General Discussion

I have a fear of bathrooms. Not toilets; bathrooms. Strangely lit bathrooms with strange shadows, lower than average ceilings, strange sounds, strange fixtures and closed doors will send me into horrific panic attacks complete with chest pains, being unable to breathe, and fits of uncontrollable shaking. This is after six years of therapy. I don't even close my bathroom door at home.

needles, and just the idea of any type of foreign object in my body -- implants, IUDs, that type of thing. even just having an IV in my arm makes me very uncomfortable. //shudders

I have a bunch of really dumb and bizare fears, really.
Here's a list lolol.

Thlassophobia (meaning murky water terrifies me)... Aquariums as a child were fun but terrifying.
Looking out of windows when it's dark scares me to death, my uncle once scared me with a (pretty scary to this day, I think) werewolf mask when I was 8, had the fear since.
Dentophobia. I always hated going to the dentist (I had bad teeth as a kid) and to this day my anxiety & headaches acts up really bad when I have to go.
Anything related to eyeball gore
The idea of tiny people (like borrowers) existing freaks me out so bad.
FLIES. They used to (somehow) get stuck in my hair, and the buzzing freaked me out so bad. Still does...
Oh and I have arachnaphobia, my mom is terrified of spiders, I guess she passed it on to me haha.

I won't call it a phobia since I've never talked to a professional about it and I hate self diagnosting, but I'm terrified of inner organs and anything that resembles them.
It all started as a child, I think you all may know the obligatory "for some reason we shrunk and have to go/accidentally got into character X's body" episode, that sooner or later comes up in cartoons. When I watched these as a child, they made me sick to my stomach and I always had nightmares for days after one of those episodes. And mind you, those organs were mostly very cartoony and often not even realistic in their depiction.
It sounds silly, but one of the most terrifying dreams I've ever had was that everything was normal but there was a gaint, beating, heart floating in the sky and no matter were I went, it was there and it always felt like it was staring at me (don't know how that was possible with no eyes, but it's a dream)


If there's anyone else who has this, I'm really curious if this is some actual medical thing that exists or if I'm just oversensitive (not asking for medical advice or diagnostics, just curious)

I have emetophobia. It’s gotten better ever since I started therapy and medication, though. Before, it was seriously impeding on my academic and social life because I would have to leave class or stay home because I was so afraid of throwing up. Even typing this is making me shiver. Now, it is only a problem maybe once or twice a week. It still makes me very afraid, but I have gotten a lot better at handling it. I’m proud of that! :)

I also have a phobia of high-pitched noises. This is related to my emetophobia, because I am afraid that the high-pitched noises will cause me to throw up or make me otherwise harmed. It’s irrational, but that’s what phobias are. For some reason, this phobia doesn’t apply to my tinnitus. It’s only external high-pitched noises that I am afraid of.

[quote name="Yharim" date="2020-04-05 15:33:05" ] Bugs.. Bugs.. BUGS!! Anything classified as a bug I DO NOT LIKE! I can't express my hatred for bugs, they're just so fricking scary! [/quote] Anything that is not a butterfly, moth, or fly is classified as "DO NOT TOUCH ME. EVER"

I'm not afraid of much and I love horror, but I have a bad problem with Thalassophobia. That's the fear of the ocean, but it's a little more specific than that. It's the fear of the vast open darkness of the sea.

I'm ok looking at a pool, or a clear water lake, or shallow waters in a beach. Even in a larger lake, as long as it's bright and I can see the bottom, I'm cool. It's the vast area and the darkness that gets to me. If I'm in a boat, I absolutely will NOT, EVER put a single foot down in the water. The thought of my feet dangling with the vast nothingness beneath, just the thought is giving me a knot in the stomach. I can deal with it quite wonderfully for a phobia, like, I can still swim in a deep pool at night if I'm distracted by other things, like other people. I can get into a trampolin pool no problem, but if I think about it, I start feeling sick. I need to look down at the pool and stare at the bottom tilesl and see everything beneath my feet for long enough to calm down. Don't ask me to get in a trampoline pool at night, when I can't see the bottom. I won't do it.

Also, even when I can see the bottom of the ocean, shipwrecks are HORRENDOUS, because I still can't see what's around or inside the ship, and everything around it is still vast and empty and dark. I probably first noticed this fear it in the shipwreck level of Mario 64. I could never finish that level, my whole childhood.

If you need some sort of example, googling thalassophobia gives some horrendous images of the sea that make me sick. Some beautiful videos of the ocean that are supposed to be soothing are also things I can't watch without curling into a ball. Little Nightmare's The Depths DLC is my worst nightmare come true. The rest of the game was a breeze (as I said, I love horror themes and I'm not fearful), but it took me a stuffed animal and a blanket and watching someone's gameplay first to gather courage and talking to myself the whole time to go through it.

edit: HYDRUS FROM SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS. GOD IT TOOK ME HOURS STARING AT THAT STUPID EEL SWIMMING AROUND AND AROUND UNTIL I GOT THE COURAGE TO EVEN GET IN THE WATER. AND I WAS 19. AND IT'S JUST A VIDEOGAME. I SWEAR I TRIED TO FIND A WAY TO DEFEAT IT JUST BY THROWING ARROWS IN THE WATER FOR A GOOD 30 MINUTES JUST SO I WOULDNT HAVE TO GO INSIDE. A GROWN 19 YEAR OLD WOMAN AFRAID OF A VIDEOGAME. I LOOKED AWAY WHEN THE INTRO VIDEO PLAYED. I CANT DEAL WITH THAT STUPID FIGHT.