What is a phobia?

Phobias are persistent and intense fears of a particular:

object

person (like a doctor or clown)

situation

activity

If you have a phobia, you may experience severe anxiety and panic attacks when you’re:

exposed to the object or situation you’re fearful of

thinking about the thing you’re afraid of

anticipating an encounter with the item you’re scared of

  • emptyother@programming.dev
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    1 year ago

    Agoraphobia. Mostly in social situations. Until diagnosed properly, I thought it was social anxiety. Anyway, I easily feel closed in. Trapped. Avoid middle seats in cinemas. Don’t like being in crowds. Or stuffed public transports.

    And wasps and bees and their likes. I was on edge for two days recently because a wasp i swatted in my room, I never found its body. Fraid it was just stunned and is waking up anytime. And I get itchy if I suspect any wasp is close.

    Bright green rubber-like small spiders. Also big hairy spiders get me on the edge. Not daddy longlegs though, they are cute.

    Also just a healthy amount of fear of severe heights. Which mostly disappears as soon as I have a safely attached rope, or a solid branch or railing to hold onto. So I don’t fear climbing.

    And dentists. As soon as I smell dentist offices, I start shaking.