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Phobias

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Disagree Guy

Member
I have been wanting to post this for a while and since I became a full member recently I thought i'd give it a shot.

Someone I know has the most ridiculous phobia I think I have ever heard of - Papyrophobia

Believe it or not this is a real condition and it is 'fear of paper' or even 'paper-like' products. I work with this person and they have an office all to themselves and I noticed there was NEVER paper in the room, no pictures on the wall, not even pens. I couldn't understand how they did their job properly until they just said 'thank god for computers and tablet devices'. It wasn't until I asked her a ridiculous amount of questions that I realised how obvious it was.

They use a towel to wipe up spillages in the kitchen, so no paper towels. They jump straight in the shower after doing a poo rather than wiping, and never poo outside of their home. They have all their mail directed to their parents house, pay for everything by card and demand to be given coins if they receive change. She said the hardest thing was 'passing the mail cage' that hung over her letterbox if she happened to receive leaflets and things. She knows its crazy, knows it can't hurt her but she nearly cries if she is near paper and has had anxiety attacks before.

So Gaf, any batshit crazy Phobias that you know of? Maybe you suffer from something irrational that is pretty random?

TL;DR - Woman at work scared of paper, thought it would be a good discussion point
 
B

Broder Salsa

Banned
I'm afraid of needles, but lots of people are I guess so not that crazy. But fuck I hate needles. Now for some Maury.

tumblr_lg9dedhrGV1qfbsj1o1_500.gif


iQFm7eK.jpg
 
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Martian

Member
An old (Dutch) urban myth: arachibutyrofobia.
Fear of getting peanutbutter stuck on your palate/inside your mouth
 
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maxcriden

Member
That's really interesting. Any idea what specifically it is about paper that bothers her or that she's concerned about happening to her?
 
D

Disagree Guy

Member
Martian said:
An old (Dutch) urban myth: arachibutyrofobia.
Fear of getting peanutbutter stuck on your palate/inside your mouth
Click to expand...

I wonder if they get nervous even being around peanut butter. It's amazing as to what extent people freak out over their phobias.



Originally Posted by maxcriden

That's really interesting. Any idea what specifically it is about paper that bothers her or that she's concerned about happening to her?

She couldn't specifically say. She just said everything about paper freaks her out and she wasn't exactly making a coherent arguement. She had to stop talking about it halfway through but I got a few good questions in.

She said she could hear someone tearing pieces of paper in another office and had to go home with stress. She said she thought she was going to pass out.

She said she know's its irrational but just can't help it. I couldn't help but laugh when she was telling me because it seemed so unrealistic but she was clearly actually getting distressed.

Is it bad that I wanna test it?
 
A

Adam_Roman

Member
botty said:
I have an irrational phobia of fake people, so i stay clear.
Click to expand...

What, like the mannequins in stores? I can't walk by them without facing them because I can see a humanoid figure out of the corner of my eye and just get incredibly paranoid. I wouldn't call mine a phobia though.

I'd say I have trypophobia. That's the one with stuff with a ton of tiny holes in it. I just can't look at the pictures that show up in the google image search for more than a few seconds without feeling sick and having to look away.
 
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nai

Member
I have a fear of boats. I don't know what you would call it, but let me explain.
Small rowing boats make me nervous, but not afraid. Large ships terrify me initially, but it goes away after a while as long as I stay indoors. Being on deck scares me to death, and I will never ever in my life go anywhere near the railing because I think I'm going to fall over.
 
C

Cindres

Vied for a tag related to cocks, so here it is.
Moths and butterflies.

It's the eratic flying like you don't know where the hell they're going. Also people are often afraiid of moths but have no problem with butterflies. They're the same fucking thing just colourful.
 
R

RytGear

Member
I have a fear of gasmasks after my family scared me shitless while I was watching the Empty Child episode of Doctor Who when I was younger.
 
D

Disagree Guy

Member
nai said:
I have a fear of boats. I don't know what you would call it, but let me explain.
Small rowing boats make me nervous, but not afraid. Large ships terrify me initially, but it goes away after a while as long as I stay indoors. Being on deck scares me to death, and I will never ever in my life go anywhere near the railing because I think I'm going to fall over.
Click to expand...

That's actually pretty interesting. Do you feel this way when you watch a film or TV that has ship related activity?
 
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BPoole

Member
I don't like being in ocean water that I can't stand up in. I always feel like a shark is going to swim up from underneath me and bite me across my torso. I just hate the feeling of how defenseless I am in water.
 
S

Sai-kun

Banned
Porous things creep me the fuck out and give me anxiety and scare me.

It's the creepiest shit. Ugh even thinking about them gives me goosebumps.
 
N

nai

Member
Disagree Guy said:
That's actually pretty interesting. Do you feel this way when you watch a film or TV that has ship related activity?
Click to expand...
No, it's only in real life that it happens. I think it's because of one of the reoccurring nightmares I had as a kid where I would fall of a ship at night in the middle of the ocean and then just watch the ship disappear into the horizon.
 
H

Hoo-doo

Banned
I had the biggest fear of needles that you can imagine. Getting blood drawn from me was basically only possible if you knocked me out.

But goddamn if I didn't kick that fear's ass so hard it's never coming back.

I basically figured it was something I had to get over, seeing as i'm going to be working in the medical field. I had fellow students draw blood on me and it was somewhat an epiphany. Since then i've actually actively grabbed possibilities to get poked, as stupid as it sounds.

I give courses in venous puncture and I always volunteer, I donate blood every few months, I have put in thousands of IV's in patiënts and have had colleagues put an IV in my own arm just for kicks, I don't mind getting vaccinated, etcetera.
Let me tell you, if you can effectively guide a shaky medical student to poke a needle in your own arm, then you can safely say that you have no problems with needles anymore.
It's a fear so thoroughly squashed that it kind of feels good to prove it to myself every once in a while. It's a personal victory.

But it's a very common phobia. I remember saying this in another NeoGAF thread once but I have seen the most ripped, burly, tatted up biker men cower in fear for a needle that's less than half a millimeter thick when I worked on CT.
Grown men and women running out of the examination room once they spot a needle from an entire room away.

I do still know those feels.
 
D

Disagree Guy

Member
nai said:
No, it's only in real life that it happens. I think it's because of one of the reoccurring nightmares I had as a kid where I would fall of a ship at night in the middle of the ocean and then just watch the ship disappear into the horizon.
Click to expand...

That's a scary thought to be fair.

One of my best mates used to have a recurring dream of being chased by a rocket. Not like a missile but a straight up NASA space shuttle. I suppose you'd never get the chance to test if that still scares him though haha
 
W

wanderingprostheyltite

Member
Don't know if this counts but probably turbulence in an airplane. I used to fly all the time as a child with my parents and had zero problems, and then starting a few years ago whenever there was turbulence on the flight, even a small amount, I would have an irrational fear that the plane could actually spiral down at any moment and crash. I think it also has to do with a general clautrophobia developing as well, being stuffed in a plane in coach and feeling stuck there for hours just adds to it. It's something I'd like to get over, as it has actually hindered my ability to pursue trips that require flight for a few years.
 
H

Hoo-doo

Banned
RytGear said:
I have a fear of gasmasks after my family scared me shitless while I was watching the Empty Child episode of Doctor Who when I was younger.
Click to expand...

I have an old israeli gasmask that I bought off a flea market years ago and my sister hated the goddamn thing, couldn't look at it.

A gas mask is basically a universal symbol that some really bad, ominous shit went down. Seeing someone wear one, especially one of the older soviet or WW2 ones, is scary as hell.
 
T

Toxi

Banned
Spider phobias in general are ridiculous, considering how few spider bites actually happen and how few spiders can actually cause medically significant harm. It also results in stupid shit like this. It's a culturally induced phobia that we really need to stop accepting as "normal and healthy" and start trying to treat.

I'm still terrified of heights, which is ironic because my parents used to be mountain climbers. Getting better at it, but I don't think I'm going to be climbing any high rock structures any time soon.
 
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MomoPufflet

Member
Kade said:
Large bodies of water with no land in sight.
Click to expand...

This. If I'm in a boat far off the shore, no way in hell I'll jump in the water. Some giant undiscovered sea beast is just waiting for my delicious flesh. If I can't see clearly every inch of what I'm jumping into

YuShcX3.gif
 
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Cartman86

Banned
Are there levels of phobia? Like I dislike most bugs. Butterflies, moths, centipedes, spiders etc. If they touch me I half freak out to get them off of me. If someone offered me some money (like lets say under $100) I wouldn't touch a spider or centipede. Butterflies and moths I would however. But when I pull up logs or something when working outside and there are bugs under it I will step away. If a butterfly is flying toward me I have a quick negative reaction. I can look at most of these things though. In real life or in picture form they don't bother me. The only one that I don't like seeing are spiders. Little tiny house ants don't bother me and neither do flies. Is it a rarity thing? Like most of these things are the type of stuff you can almost always avoid. It isn't like paper. I also feel like if need be I could get over most of it. Just feels weird to take the word phobia when it appears others have it much more serious.
 
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Axelhortsemchi

Member
I know someone with a pretty severe phobia of alcohol and drunk people. It's bad to the point where she can't go to social events or places where a single can of beer is being drank.

I figure that counts as an unusual one

Also, for some reason I have a bit of a phobia regarding dogs. Not too sure why, and it makes no sense, but I've been uneasy around dogs since I was little
 
Braag

Braag

Member
Nothing that crazy, I just have arachnophobia. At times it annoys me when my friends just don't get it how much a phobia can affect a person. They keep saying "dude they're just spiders" and I know that, but they still scare the hell out of me. At worst I've had nights when I was unable to sleep because I had seen a picture of a tarantula and even several hours later I was unable to get it out of my head.
Few times while I was showering I got some weird panic attack that there might be a spider in the shower and just had to get out.
In games if there are spider enemies sometimes I have to look away from the screen and randomly attack and hope I kill the damn thing.
In Half Life 2 the black headcrabs in Ravenholm reminded me so much of spiders and scared me so much that my shirt was completely wet from cold sweat and I just closed my PC middle of the level.
And the most ridiculous part is that I live in Finland... we don't have giant spiders here but that doesn't stop my phobia :/
 
eot

eot

Banned
MomoPufflet said:
This. If I'm in a boat far off the shore, no way in hell I'll jump in the water. Some giant undiscovered sea beast is just waiting for my delicious flesh. If I can't see clearly every inch of what I'm jumping into

YuShcX3.gif
Click to expand...

I've never thought about that, but now that you mention it I don't think I'd go for a swim in the middle of the Atlantic.
 
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