No phobias. I wonder how common phobias are. Interesting that some have overcome spider phobias.

I have a few dislikes and some things I prefer to avoid when reasonably possible. None of which limit my activities in or around others- I have no problems with crowds, elevators, noises, confined places, flying, concern about danger from situations or other people, etc.

No phobias (fear of ......)

Small confined spaces. It's not claustrophobia exactly because the small confined space may not be exactly that.

I have backed out of a staircase in some church in England but realized before I got too far that it was going to become a no-go.

I don't do underground parking lots - they're not really small but they are confined. If we're going somewhere that requires we park in one my DH drops me off at the entrance.

There is an area called the Sunshine coast in our neck of the woods. The highway runs along the coast, the ocean is on one side and on the other a few houses and then heading into the hills and on one section there is the ocean on one side and on the other some land and then an inlet. Driving that highway I can't breathe, it's too confining for me - see what I mean? doesn't make sense but there you have it.

Lars - are you talking about my Lynn Canyon Suspension bridge and Capilano Suspension bridge? I don't do them and it's not because of the height issue but because I'm afraid that they will swing around their end cables and send us all into the rivers below. And you do not want to wind up in those canyon rivers. Some of our runs take us into Lynn Canyon but there are ways around having to cross it.

Balloons. Yes, childhood birthday parties were nightmares.

Anything in my eyes, a result of eye muscle surgery when I was five.

Not fond of heights, either, but I can tolerate them better with railings, or if no one is standing near me. (After the balloon thing as a kid, it got really hard to trust people. )

No common phobias over snakes, insects or the like. (After having inadvertantly almost stepped on a black snake on a hike, my first reaction was to grab my camera... these snakes are not poisonous, but they DO bite.)

I don't think I have phobias. There are things that creep me out. I love seeing and hearing the ocean. I won't get in it. I think of every Jaws and other shark shows I've ever seen.

I had to have a CT scan back in July. only had to go halfway into the machine, I made the mistake of opening my eyes. I let out an "ooooohhhh" squeezed my eyes shut and my hands were clenched into fists. It was only a matter of minutes but I was breathing Hard when I got out of there. I thought I was going to have to tell them to get me out, Now! I just almost panicked, what a terrible feeling.

I have zero phobias and never understood why people are afraid of spiders. If I find one in the house, I pick it up and put it in with my plants. They eat aphids and other bad insects. They weave intricate webs and are so nonthreatening.

Mine is spiders. I've had many, many bites over the years and significant reactions to some of the more recent ones. I can have trouble breathing and arms and legs get weak seeing a large one inside my home. It didn't help that as a very young newlywed, we lived on the top floor of an old house where giant basement spiders would find their way up the balloon framing to our ceiling, and I often could find several there or on the walls at the same time...once I awoke to a huge one a couple inches from my face on the headboard. It was a scary year and a half!

I have a terrible fear of entering an underwater cave, cave in's scare me. Rock climbing even if tied off is not in my comfort zone. I've never jumped out of a plane or bungee jumped. Parasailing. Submersion in icy cold water is terrifying.

I actually like spiders and snakes....a lot.

I don't know if it is a phobia or not, but I hate making phone calls. I stress out if I have to make one, but I can do it. I just don't want to.

I also don't like talking on the phone, but you would never know it, if you ever get me on the phone....but I won't always answer....so, there's that. I also don't like reading my emails or private messages on Facebook. I don't mind texts tho, and I always respond to them.

I don't like swimming.... although I swam a lot growing up. Three times a week. I would never get in a hot tub with other people.

I am not a very social person, although I enjoy seeing a friend once in awhile. About once a year is enough for me. I don't want people around me all the time, but I wouldn't call it a phobia....it is just a preference.

I have to force myself to get haircuts....I would never in a million years get a manicure or pedicure. I consider myself an introvert, but a talkative one....I can talk to anyone and I don't mind getting up in front of people and giving talks, which I used to do a lot....about something I am interested in.... waterlilies or when I used to raise koi. I am not the least bit shy. I just don't want to interact with other people very often.

I am uncomfortable in small dark enclosed spaces. A deep breath and I am fine,

Growing up on the farm, the Batam roosters would always chase us and try to peck. Also the turkey, would chase also. We took care of that situation, we would eat Tom at thanksgiving. Don’t like being around those pecking creatures. So far we haven’t encountered any living on the ocean. Now, our worry is sharks. That’s why we have pool, no swimming in ocean for me.

I have dental phobia.

I have a few. Being in complete darkness will make me panic. I have a horrible fear of swimming in open water, like in the middle of the ocean. And flying. I haven't flown since 2006.

I am afraid not ...

ETA; I take that back: the 'Burger King' king ....

I've never jumped out of a plane or bungee jumped.

That's not a phobia, it's common sense. :-)

Heights and snakes. I don't do well, whether in person or on tv. My heart races, palpitations and dizziness. I'm ok on airplanes as long as I don't look out the window.

DH's driving. I get anxiety/panic before and during. By the time we arrive at our destination I am exhausted. The imaginary brake on the passenger side gets pressed quite a bit. We live in the SF Bay Area where traffic is horrendous to be begin with. I think it's from his years of commuting to work. I drive most of the time, he's slowly getting better :)

Ditto blfenton all the way down to the underground parking lots.

Claustrophobia. More so with a group of people. For example, I can handle an elevator, if it's not crowded and I am by the door. I've been known to hop off if there are too many people, especially if they keep getting on at every floor.

I don't particularly care for large groups of people -- like at a craft shows or flea markets where they huddle up in mass and move from one booth to another. I will hop from space to space just to avoid that. At theater performances I will leave as soon as everyone stands up to applaud OR I will wait until most patrons have cleared out.

I almost lost it completely on the Tube in London. DH had to hold on to me to keep me from bailing at several stops.

Heights don't bother me, but I wouldn't bungee jump.

I have done a couple zip lines. That was fun!

Elmer’s comment made me think....I don’t think I really have a phobia because I have overcome many edges and moved on. I have successfully hiked some difficult and narrow hiking trails with rather steep drop offs with handholds only, enjoyed some fairly difficult and long zip lines, and I used to rappel in my younger days both on mountain sides and inside caves. I adapted pretty well to the edges, I just didn’t exactly jump off many of them, I just did things my own way, except the zip lines where you really do have to step off and trust your equipment.

I really don’t like to see other people pushing the edge either, as it makes me a bit anxious. And I have read too many stories of people falling off cliffs while taking a chance. I was also part of a cave rescue group back in the day, and we had to go down and bring up some people who didn’t know the right equipment and techniques to use to rappel.

I suppose I have some mild phobias, the lesser types that are manageable.

I am mildly claustrophobic. But could talk myself down and cooperate in an MRI machine. I'd rather not be in a crowded elevator. And those low ceiling multi-level underground parking garages? I can use them, but I'm quite glad to be driving out into the light again.

I don't run from a spider, but you'll never see me picking one up or enjoying it. A tarantula? Not in my conscious lifetime. Nope.

I'm not as comfortable with heights as I used to be.

I have one bridge I'm afraid of. And that one bridge, only if I'm at the wheel of my car - if DH is driving I'm fine. I don't know how it began. I was driving over it alone one day, looking forward to my day, became lightheaded and started to sweat. WTH. Almost pre panic attack. And that may be what I'm afraid of, afraid it will happen again.

I make myself drive over it occasionally, not willing to let a bridge get the best of me. There are too many things on the other side of it that are interesting and rewarding to me. My SILs new build waterfront home. Heronswood and Windcliff. Many other very pretty places to be ;0) Gardengal, Olychick and others..... are you reading? Yes, the Tacoma Narrows.....;0(

I don't know if it is a phobia or not, but I hate making phone calls. I stress out if I have to make one, but I can do it.

Me too! I refer to it as 'Phone-a-phobia'. Before e-mails it would take me up to three days to call someone and issue an invitation for extended family dinners.

My Moms lifelong BFF was Marilyn C.

I like your name!

We are rarely in large crowds because we live in a smaller city. In London, though, I got very uneasy while trying to take the Tube when DH and I were underground in the middle of massive crowds of people during rush hour. In recent years, DH has lost his formerly excellent sense of direction so I had to figure out what train we needed to take. I just couldn't think, being underground and in the midst of crowds. I finally suggested that we go above ground even though we had to pay to enter again, and I was able to collect my thoughts and determine our route. A similar event happened underground in the Paris Metro when we were in a large crowd pushing toward the front of the line to get into an elevator. I thought I would suffocate while being pushed toward the elevator, hoping that it would indeed come.

Don't have a phobia about them but I think clowns look grotesque, not funny.

I stay away from snakes because I don't know if they are poisonous. My husband knows which ones are not, I will handle those.

pudgeder - Yes, to the crowds as well. My DH doesn't understand why I won't go to the annual fireworks competition that our city holds. What, you mean me and 400,000 other people? No I can hear them from home. The being uncomfortable in large crowds has been a growing uncomfortable issue for me over the past few years.

Never liked open area heights. I am fine with tall buildings, gondolas and roller coasters and enclosed heights. I have always been fine driving across bridges and on high mountain roads. But I
could never understand hiking mountain trails or standing at over-looks. I didn't even want to park at them. Gave me the willies. I once completely froze in panic walking across a railroad bridge over a river. I think I am much better now. Oddly, riding the steepest and narrowest trails on horse back doesn't seem to faze me at all. Don't know if I could walk them. Hope I never need to find out.

Heights. Even watching aerial shots on TV makes my stomach flip.

That plays into flight, so my last holiday abroad may be my last.

Dirty great spiders.

Being out of my depth in water. Not a problem now though as I’m unlikely to ever swim again as I only done it when abroad on holidays.

I also can’t stand being in dense crowds. The last time I went to a big music concert it took forever to walk to the station and I had to keep looking up to the sky to relieve the feeling of mild panic and claustrophobia.

Heights. I am like maddiemo. Even watching aerial shots of tv upsets me. However, flying doesn't bother me. Once, I got talked into taking a cable car to the top of Montserrat in Spain and it was not good. I had to sit on the floor, sweat pouring off of me, tears rolling down my face, shaking. People were very kind and understanding. I took the train down at the end of the day trip.

Annegriet, you just reminded me of my first experience in a cable car, which I suppose activated my fear or made me realise my feelings. It was on a school holiday in The Alps and I just clung a central vertical metal beam that ran through the car, with my eyes tight shut.

My fear of flying came much later though before my first planned flight with my very young son. I spent weeks beforehand imagining how I’d comfort him if the plane was in a rapid descent before crashing.

He‘s all grown up now, but those stomach churning imaginings have never left me.

I'm afraid of heights if I don't feel contained. Tall buildings, outside elevators, flying are ok. Even overlooks if there is a railing, or if I can sit on the ground. Just so long as I don't feel like I can fall.

DH did home repair for years, and occasionally would need help. I finally had to insist that I would no longer get on a roof. The worst part was the ladder. That moment when one foot leaves the roof and you launch into space toward certain death before your foot hits the rung. And one time, the roof was a little steep, and felt slippery because of the texture of the shingles. I froze in place, sure that my sneakers would slip. I finally sat down and took my shoes off, for a better grip, and got back on the ground pronto!

The sight of this bridge construction next to Hoover Dam scared me

I haven't been back there, although the bridge was completed a couple of years later. Have any of you driven over this bridge? It looks less scary after it was completed, but the construction looks extremely scary.

Pnigophobia- fear of smothering. I am Ok in elevators tunnels, etc. As long as I know I have a good air flow. But no turtlenecks or high collars for me and I need the window open.

No phobias that I can think of. I like bugs and spiders and snakes, but have a healthy respect for any I don't recognize. Now that my balance is very easily compromised I also have a healthy respect for heights. That balance thing brings me to ice or slippery conditions underfoot. If I have a phobia, that could be it. I am extremely fearful of going out when such conditions are possible.

Impressive video Lars but I had to keep shutting my eyes and uncurling my toes:)

I'm terrified of heights. It's so comforting to find out I'm not alone, but I'm also sorry that many of you suffer from this phobia like I do. I can't bear to be more than a few feet off the ground. I can't watch a movie, or TV show where someone is on a rooftop, and those drone shots terrify me ! My son and DIL once rented a cabin near Sevierville, TN and it had THREE DECKS . Yikes ! I couldn't go near the rail on the bottom deck, and I couldn't go out on the others at all. This phobia didn't start until I was in my thirties, I have no idea what caused it, and it's gotten worse as I get older.

I can honestly say that I don't have any phobias any more. I had debilitating acrophobia for much of my life and got tired of it while I was still in college so took myself to the university psychological counseling center and got some enormously helpful therapy.

I also had a serious fear of spiders but that's non-existent now, too.

I knew someone who had a real phobia of potato eyes, no lie. It's a relatively common one. He would break out in cold sweats.

No phobias for me

I laughed a bit at the fear of potato eyes. Wish I had a potato to examine right now.

However, that made me think of not a fear but a deep revulsion I have. Cannot stand to see a certain pattern that occurs in nature. I hate to even explain it. But it is clusters holes close together, especially if there is something in the holes. Like the back of a Suriname toad holding its eggs, ee-yelchk! https://www.google.com/search?q=suriname+toad&client=firefox-b-1-d&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj6tcSDpb_tAhUQH80KHTTzA_UQ_AUoAXoECAQQAw&biw=1366&bih=654

Or the seed pod of water lilies, oohgh! https://www.google.com/search?q=waterlily+seed+pod&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwigv_OUpb_tAhVETK0KHSXiAh4Q2-cCegQIABAA&oq=waterlily+pod&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQARgAMgYIABAIEB46BAgAEEM6AggAOgYIABAFEB46BQgAELEDOggIABCxAxCDAToHCAAQsQMQQ1CXrRFYx4cSYJGZEmgBcAB4AIABsAKIAZUekgEIMy4xOS4zLjGYAQCgAQGqAQtnd3Mtd2l6LWltZ7ABAMABAQ&sclient=img&ei=8OrPX6CHAcSYtQWlxIvwAQ&bih=654&biw=1366&client=firefox-b-1-d

Photo close-ups of skin blackheads, noooo! (I will not link!)

Even bubbles in the kitchen sink can gross me out. https://www.google.com/search?q=detergent+bubbles&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwjrtrGkpr_tAhVIbK0KHX9sDksQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=detergent+bubbles&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzICCAAyAggAMgIIADIGCAAQBRAeMgYIABAFEB46BQgAELEDOgcIABCxAxBDOgYIABAIEB5Q2rUGWNPoBmCqpQdoAHAAeAOAAf8EiAGGMpIBCzAuMy4zLjIuMi42mAEAoAEBqgELZ3dzLXdpei1pbWewAQDAAQE&sclient=img&ei=HOzPX-u4OMjYtQX_2LnYBA&bih=654&biw=1366&client=firefox-b-1-d

Bubbles in the kitchen sink😄

Sorry, that made me lol a lot.

Me too. I'm trying not to judge, but I'm struggling a little with the bubbles in the sink ;0). So, open mind, let's celebrate the differences - even if we do find them weird LOL

Not my phobia, but DH's. He worked in the woods all his life, loved it. Woke up happy every morning of every work day. He was raised on a farm, and knows how to butcher, has done that. Everything from cows to chickens. He no longer hunts, but has done that too....deer, elk.

He can't pick up a slug, even gloved. Whereas I do, and fling them down over the hill at the back of our property. They don't bounce well and don't seem to come back. If he sees a slug in the beds, he'll come find me. 'There's a slug eating those dark iris you planted. You need to take care of it.'

Mathias, those are seed pods of lotus. An aquatic plant, but not a waterlily. Waterlily seed pods, just look like a closed up, spent blossum on tropicals. Hardies can have a round little pod....but nothing sticking out of it. No holes in them. Most waterlilies are hybrids and don't easily produce seeds.

Snakes for sure and I am the one who always sees them when no one else does. Heights also. I smashed one in my front door last winter. It was only 55 degrees and I had no way of getting in my house since the back door was locked and my phone was inside. Scary!

I smashed one in my front door

If that ever happens again, back off and throw some twigs or what not from a distance, the snake will probably just slither off, since obviously your front door is not its nest and it has nothing to defend. Many snakes are not very aggressive. Snakes are such good citizens too, eating rodents and so on.

Edited to add: Nothing I have written above is meant in any way to discount the distress this predicament put you in, and I'm sorry you had to go through it.

Oh my. I had to look up Marilyn C's explanation and educate myself, not having grown lotus or water lily.

Matthias's description is well known and really not uncommon. Thank you for teaching me something new today! Never ever stop learning.

Trypophobia or the Fear of Holes. Trypophobia is an aversion or fear of clusters of small holes, bumps, or patterns.

mine is claus as in Claustrophobia

I don't think this is really a phobia, but apple cores and sliced apples make me want to leave the room. The way they go brown makes me think they are rotting in front of my eyes, and it makes me nauseous. Even ones that supposedly have lemon juice on them, I worry that they missed a spot. I know it is silly, and I actually like apples- I just need to eat them quickly.
I did drive over a bridge once that made my heart pound, and I felt like I was going to have an anxiety attack. I calmed down, made myself turn around and then turn around again so I ended up doing it 3 times in a row, then the 4th time on my way home. That worked well for me, and I didn't worry about it again

Those rope type bridges terrify me! I'm also sick when I see people climbing rocks mountains.

I dislike large, badly behaved/poorly controlled dogs - I was terrorized by one when I was a small child - but not to the level of fear or phobia. Likewise, I have gotten a bit nervous driving over a tall or long bridge over water - Chesapeake Bay or Golden Gate bridges, for example - but again, not to the level of fear or phobia and I have no problem doing it.

ETA: my intense dislike for the artworks of Georgia O'Keefe might border on phobia...

I had to go pick up something that could not be delivered. I felt strange as if I was guilty of something while driving. The feeling went away but it definitely was paranoia. I hope it does not develop into a phobia.

Matthias, Trypophobia 😳 I can't unsee that !!!

Bears due to encountering a problem bear on my first backpacking trip many years ago. I still go but sleeping alone at a campsite can sometimes be nervy. My little dog helps; I figure if he's not barking, nothing is out there. :-)

I didn't use to think of sharks but probably would now if I still swam in the ocean. And rip currents.

Not really heights. Unless I'm standing on an unstable surface that might give way and cause me to slide toward a precipice, or just a painful bouncy slide. (Loose slate or shale) Once it was snow. Probably just abundance of caution though, not paranoia.

Driving on snow didn't used to bother me but after sliding back down a steep hill that I didn't make up with four locked wheels doing a 180 into the ditch, I've been known to sit at the top/bottom of a hill trying to work up the nerve to start down/up. No snow covered black icy hills here though. :-)