

I have a phobia of slugs, to the point where looking at an image of one or even saying the word makes me gag. If i see one in real life i have been known to be sick. That being said, it doesn't impact my day-to-day life TOO much because i don't see too may of them, especially at this time of year.

I have had a fear of Micheal Jackson since forever, and I thought it was going to go away as I got older, but it hasn’t.

I once tried to cure this fear using exposure therapy. To do this I watched one of his music videos, I just searched “Micheal Jackson music videos” on YouTube and clicked the first result…bad idea…

The song was thriller. And since I have avoided MJ so much, I didn’t know about this music video and its…premise…
So I watched the video, and was then even MORE afraid of MJ.

My friend sometimes randomly shows me pictures of MJ or something (she lives across the country so it’s via text or face time screen sharing) and I literally scream out loud most of the time, or at least physically jump.

Even just the sound of his voice scares me. I cant listen to his music (which sucks, because I think I would actually really like his music) if someone says “hee hee” in that MJ tone I get freaked out.

There’s a part in Conan Gray’s song “Lonely Dancers” where he sounds vaguely like MJ (“waste time, forget that guy. He don’t know love, I hope he dies. Get back up, we’ll be alright”) and when I first heard it I was like “yeahhhh…I don’t think I’ll be listening to this song very much…” but I do listen to it on an almost daily basis (as with all of Found Heaven) so I feel like that’s a start?

When the trailer for “Micheal” came on the TV (a movie about MJ) I about had a heart attack. That’s worse than any horror movie imaginable.

My dad also listens to a song from back when he was in The Jackson Five, and that freaks me out too (the one that’s like “abc, easy as 1 2 3, doe ray me” or something)

So how do I cure this fear? I would love to listen to his music, as I feel like I would enjoy it. But I can’t because of this fear. I also think I would enjoy the new movie, and I also don’t want to be terrified every time that ad comes on TV.

heya!! ive currently got a septum, eyebrow, helix and both my firsts. im wanting to get kitty fangs but im honestly really bad with needles.
i’m not here to ask about the pain but how do i not have a panic attack? i find not looking at the needle makes me too weary so should i look at it? will it make it worse? how do i follow through

I don't know what to name it, but I have an extreme phobia of this meme format. I used to watch them all the time to the point of developing this phobia. If you have an idea of maybe a name for this phobia or a similar phobia then I'd love to hear it. This may be more broad of a phobia but I'm not sure.

Hi, I'm a content creator online and I suffer from intense heliophobia, I've been struggling with it since late 2019 and it has not faded, I am unsure of the causes but the sun triggers intense anxiety and fear and the sunlight on my skin makes me very uncomfortable and anxious.

I don't know what caused it exactly, but there's this stigma that phobias are the direct response of trauma and well, I guess you understand me in this subreddit.

The thing is, I'm a mildly popular creator and I speak up on themes of racism, classism etc and I stand by my views that they should be eradicated, however, whenever I try to share this part of myself, my phobia, people start accusing me of being colorist and having internalised racism.

I'm Mexican, my parents are brown, my skin gets tanned very easily, which never bothered me, in fact, I used to purposely tan myself before my phobia, here's when I suspect something could've triggered it because one time I got sunburnt so bad my skin literally hurt and was peeling off.

However all my family is kinda light skin but gets tanned very easily and intensely. I wanna state that this never bothered me, and it also doesn't bother me now to be very pale because of the YEARS that have gone without me seeing the sun.

But for some reason people think I am heliophobic because I don't wanna tan, that I wanna be white, that I am afraid of the sun because I'm afraid of tanning and it's simply not true, I don't know what to do, do you have any advice on how I could explain my phobia and talk about my experience?

• Is anyone else suddenly paranoid about hantavirus after seeing the news lately??

Even the thought of a getting a shot or getting my blood drawn is enough to make me light headed. And actually getting them is so much worse I almost passed out 2 separate times when getting them.

‎

‎I haven't found anything that helps me calm down - closing my eyes, having someone next to me - nothing helps

‎

‎I just want to able at least get my blood drawn without having a near panic attack everytime and inconveniencing everyone.

‎

‎Any advice is appreciated

Hi, I’m in need of help/advice. I’m almost 21 years old and have been struggling with a fear of bugs my whole life. Not just the bad or annoying bugs but like literally every single bug, crawling, flying, you name it (though the flying ones are the worst). I was just trying to sit outside with my mom because it’s a beautiful day out, but the whole time I’m stressed out and a couple bees/wasps fly by and before I know it I’m breaking out in tears. My mom is understanding, but my dad always says “it’s just a (insert bug here), it won’t hurt you” like, I get that, but this fear is irrational and I don’t understand why I can’t be outside like a normal person without freaking out anytime a bug comes near me. All I want is to be able to be okay with them, I’ll never like them but I just want to be able to chill tf out.

My question is, how the hell am I supposed to overcome this? Can a therapist help? I don’t want options for repellants or things like that, I want a real solution to get over my fear. Exposure therapy terrifies me and I don’t know that it will ever really work. Any advice is appreciated.

I've rearranged a lot of things in my life to survive the spring/summer because of my bug phobia (esp spiders) so today, I doused my car with peppermint oil; that should work keep stuff away right? for the most part?

My dad has had a fear of snakes for as long as I can remember. I’m not trying to force him to interact with one or “get over it,” but I do want to understand how to support him better.

I’ve been interested in getting a pet snake someday, but he’s extremely uncomfortable with the idea, especially in the house. I don’t want to make his fear worse or disrespect his boundaries.

For people who have dealt with phobias (or supported someone who has one), what are healthy ways to:

• talk about the fear without minimizing it
• avoid triggering someone
• help them feel more in control
• make the home feel safe for them

I’m not asking him to handle anything — I just want to understand how to approach this respectfully.

Any advice from people with phobias or experience supporting loved ones would really help.

Moved in with my sister a few months ago, I just saw a roach. A fucking roach in my bed. I don’t know what to do I can’t be in this house. I have to leave. What the fuck bro IN MY BED BRO. WHY IS IT EVEN IN MY ROOM THERES NO FOOD IN THERE I DONTKNOW WHAT TO DO. WHAT DO I DO???