Anybody else have phobias? I'm afraid of heights My son always messes with me when were at the mall cuz I'm scared to take the escalator My heart starts pounding and I get real anxious I don't wanna be scared, but I can't help it I also feel dread when I'm upstairs in the mall and I get caught walking close to the glass barrier Any advice you have would be helpful

Acrophobia is defined as a fear of heights. It is different from aerophobia, or fear of flying, as well as other similar specific phobias, because this fear is more generalized. Depending on the phobia's severity, an acrophobic person may equally fear being on a high floor of a building, climbing a ladder and any other activity that involves being at height.


decribes it to a T


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrophobia
[Edited 11/6/09 21:19pm]

Understand where Fear Of Heights comes from…




UNDERSTAND FEAR OF HEIGHTS

The first thing to understand is that fear is a natural and normal human 'negative' emotion. The purpose of negative emotions is to tell us that something isn't quite right; an indication that we need to take some kind of action.

In the case of fear, the message is 'danger'. While we are born with fear of loud noises and fear of heights 'pre-wired' in our nervous systems, and all other fears are learned from 'experience'.

The catch is, our mind is so powerful, that the 'experience' doesn't have to have been real, it could just have been vividly imagined. (That's why you can get feelings about heights or high levels just by thinking; you don't have to actually be there).

Learned fear is an important survival mechanism, but just occasionally the wires get crossed and we learn a fear response for something where it doesn't belong – where there isn't a significant danger – and Fear Of Heights can develop.

The Root Cause

The root cause of Fear Of Heights varies from individual to individual, and whilst no two individuals are the same, most fall into one or more of the following categories:

A Single Traumatic Incident. A highly stressful or frightening real event at which, instantaneously Fear Of Heights is created. Similar to, say, a child being bitten by a dog and developing an immediate phobia, a single traumatic incident is a one-time experience at which there is such extreme fear - even if only for a moment - that the nervous system 'learns' to associate fear to help the individual avoid such situations in futre.

The initial fear, by the way, may be nothing to do with heights or high levels. We often hear from clients that the problem started at a time when they were under extreme stress for something completely unrelated, but the mind somehow associated the negative feelings to heights or high levels anyway.

An Associated Traumatic Experience. This is where the individual does not directly experience the fear, but 'associates' to someone who does, either in a real situation, or, more rarely, when watching someone in a movie - or even a dream - experience a traumatic event.

A Slow Build. A slow build occurs when a mild case of Fear Of Heights escalates over time to become a severe one. What is happening here is that the individual is 'accumulating' fearful associations to heights or high levels, so that the evidence used by the mind and nervous system is becoming increasingly irrefutable that fear is the appropirate emotion. That means that anxiety isso it is created automatically in anticipation each time... creating a self-fullfilling prophesy.

Sometimes Fear Of Heights can simply be developed from seemingly harmless experiences, or seem like 'its always been like this'. The truth is it hasn't always been that way (there's no such thing as a new born baby with irrational fears and phobias) but it may have started way back in an early childhood, possibly school, experience.

A 'Learned' Respose, like Fear Of Heights can Always be UN-learned...

In all the years we've been helping people overcome the most extreme fears and phobias, we have never found a case that could not be overcome, provided the individual was determined to do so.

The human system is capable of learning new responses incredibly quickly (how else could a single incident lasting only a few seconds or minutes create a problem in the first place?) and with the correct techniques a fearless, comfortable response can always be restored.



So it's because of a traumatic event?

taken from http://www.changethatsrig...D=750:1339
[Edited 11/6/09 21:28pm]

its weird..but my phobia is that of smelling bad.
even though i shower every day or like 2 times a day.
i get into a wild state if i suspect if i smell bad.

so i have a bad smell phobia.

baroque said:

I think that's more like an obsessive compulsive thing. I mean if you only shower once every day do you stink? I bet you don't. And what would happen if you DO happen to stink a bit? Probably not so much

baroque said:

ur kidding right?

ZombieKitten said:

OCD

I love Xmen, but won't ever watch Wolverine again cuz the fight scene made my heart pound What should I do?
[Edited 11/6/09 22:08pm]

nurseV said:

no.
i think its called autodysomophobia
[Edited 11/6/09 21:38pm]

ZombieKitten said:

you your right..its not bad. but it likes freaks the hell out of me. my heart pounds, my vision gets blurred. i get all paranoid. hopefully i'll get over this once day.

I don't think I have any real irrational fears

I have plenty of aversions and anxieties to make up for it though

I'm not fond of heights, but I've done a lot of flying, tall building stuff, like really putting myself UP THERE to counter it, and it's really worked. This year I flew in a helicopter and looked over the edge at empire state building

I'm pretty darned scared of this bridge:


not only is it high up, but it also curves and inclines and declines I had to go over it TWICE last Tuesday night, in the dark no less, and I broke into a sweat, but nothing worse.

baroque said:

so it is-first time I've heard of it. How do you cope?

ZombieKitten said:

Oh Gawd Zombie Why? It makes me think of a bridge here in Texas that I cross and I get so scared

baroque said:

you know part of your treatment would be to go for a week without a shower just to show you nothing bad happens

Autodysomophobia


Autodysomophobia is known by a number of different names.


– Autodysomophobia
– Bad Odor Fear
– Bad Odor Phobia
– Bad Smell Fear
– Bad Smell Phobia
– Fear of Bad Odor
– Fear of Bad Smell
– Fear of One that has a Vile Odor
– Fear of Smell Bad
– Fear of Vile Odor
– One that has a Vile Odor Fear
– One that has a Vile Odor Phobia
– Phobia of Bad Odor
– Phobia of Bad Smell
– Phobia of One that has a Vile Odor
– Phobia of Smell Bad
– Phobia of Vile Odor
– Smell Bad Fear
– Smell Bad Phobia
– Vile Odor Fear
– Vile Odor Phobia

baroque said:

I don't have a phobia of that, but I'm QUITE conscious of it, and always make sure I smell good. I don't have a strong body odor by default, but I always go the extra mile w/ a shower, etc.

Plus I just FEEL clean knowing I AM clean, and smell good.

Heights. I won't even step on a step stool in the kitchen. Luckily I'm 6' tall so I rarely have a reason to use a step stool, unlike my roommate who is 5'3 and uses one for everything.

I don't mind elevators or escalators, because I know I'm safe. I can look over a balcony, but if I lean over a bit too much, I freak out. I also won't stand near the edge of something if someone is behind me for fear of being pushed (even in a joking manner).

And I know exactly where my fear of heights comes from.
[Edited 11/6/09 22:04pm]

When I was a kid in Detroit we went over the Ambassador bridge a couple of times maybe that's where it started

ernestsewell said:

I won't step onto a balcony Step stools don't bother me though

Elevators, I have to stand in the very corner, hold onto the bars, have my phone out set to 000, ready to call the cops and burst outta there as soon as the doors open. The phobia started a few months ago when I was leaving a building at night from level 6, I was alone and the elevator stopped on level 3, doors opened to PITCH BLACK and I was about to faint with fear....then the security guard popped around the corner

Still, the fear has stuck with me now. Plus, that elevator was really rough and sounded horrible going down so I thought it had malfunctioned.

NOT GOOD!

I hate knives, electric shocks and hot stuff, too. Anything that stings if it touches you.

ZombieKitten said:

OMG YES I HATE DRIVING OVER BRIDGES OVER WATER TOO!

Too many horror movies where they collapse!

Heights

Needles-the last blood test I had wasn't bad,but there was one time that I had to take a pill to get it done. My fear I believe stemmed from being in the hospital when I was little to first have my tonsils removed,and then my appendix,so I was getting poked,and proded,and I think it stayed with me.

started not 2 long ago- not sure why- fear of people- and their judgement which in my mind will always be negative

im still trying 2 understand why but i can't.

can't have people sitting behind me always have 2 sit in the corner- can't even go 2 restaurants anymore, not sure why.
[Edited 11/7/09 2:11am]

Heights.

My friend has an apartment on the 36th floor in NYC, and it's just about all glass- ceiling to floor windows in every room. You can see NJ and a good portion of the City from there. The first time I went there, I didn't know. She opened the door, I stepped in, and FREAKED. My friends were amazed... and I tried to be cool, but I was standing in the middle of the living room frozen. I was sweating and my heart was beating. My one friend kept saying, "Come here! Look!" I felt sick!

I once went to a mall that had 5 floors. I got upstairs, and then had to sit on the steps of the escalator to get back down. I cannot walk too close to the glass upstairs in a mall, either.
I have this irrational fear that someone will bump into me and knock me over.

Forget flying!
I did it once and had a panic attack!


And spiders.
I'm getting better, though, since I have my own home and no one to kill them for me. I freak for a minute, then deal with it... I hope no one posts pix- that will kill this thread for me.

I have acrophobia, which is quite funny, because I'm nearly 2 meters tall I hate climbing up the ladder, being on the highest floor of the building and looking down etc.

The other one I have - arachnophobia. I just hate those 8-legged beasts! When I see some in my room, I won't fall asleep Problem is that spiders are year after year bigger

Telephones

But it's not a phobia I just don't like them

Fauxie said:

Bo!

I am very afraid of dolls.

MoniGram said:

"We're coming for you..."

MoniGram said:

maybe not so funny edit.
[Edited 11/7/09 4:19am]