“A phobia is an intense fear of something that, in reality, poses little or no actual danger”.
“Fear is an adaptive human response. It serves a protective purpose, activating the automatic “fight-or-flight” response.
If you have a phobia, you probably realize that your fear is unreasonable, yet you still can’t control your feelings. Just thinking about the feared object or situation may make you anxious. And when you’re actually exposed to the thing you fear, the terror is automatic and overwhelming.
The other day, I walked into my friends bathroom and as I turned on the lights, perched right there on the wall, like it had been waiting for me was a cockroach. Now to some of you this might be nothing but to me it’s, it’s …. Words fail me. I stood there literally shaking. Goosebumps had formed on both arms and I felt like I was going to hurl at any moment. It’s safe to say I panicked. After what seemed like 5hrs, I quickly turned off the lights, shut the door and locked it like that would stop the cockroach from crawling out if it wanted to. I didn’t go back to that toilet the whole day.
I thought my reaction was a bit silly/extreme until I gisted a friend who said I probably have “Katsaridaphobia“.. Say what now?!!! Off to Google to look it up. Not only did I find that such was real, i found other terms that define all the phobias (not just fears) I have and the physical/emotional symptoms.
Physical signs and symptoms of a phobia
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Emotional signs and symptoms of a phobia
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Personally, I have a phobia for…
- Heights – Acrophobia
- Flying – Aviophobia (maybe I’ll tag this one fear)
- Closed spaces – Claustrophobia
- Cockroaches (esp the flying ones, creepy crawly insects and wasps) Katsaridaphobia, Herpetophobia, and Spheksophobia respectively.
So I kept reading and got to “how to overcome your phobias “. It involved making a list of my phobias, arranging them according to least scary to the most scary, working my way through these phobias and then practicing. I lost interest as soon as I read the working my way through my phobias. Am I supposed to stare at roaches or imagine them till I start getting comfy? Or am I to stand on the balcony of the 10th floor all in the name of practice? Certainly not me. So till better ways of overcoming these phobias are found, I guess I’m stuck with goosebumps and panick attacks anytime im faced with my phobias. Bummer.
What are your fears and phobias? Have you overcome them? How? Please share.
You can find a list of phobias Here.
Quite an interesting topic. I found the Phobias list particularly educative. I have a phobia for Pain- Algophobia, Sexual abuse-Agraphobia- and Heights-Altophobia. Algophobia particularly used to be a huge issue for me as i would result to painkillers and other meds at the slightest notch of pain. I say ‘used to’ because Christ changed everything. I met Him and to learned to trust Him and accept pain as a complete package for the everyday life. Cast all my cares. Its not gone completely but a least i don’t take painkillers for insect bites anymore… lol
Whao. Algophobia. Now thats something. Glad to know uve overcome it esp thru Christ. Thanks for reading and sharing..
Heights – acrophobia
Wild animals – agrizoophobia
Water -Aquaphobia
Astraphobia – thunder and lightning
Necrophobia – death
Nyctophobia – fear of the dark
Well these are the basic phobias I hv…..tho wen it comes to water my brother’s kept throwing me in a pool till I forcefully learnt how to swim and I hv ventured 2boat rides in my life….but I’m still afraid any mass of water larger than a swimming pool (which sane person isn’t)…….the other phobias I’m not even considering facing
Aha! I forgot water. Well maybe cos I dont even bother swimming or going on boat rides.
I hate things in bits,pieces and fragments, don’t fear anything………yup.im bado like dat.
Like remote controls? Bado abi, okay o
My greatest phobia has always been molds/spirogyra..my goosbumbs come out like pimples and I can’t breath..which is why am not really a fan of wet places…flying cockroaches are just plain annoying and as much as I hate them,they gotta die bruhh!!!
Cracked lips are almost a phobia too.. makes me want to puke..eww
Stylebyenkay.blogspot.com
Lool @they gotta die burhh!!! Thanks for reading love!!
I need to know u…we are basically the same person…I have the same phobia…how do u cope?
Some of these names sound like terminal diseases o! I had an experience with a chicken we beheaded once. It stood up and was running around like a chicken wit it’s head cut off!!!! (yeah I know that’s wat it’s was). I swear chickens must be otherworldly. How can a headless creature run around for so long? Is that a phobia? Cause I’m never killing another. In fact I’m giving them a wide berth cos if they can do that, I’m not sure I’d come out winner in a fight. Zombies
Lmaoooooooo. Oh dear.
Oh well I have musophobia that’s fear of rat I immediately panic and start to run when I see a rat..i didn’t sleep in my room for weeks when I saw a rat in it once
No phobia mehn……gat Jesus!
Gbam!!!
Ah! I once left my bedroom for a cockroach, I ran away with my pillow and slept on the couch. I have Trypophobia, I advise you not to google this, it might make your skin crawl. Not sure how to overcome it, though, I just avert my gaze if I see a likely trigger.
Errr in that case I will not Google it o before I find out it’s a phobia I have too lol. Thanks for reading love.
I’m not sure I have any phobias. Or maybe I can’t think of any right now. But if you said OCDs, I could have written you a list! LOL
Nigerian and Natural
Hahaha! No phobias eh? Lucky you. You can still share your list of OCDs though…