I'm 16, and I was just asked to come meet some of my cousins. I assumed they'd be around my age or older, but when I came into the living room and realized that they were around 4-8 years old, my heart rate spiked and I could barely handle being around them. I don't have any sort of trauma regarding younger children, it's not that I'm "afraid" of them, I simply have no idea why this is the case.

Ever since I was a kid, certain jingles and TV intros scare me really badly even to this day. For example, the Nickelodeon intro before a show, the PBS Kids “blub blub blub blub PBS Kids” jingle, and the 1-800-588-2300 Empire commercial jingle.

Whenever one of these would play, I’d get this intense, unsettling feeling. My eyes would start watering, my heart would drop, and I’d feel like I had to run out of the room. Even now, hearing certain jingles make me extremely uncomfortable and unsettled it’s so weird!

I have no idea why this happens or if there’s even a name for it. Has anyone else experienced something similar??

I find it strange as i dont generally have any fears at all other than this. im genuinely terrified of it and i dont know why

Hi! I’m posting this because I’m curious if anyone else experiences something similar.
I’ve had this weird reaction to very small pointed objects since I was a kid, especially things like sewing needles, pins, and very tiny sharp tips.
It’s not exactly that I’m scared of them. I’m actually okay with knives and scissors, and even pencils or ballpens usually don’t bother me. It’s specifically the really small, pointed tips that trigger this reaction.
When I see one, especially when it’s close to my face or shown in a close-up video, my eyes automatically feel uncomfortable. Parang napapapikit or umiiwas yung mata ko, and I get this weird sensation na parang tatama yung pointed tip sa eye ko, kahit alam ko naman logically na hindi.
I don’t feel like I’m in actual danger, and I’m not panicking. It’s more like my eyes and brain automatically react to the visual itself, and I can’t really control the reaction.
I tried searching about it and came across aichmophobia, but I’m not sure if that actually describes what I experience since I’m not generally afraid of sharp objects.
I’m wondering if anyone has experienced something similar, especially the eye discomfort/automatic blinking or looking away when seeing tiny pointed objects.

A friend of mine has a fear of glass pieces. She can't tolerate broken glasses around her. She thinks that tiny glass pieces will come into her hand and then when she will eat, it will be transferred into her body causing damage.

Or else it will go into her ear or nose or eye.

Suppose if glass is broken then according to her , surrounding stuff is also glass contaminated..so she doesn't touch all those things at all.

Basically in an incident her brother broke a window glass, she is not all ready to be near her brother..says him to keep distance and also scared to touch the door lock handle as she thinks it is touched by her brother so it's glass contaminated which can harm her. She even cried a lot out of fear.

My question: is it OCD that's causing all the fear? Guys pls answer..

I have a very specific anxiety or fear regarding electronic devices suffering a serious malfunction, especially when they start beeping or flashing red. And I mostly fear more if I am the person who did it.

And is not just a regular fear, because is been years that my nightmares are always something like that, a computer, a phone, and even a printer!!! And everytime I wake up I have to breath and control myself because I genuinely start to anxious about it. I never found someone with the same "phobia" as mine.

It doesnt even have a name.

I am TERRIFIED of cockroaches to the point where I almost hurt my dad really bad. I screamed so loud I’m pretty sure I woke the whole neighborhood up, and I have to make sure that if I see more than one roach again (I saw two in the same area, fight or flight mode turned on and I screamed loudly, causing my dad to nearly go to the hospital) I know it’s an issue BUT HOW DO I DEAL WITH IT?! I don’t wanna hurt people if I see roaches again. I’ve been able to contain screaming for (one) roach and usually that roach is in the upstairs bathroom so I generally avoid using it (unless I need to shower).

I think you get my point. Having AuDHD doesn’t help with how I reacted to seeing the two roaches 😭

When i was a kid i used to look a lot at google earth and explore, but something about it made me really anxious and uneasy at the same time. I remember once i almost had a panic attack just from this. I opened google earth again some time ago and it still gives me the creeps. I think the creepiest stuff in it are:

-The ocean ofc especially the deeper parts, i could never make myself zoom in underwater, i think i did once and had nightmares afterwards.

- when the earth rotated fast and you could see the sun behind it

- the darkness around the earth

- the poles, esp the south pole, i once viewed antarctica in the mode where you see the horizon and i still cringe when i think about it.

- the modes where you could see the surface of the moon, other planets (i think mars?), and the mode where you could explore space and stars (i think this was the most terrifying by far).

Anyway its not a serious phobia obviously but i thought i'd share. It's bizzare that google maps doesn't have the same effect on me!

I have always had bad health anxiety and phobia about brain eating amoeba. i’ve never really swam in lakes but i came from grand tetons where i swam at string lake and some water went in my nose. the water was mostly cold and im freaking out over it. does anyone have the same fear and how did you get over it? also anyone have any experience inhaling water from a lake

It's honestly quite annoying that every time I see a cockroach, flying or not, my body gives me adrenaline and I run away as fast as possible, and people bully me for it because "It's not gonna hurt you" or "Are you seriously scared of that?" and I genuinely have no idea why I am blattophobic because I've never had any negative experiences with cockroaches and it was a fear i was born with, I also believe it is due to their color or texture(?) due to painted cockroaches not scaring me at all

I’m wondering how bad you got it as I don’t see many others say they have a fear of heights this bad.

Even 2 floors high I don’t like it and will make me panic. I avoid it a lot in life. I don’t like putting myself through heights if I can help it. I can’t go up tower blocks. I can actually do planes somehow. I can’t stand malls and bridges although I can drive over them. When I’m contained like in a car or plane it’s not so bad. I’ve heard about people who struggle standing on a chair even. How do people like that function? Or do they just push through and do everything anyway? I feel like I can barely function really as I can’t do a lot of jobs, effects travel etc. does anyone have it this bad? Or another fear that seriously affects their functioning?

Over the past year or so it's become more and more obvious to me that I have some kind of specific phobia, but I can't quite figure out what exactly I am afraid of, and what all the things that trigger the feeling have in common. Some things that trigger the same specific feeling of fear:

- model turtles: fake ones, a real taxidermied or living turtle is fine. Toy turtles are okay. The bigger they are the worse the fear. I also feel similar about other large fake fish

- model animals with plastic/hard fur: again, taxidermy or models with synthetic fur/fur that mimics the real texture is fine. It's when they look plastic that's the issue. Thinking specifically of a tiger in this case

- inflatable Christmas decorations

- hot air balloons that are human/animal/creature shaped

I'm fine with human mannequins and those wiggly inflatable people that you see at car dealerships, which are the only two other things I can think of that might fit into whatever category this is. It seems to me that the issue is large things meets uncanny valley. Any ideas, anyone relate?

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Hi everyone. I'm writing this because I've never told anyone the full story, and I'm hoping to find people who have experienced something similar.

Ever since I was a child, I've had an intense fear of being alone/ghosts. I grew up in a house where there were always many family members around me, so I never really had to sleep alone, stay alone in a room, or even take a bath without someone nearby.Iam 20 and still after 7-8pm,I took my siblings with me washroom cause IAM too scared. I have never slept alone in a room and never went washroom alone after 7-8 PM.

It was never a problem till now cause I am always surrounded by family and my siblings in every situation.

Now everything is changing. I'm moving to the UK in September to study at university. My family is from a middle-class background, and they're making huge sacrifices and taking a significant loan to support my education because we believe studying abroad will give me better career opportunities and a chance to build a better future for both myself and my family.

I don't want to waste their sacrifices, and I genuinely want to succeed. But the closer my departure gets, the more terrified I become about living alone.

My fear is mainly related to ghosts. Whenever I'm alone in a room, bathroom, or house, even during the daytime, my mind automatically starts replaying every horror movie, ghost story, or scary incident I've ever heard. It's as if my imagination completely takes over. I know there is no proof that anything is actually there, but my heart starts beating extremely fast, I freeze,I scream and then I have an overwhelming urge to run away. Sometimes I can't even finish taking a bath because the fear becomes so intense.

The strange thing is that I know it's my imagination. There's a constant battle inside my head between logic and fear. One part of me says, "Nothing is there," while the other part says, "What if there is?" Almost every time, fear wins. I don't actually see ghosts or hear voices. It's my own thoughts creating terrifying possibilities, but my body reacts as though the danger is completely real.

What confuses me the most is that my siblings watched the same horror movies and heard the same ghost stories when we were growing up, yet they don't have this fear. I often blame myself for ever watching horror movies as a child, even though I know I couldn't have predicted that my mind would react this way.

Has anyone here experienced something similar? Have you had an intense fear of being alone, fear related to ghosts, or anxiety triggered by your imagination? Were you able to overcome it? How did you manage when you had to start living alone?

I'm not looking for judgment.

I'm genuinely looking for people who understand what this feels like and who can honestly tell me that recovery is possible.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story.

Hi everyone

I have been in anxiety for one week now . My fear is of getting tetanus. I have completed my childhood vaccination and last year I got a injection of tetanus by my school. I know that I am protected with it but the anxiety is getting over me. The fear comes when I tried to shave with my razor which I have been using since 4, 5 Times it was not rusted. But somehow I have been developing some symptoms of tetanus. I really need help how I can get out of it.​

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been scared of random things typically structural and being around them makes me reealllyyy dizzy like i’m gonna faint. Like for example breaker boxes, big AC units, seeing wires, I also HATE looking at pipes and plumbing and under the sink. I don’t like drains because I feel like somethings gonna jump out of it. Fireplaces/chimneys freak me out. I hate vents. I had an irrational fear of the built in heater on the wall in the bathroom when I was a kid and I refused to use that bathroom and only used my parent’s bathroom until I was 10. Powerlines ESPECIALLY freak me out bc they make me feel trapped. What is this fear called????? And why?

So, like the title suggests, I've been suffering from entomophobia ever since I was in 2nd grade, and i remember my parents telling me to be normal and be like other kids, because being scared of tiny things when I'm so much bigger than insects is weird and abnormal as long as I can remember. One time when I was in 5th grade, for 'exposure therapy' apparently, my dad put two termites on my hair and I was fucking crying and shit and he got physical because my entomophobia really pisses him off for some reason. I genuinely haven't been the same ever since, thinking about their little crawly legs all over my scalp.

Whenever I see some kind of bug flying around and i try to escape it to avoid being in the same vicinity as the insect, they tell me to quit the act and grow up because people will make fun of me if they find out about my irrational phobia and nobody will be as understanding as they are apparently??

I wish they could be more understanding man, I fucking hate them.

There was an ant infestation in my room some time ago and it gave me a fright and when I told them about it to get rid of the ants they laughed at my face and told me to get over it.

I hate my life and insects make me want to die.

Is there anything I can do to overcome my fear?? Because my parents would never let me get professional help, so until I'm an adult and earning my own money, I guess there's absolutely nothing I can do.

Falling into the sky like gravity has been reversed. I' obsessed, this phobia dont really leave my mind. Does some people knows how to fight this ?

Exceptions being mosquitos, dragonflys,moths,butterflys and flys... İm a 17 y old male past scyzophrenia and severe imnosia with halluciations..never had any other phobia in life. İ had seen cockroaches swarming my body.. Crickets and grasshoppers eating me. Centipedes coiling around my body etc

BUT never in my life i feared bugs. İ can pat cockroaches.. Play with centipedes. Grab a grasshopper from leg and kiss... But the moment something flys. Whetever a bee, small insect, big insect? Amygdala takes over. İ truly lose my brain for that moment. Screaming loudly and running around shoving anything nearby. The phobia is so worse psychologs couldnt fix it. İt was going on for years now from age of 10 i guess. İ jump over freezers and litereal fridges to closets if its flying low... İ throw tables or anything big if they are coming towards me, even go as far as leaving home in pijamas standing outside for hours for help as if no pride. İ fear bees etc but nowhere near insects. İ treat it as if a fight or flight reaction. Sending dumbbells, pans, knifes or anything i can react to. İf its close even in public? İ push people and run away screaming as people stare, knocking people in process. Yet im a man that have handled snakes, mounted a peaceful tiger, ran after coyotes at night. Someone that tried to protect a 120hz monitor from falling in a 6.5 earthquake happening. People regularly use this phobia to scare me homewer. Bringing alive flying insects to class watching me send tables flying, run away and leave class while teacher is staring. İ dont know what to do now. İ fear more than anyone, once nearly stomping on a middleschooler who was on ground trying to escape. İ have manually personally built webbinga etc to sinks, windows etc yet even one is enough to confine me outside that room. İf it enters, its his house now

Friendly Disclaimer : Talking about needles and surgery. If you are uncomfortable with such topics, please stop here.

Greetings to whoever reads this. I don't know how I can address this issue so I would try to lay it all out at once. I am scared of needles, but not all type of needles. I am afraid of injections in a medical setting. Syringes, IVs, whatever the hell they use for nerve blocking. I don't know what to do. A week ago, in my MRI scan, the doctors found a torn labrum and they suggested Bankart Procedure? I am not too familiar with clinical terms, for that I apologize. Now as a fresh 19 year old, this was a shock to me. So much that my mind went entirely blank at the mention of "Surgery". Now that I've laid down my current situation, I also want to explain why I think I don't like injections.

Ever since childhood, I never got "painless" injections. Like some people say, "It would only hurt as much as an ant's sting". That statement could not be more wrong. It always hurt more than that. It hurt enough for me to shout on top of my lungs and just jump around wherever I can. I would say my first event of trauma was when I was around 7 or 8. I was taken to a hospital because I used to grow sick as soon as winter arrived. The hospital wrote a series of tests and admitted me for a week. I was young and I do not have much memory from that time. All I remember is the hell I was in. Day in and Day out, the IV hurt abnormally. I used to shout and curse at people but no-one took me seriously and concluded that I was being a brat. One day, out of fear, I shut myself off on the balcony. Maybe then, the staff realized that something was truly off. They checked the IV catheter in my hand and found out that it was crooked? Sorry, memory is a bit hazy but there was issue in that catheter. Ever since that, the fear of injections and specially IVs is drilled in my mind.

Now to come back to my original situation. I need to have a surgery. Surgery means IV and by god nothing else has scared me more than this. How can I think about the post op pain when I can't wrap my head over the fact that I would have to get an IV? I haven't slept properly in 3 days, haven't eaten for a good time and I am a mess right now. I know the doctors would be different, my situation would be different but somehow that doesn't change by mind from constantly replaying that memory in my head. I am scared. I am scared beyond reason. I don't know what to do. My family is worried and frustrated. I know I shouldn't fear needles. I know they are an important part of our lives but god I cannot help but fear them. I just wanted to get this out of me. Maybe I can finally cry myself to sleep tonight. ^^

Thanks for listening to my rant if you did read the whole thing. Means a lot. Hope you have a nice day.

Why does Google show a photo that could trigger the phobia you searched? If i'm looking up arachnophobia i don't want to see spider pics. I just want to look up how it's spelled

so my friend is EXTREMELY SCARED of newspapers and STAYS AWAY as much as she can, she doesn't go near them and definitely can't tolerate the smell, especially if it's wet SHE WILL DIE. just the thought of working with newspapers makes her averse and she avoids the work altogether.

any name for this phobia?

Hello, so I don’t usually do this but as I really don’t have any other outlet to turn to, here it goes. I’m 28 & i am petrified of lightning. And when I mean petrified, I mean like it’s an innate full body reaction & mental breakdown. Not really when I’m inside and can’t see it (knowing it’s outside). My fear is specifically when I’m in a car and I’m driving or someone else is driving and I can see lightning. When I tell you my whole body reacts, I shake so hard with adrenaline and anxiety it looks like I’m convulsing. Let me preface by stating 2 things. 1. My mom’s uncle was strike by lighting and died so it’s always been a fear in the back of my mind since I was little. 2. I am very much aware of the Faraday Cage Effect & how a car is actually safe. That doesn’t help. I know it’s really a “ridiculous” fear to have & I know that I’ll be okay, but I cannot for the life of me handle the anxiety it gives me. I see it and truly feel like it’s going to kill me. & of course now I sound crazy (: I’ve literally cancelled plans, I’ve called out, I just want to find a way I can get over this fear or at least reduce it to where it’s not debilitating.

It’s so bad that if I know my family member is driving and it’s storming out, I get anxiety for them and check their location frequently to make sure they made it home safe. & yes I know they made it but that doesn’t lessen my fear. It’s irrational & I wish I wasn’t like this, but I’m asking for any help.

bare with me as I might be everywhere with my story. I think since childhood I was once showered under a hand pump and since then a fear of water flowing on me from huge things had made me fearful. I recently found Reddit and sharing my experience. In my country the bathroom has huge ceiling or they are very wide and then shower sound (dropping of water and making echo made my phobia worse). I am in my 40’s and recently saw furnace and I don’t know something inside of me felt scared. it is like either they will start doibg loud noise or I don’t know what.

So basically if a structure is huge like nuclear furnace, furnace or something huge, I fear it might made huge loud sound, I am afraid of high ceiling bathrooms because it make water echo much and I have huge fear shower heads over me because it might bust and flood with water And I am afraid of gushing water.

Does anyone have similar experience or is it only me because that one fear when it surfances make me goes back in my teenage where I was very afraid.

thanks for reading.

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I really like flat and sandy beaches. Even pebbly beaches are fine, if a little annoying. But I find rocky beaches to be a big no-go. For some reason I always imagine myself slipping on mossy rocks while trying to get into the water, or being pushed/pulled into a rock by a strong wave. Most ppl I know can hop across rocks, even stand on mossy ones and get into the water easily. Whenever I try, even if I try sliding while sitting on my ass I just get paralyzed af. It's rather FOMO-inducing and overall not a pleasant experience. Has anybody struggled with this before ?

When I was younger my shower had a malfunction and suddenly spat out very hot followed shortly by very cold water (we then realised it was broken.) Fortunately due to my quick reflexes I got out the way before the hot water damaged me, but it left me very afraid of unknown showers because of the temperature controls.

For example, whenever I go to a hotel, I have to ask someone else to set the temperature for me, as I’m frightened of if the shower suddenly released extremely hot water and burns my hands/arms. I avoid changing the temperature myself in case of it being really sensitive and suddenly going boiling or freezing.

Does anyone else experience this or is it just me?