quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
Freud… had agoraphobia.

He was afraid of goats?

quote:

Originally posted by Sig2340:

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
Freud… had agoraphobia.

He was afraid of goats?

Cigars, too.

quote:

Originally posted by David Lee:
I dont seem to be able to lay under vehicles as I did many years back, to work on them. Changing my vans oil is doable because everything is right up front. My stomach turns and I get sick if I go under a jacked up car or truck. I no longer do it. My way of dealing with what is a problem for me. My Filipina lady friend is fast becoming a phobia... I think I need to create a little space between us. Spending too much time together.

I have similar thing, and I work on my own cars as a hobby, which allows me to keep old cars running reliably, though not all of them for longer trips etc. I'm a little nervous underneath vehicles, so what I do to compensate is to overprotect for accidental jack failures, such as doubling up in jacks, adding wheels underneath the frame in case of catastrophic jack failure, very large blocks of wood timbers, stuff like that. After enough of those kinds of backups, you can calm your mind and get almost but not quite comfortable. My driveway concrete is old, so sometimes I'll place large pieces of lumber or timbers underneath the jacks to spread the load over a larger surface area of potentially suspect concrete. I need a new driveway but pouring a new one is not in my deck of cards right now.

Agoraphobia is an anxiety disorder that causes people to fear and avoid places or situations that might make them feel trapped, helpless, embarrassed, or cause panic.

quote:

Originally posted by Sig2340:

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
Freud… had agoraphobia.

He was afraid of goats?

He was afraid of mohair*.



*Little known fact: Mohair does not come from the mo. It comes from agora goats.

I guess my phobia are ledges at high heights. I have to stay back 10 ft if there is no barrier.

I don't have any but my wife has a couple. One was a fear of heights, exposed edges. Our first trip to Utah she laid down, put a jacket over her head when we ascended the switchbacks in Zion N.P. After moving here she's got a good handle on that fear, she's been up those switchbacks at least 100 times. She, also, was able to do a hike where there were chains and a very exposed edge, a real triumph for her.

She's a little claustrophobic, she's rarely in a situation where she gets upset. Some very narrow canyons bother her but we don't force it.

I have some phobias and had some that I’ve overcome (one, at least: dentists).
I remember reading a claim by one psychologist(?) that he could cure any phobia by exposure and desensitization: Afraid of snakes? Lock you in a room with (harmless) snakes.

I’ve often thought I could overcome my fear of open heights by just climbing a ladder every day, but at my stage of life there’s no reason to try the process. It obviously works for some fears and aversions, but unfortunately I don’t know how that would work for an aversion to something like vomiting.

Like some others I hate needles. I can deal with injections and blood draws OK, but I have to close my eyes and not watch it being done.

My real phobias are heights and tight spaces. I have nightmares sometimes about getting stuck crawling through a small cave. I can't remember any particular incident that triggered it, but it's very real for me. A couple years ago I was reading one of the the Jack Reacher novels and it included a part where he was sealed in a cave and had to squirm through a long twisty narrow passage to a neighboring cave to escape. I got lightheaded, weak knee'd and queasy just reading it.

Flying doesn't bother me, in fact I was a pilot until it got to where I couldn't afford to do it anymore. But make me look over the edge of the roof of a building and I get queasy and need to back away immediately.