h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

What, exactly, defines a fear and a phobia ?

And are you a sufferer?

For example, am I afraid, or phobic, with my aversion to escalators and stairs?

Am I afraid of heights or do I suffer from vertigo?

Do people just dislike or are they arachnophobes?

It is something that has often perplexed me. I, personally, do not think I am phobic, however my palms will sweat just thinking about an escalator, and will literally flood if I look up at a ceiling while standing on stairs or escalators.

I'd be interested in which is which, or are they both the same thing?

And what is yours, and how does it manifest itself?



MMF

I thikn that fear is different from phobia, because most phobias are to harmless things or situation (such as escalators or lifts) where fear is something you get in a dangerous situation - someone following you home, thinking someone might be downstairs at 3am etc.

I don't think I've got any phobias, but I really don't enjoy looking up if there's loads of empty space up there. During the day and night the sky is ok, but when I was trying to look at Mars with some binoculars recently I couldn't do it for long because I was scared. I also don't like looking at 'alien' skies at all, so playing Oblivion when it's night time and I'm running around under those two big moons, I keep the camera low so I can't see it.

Also those tourist caves, where you're in a cavern and can barely see the top, those terrify me.

Not too keen on heights either - I stay well away from the edges if I'm on a high bridge and won't look down. Driving across the Humber Bridge in a motorhome when it was windy scared me so much I'm surprised I didn't wet myself. Mind you, driving through flat Lincolnshire in a similar high wind did the same - it was the four foot drops immediately to each side of the road that did that.

Height is one of my fears, but I'm incertain whether it is a phobia. I just get an urge to jump! Not a pleasant sensation.

However I try to rationalise the fear by saying to myself...'If a plank of wood is on the ground, I can run across it with no problem. If it is six inches off the ground, it is still not a real problem, so why if it is 600 feet off the ground, does it become a problem?' It should work as a concept... But it doesn't!!!



And thanks for the reply... I think height is probably the most common, even over



MMF

I haven't always been afraid - I remember going to stay with some cousins in Wales when we were kids and teasing my dad about going over the Rivre Severn beidge. No fear then!

It comes with old age.

I've never been afraid of heights when I was young, that only started when I was in my mid-thirties. Mind, I'm fine if there is a balustrade, I can look down the without panicking. It's only when the space around me is open, going deep down that I'm having problems - so mountain climbing is out of the way for me.

I've always disliked heights. Behind a window it's not such a problem but I won't go near a balustrade unless it's over waist high. It's definitely the exposed drop that's the problem; so long as the path is reasonably wide and the ground slopes away not too steeply, I can cope. Otherwise I'm likely to be on hand & knees, or flat against whatever rear wall is available, frozen to the spot.

As you say, that's a common fear, as well as the urge to jump.

Aren't phobias a more irrational fear or dislike of something harmless (although there may be an identifiable cause), that provokes involuntary symptoms?

I have no fear of spiders. If I was in Australia, I´d be really scared though.

What seperates a phobia from a fear is probably if you´re still scared in a controlled enviroment. Like do you get scared if shown a photo of a spider it´s probably a phobia.

There is a very clear definition of a phobia. It is an irrational anxiety disorder.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/phobias.html

Fear is what you experience when something is actually dangerous (or reasonably perceived to be).
I don't think disliking the look of creepy crawlies is either a fear or a phobia it's just a disgust of looking at or being near something you find unpleasant. A genuine arachnophobe will likely have a panic attack if you put them near a big .

Something has to trigger fear off .

I have a fear of confined spaces, and fear is the right word, as it is an actual fear and if faced with going somewhere small actually get scared. It wasn't so bad in past but over last 5 years or so has got worse and now get scared if look at pot holers in tight spaces in caves on TV. It was always worse with going in lifts which I don't do now and has gotten to the point where I won't go on a plane now. I saw a plane crash on TV and it wasn't the actual plane crash that worried me but looking at the small doors you go in with the fairly thick door surround making it worse. I was even watching a TV programme where they were filming indoors and the closed the roll down window shutters and I had to look away!
I have thought about what would happen if accidently trapped in a coffin and knew there would be no chance of escape. I believe it would be so bad I would bit into my wrists to end it.
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The problem is if you don't like spiders, etc then you can just walk away but at 30,000 feet in a plane you can't and don't know what I would do, trapped in a lift for an hour would be hell. Unless you are scared of confined spaces it makes no sense, however the best way I can explain it is the fear is the same as if someone was pointing a gun at you and you thought you might be shot.

I'd say that's more of a phobia, SS, as there is nothing directly and clearly menacing about the situations you described. Which isn't to say the fear you feel isn't REAL, just that it isn't a rational fear. Hence, a phobia.

My own phobias are more to do with open spaces, be they high up or not. I'm actually more likely to feel scared looking up at very tall buildings than looking down from a great height. Though on a trip to Granada a couple of years ago, Nog and I went up to the top of the highest tower in the Alhambra which had no railings and I just couldn't step out onto it. Or well, I stepped out onto it for about 30 seconds and totally panicked! And even Nog was uncomfortable being up there. But there was clearly no real danger as lots of people were up there happily taking photos of the fabulous view.

<>

Gaaaa! I watched a CSI Vegas episode in which one of the characters got buried alive by some psycho and tried to keep himself from going mad while hoping he'd be rescued. It was very hard to watch.

They say (those 'they guys') that fear of confined spaces stem back to birth, having to leave the comfort of the womb and squeeze through a very tight tunnel in order to be born. Could be cobblers, but most of these irrational fears often seem to come from a pre-verbal time in our lives when these fears were triggered, which is why we can't seem to rationalise them as adults.



az

Is phobaphobia the fear of phobias?

There is supposed to be a phobia of fear. Which must be quite a vicious cycle.

A psychlepath?

Phobophobia is indeed the fear of phobias.

I can't find any phobia of fear though

Fear in greek is exactly the same as phobia.
I think.
I can only read greek and when I translate fear, I get (approximately) PhõBoç;, which means Phobos, if I translate Phobia, I get PhoBìa; which means Phobia.
If we want to be rigorous, Phobia of fear should be Phobophobos.
But if we look at it, phobos means fear.
So Phobia is fear in greek.
I think...

To check out the real translation, not my approximative keyboard:
http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr