irrational fears
 

what gives?

people deathly afraid of spiders, needles, etc. what is the world coming to? what are your irrational fears and excuses?

Re: irrational fears
 

Is fear of heights irrational? Its not as much a fear now as it was when I was younger but there are times when I get nervous.

Re: irrational fears
 

Fear: Claustrophobia

Excuse: Mommy issues

Re: irrational fears
 

None. I have a lot of a rational fears--like heights. But thats what makes climbing, high places fun.

Also, I have a fear of dinosaurs. Not the ones in museums, real ones. If I saw a dinosaur, I'd be [censored] terrified. Not only could the thing possibly eat me, or at least step on me, it would shake my very foundations of understanding to the ground.

Re: irrational fears
 

I was thinking this same thing.

I don't have any irrational fears that I can think of.

Needles, snakes, spiders, heights, tight spaces, none of that bothers me.

It's very interesting psychology though.

Re: irrational fears
 

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In risposta di:</font><hr />
Is fear of heights irrational? Its not as much a fear now as it was when I was younger but there are times when I get nervous.

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it depends.. are you afraid when you are clearly in a safe situation, or are you hanging from a piece of dental floss from the outside of a skyscraper?

Re: irrational fears
 

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In risposta di:</font><hr />
I was thinking this same thing.

I don't have any irrational fears that I can think of.

Needles, snakes, spiders, heights, tight spaces, none of that bothers me.

It's very interesting psychology though.

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me neither that's why i thought to bring it up. i get afraid if i think i am in danger, that's it.

Re: irrational fears
 

Waiting in a dentist room and sitting in the chair before he/she starts. It's not the actual drilling and poking around he does, it's just the waiting and thinking "This could really really hurt..."

It all stems from getting my front tooth knocked out when I was younger, got it capped after 5 injections and 4 hours in the chair.

No other fears really.

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Anything thats smaller than a dime and can do this. Caution, it's not a pretty spider bite.

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there is a reason they r called phonbias

Re: irrational fears
 

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Anything thats smaller than a dime and can do this. Caution, it's not pretty.

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i have seen that before. that's not what i'm talking about when i say "afraid of spiders"

although it would be irrational if you refused to ever put on shoes again, just because of the very very slight chance one could be in there.

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I don't understand, if I have a story/excuse then wouldn't they be rational fears.

I am afraid of spiders, and even more so after that [censored] thread the other day. No reason, they just freak me out.

Re: irrational fears
 

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there is a reason they r called phonbias

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Is that because they hatefully and viciously discriminate against phones?

Re: irrational fears
 

spiders really bother me. i'm not sure why, maybe because they're so bizarre looking. i think that people with reckless abandon are worse than those who are cautious tho

Re: irrational fears
 

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Is fear of heights irrational? Its not as much a fear now as it was when I was younger but there are times when I get nervous.

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it depends.. are you afraid when you are clearly in a safe situation, or are you hanging from a piece of dental floss from the outside of a skyscraper?

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Can't say I've ever been hanging from a skyscraper, pretty sure I'd need to change my pants from that experience. When I was younger even most safe places would make me nervous, like being at the window of my dad's 30th floor office but now it doesn't bother me so I guess I'm over it.

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Jellyfish, and I have no frikkin clue why.

I dont care how hot it is, if I see one of those f'ers in water I wont go back in.

Re: irrational fears
 

I have a fear that someone will push me onto the tracks when I'm waiting for the subway. It may have started with that famous Homicide episode with Vincent D'Onofrio, but I'm not sure. Anyway, I don't let it ruin my life or anything, I just step back toward the middle of the platform until the train arrives.

Re: irrational fears
 

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Jellyfish, and I have no frikkin clue why.

I dont care how hot it is, if I see one of those f'ers in water I wont go back in.

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Cause they hurt a lot and travel in packs. For science dudes out there, what are those things inside of them that look like chopped up peppers?

Re: irrational fears
 

I'm not a science dude, but obviously there are more than one species of jellyfish. You'll have to be more specific. For what its worth, my favorite is the lion jellyfish---a "body" in excess of ten feet with tentacles extending to two hundred. Sea turtles close their eyes and just swim right on in.

Re: irrational fears
 

I would think a fear of spiders can be considered at least SOMEWHAT rational, in that it could help prevent you from being bitten by a poisonous spider.

I'm pretty afraid of dying, which is an irrational fear because it's inevitable. Fearing it isn't going to do me any good at all.

Re: irrational fears
 

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In risposta di:</font><hr />
I don't understand, if I have a story/excuse then wouldn't they be rational fears.


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not really. you could say you are afraid of spiders because you saw "attack of the 50 ft. spider" on tv one time.

Re: irrational fears
 

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I'm not a science dude, but obviously there are more than one species of jellyfish. You'll have to be more specific. For what its worth, my favorite is the lion jellyfish---a "body" in excess of ten feet with tentacles extending to two hundred. Sea turtles close their eyes and just swim right on in.

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I was at the Boston Aquarium the other day and there were like 10 types (btw, the Moon one is sooo cool) and they all had it. It was orange, there were 4 and they were not random.

Re: irrational fears
 

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I'm pretty afraid of dying, which is an irrational fear because it's inevitable. Fearing it isn't going to do me any good at all.

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I'm not afraid of dying, but I am afraid of getting old. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

Re: irrational fears
 

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there is a reason they r called phonbias

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Is that because they hatefully and viciously discriminate against phones?

[/ QUOTE ] I was wondering how long it would take for somoene to attack Peachy's typo.

Re: irrational fears
 

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there is a reason they r called phonbias

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Is that because they hatefully and viciously discriminate against phones?

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hahah i havent slept in i dunno how long...its finals week gimmie a break!!

Re: irrational fears
 

I've never had a fear of heights, spent alot of time time hanging from the top branches of trees when i was younger.

Spiders only creep me out in that they have the ability to crawl onto me and potentially bite me before I have a chance to stop them. Even then, I don't totally flip out if someone says there's a spider on my back, I would just calmly (yet urgently) ask them to brush it off. A spider in open space in front of me doesn't scare me.

Needles only creep me out when they are going into me. I can stand a quick poke, injection, and then your done. But a couple years ago I had to get a series of rabies vaccinations including a couple 10cc injections into both glutes. I didn't panic or anything, just stood there and felt very uncomfortable until they were done, which I assume in nature is a natural reaction to being poked with a metal object for any period of time.

About a year before that I was participating in some Asthma inhaler study, (blow into a tube, take a puff from an inhaler, blow into a tube again, get $30 cash, basic hobo stuff) which concluded in about a 30-40cc blood draw. the pinch didn't hurt, but the amount of time the needle spent in my arm kind of creeped me out.

After both incidents I started to feel light headed and queasy. I recovered in about five mintues without fainting or anything after getting some juice or cookies. I don't really believe that being uncomfortable with stuff poking into my veins is irrational. It's generally a good rule to follow in everyday life.

Re: irrational fears
 

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I was thinking this same thing.

I don't have any irrational fears that I can think of.

Needles, snakes, spiders, heights, tight spaces, none of that bothers me.

It's very interesting psychology though.

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me neither that's why i thought to bring it up. i get afraid if i think i am in danger, that's it.

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well you two guys are just soooo cool arent you!?!? [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]
actually, i cant think of any fears either. i dont like needles, well i dont have an opinion on needles themselves, but i definitely dont like getting shots. im not afraid, i just dont like it. is there a difference?

Re: irrational fears
 

Ahhh...the four "pepper" things you saw are its feeding arms. I thought you meant something internal to the bell or body. I gets it now. Most Cnidarians (sp?) have four "arms".

Re: irrational fears
 

The one thing that puzzles me is people fear of flying. Not just anxiety on a plane, but like "I WONT get on a plane, ever."

Re: irrational fears
 

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The one thing that puzzles me is people fear of flying. Not just anxiety on a plane, but like "I WONT get on a plane, ever."

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Agreed, and these people are accepted as being otherwise rational in their daily lives. Intelligent people, who can't even be reasoned with statistics showing that driving in more hazardous, mile per mile than flying can have this fear.

Re: irrational fears
 

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The one thing that puzzles me is people fear of flying. Not just anxiety on a plane, but like "I WONT get on a plane, ever."

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My mom is like this. Good thing we drugged her or else she would've missed going to GA to pick me up from wilderness.

Re: irrational fears
 

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The one thing that puzzles me is people fear of flying. Not just anxiety on a plane, but like "I WONT get on a plane, ever."

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Agreed, and these people are accepted as being otherwise rational in their daily lives. Intelligent people, who can't even be reasoned with statistics showing that driving in more hazardous, mile per mile than flying can have this fear.

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This was exactly where I was going. It boggles my mind that people would get in a car every single day and be afraid to fly.

My aunt is afraid of flying, and a few months ago she had to go to a funeral and my uncle drove her 1,500 miles to go there. What a bitch!

Re: irrational fears
 

For the longest time (until about age 16) I was terrified of swimming pool filters. I would have to go round the swimming pool edge first to identify them all before risking it in the water.

Even now I dont like them; and choose to avoid where I can.

Re: irrational fears
 

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In risposta di:</font><hr />
For the longest time (until about age 16) I was terrified of swimming pool filters. I would have to go round the swimming pool edge first to identify them all before risking it in the water.

Even now I dont like them; and choose to avoid where I can.

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nice.. this is the stuff i am talking about.. more more more!!

Re: irrational fears
 

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I don't have any irrational fears that I can think of.

me neither that's why i thought to bring it up. i get afraid if i think i am in danger, that's it.

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I have a feeling that a lot of this has to do with the fact that you are a science guy.

Re: irrational fears
 

i know plenty of deep science people with irrational fears

Re: irrational fears
 

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i know plenty of deep science people with irrational fears

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Really??? That's odd, what kind of phobias do they have?

Re: irrational fears
 

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The one thing that puzzles me is people fear of flying. Not just anxiety on a plane, but like "I WONT get on a plane, ever."

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Agreed, and these people are accepted as being otherwise rational in their daily lives. Intelligent people, who can't even be reasoned with statistics showing that driving in more hazardous, mile per mile than flying can have this fear.

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Most people I've met that fit this criteria typically take perverse pride in it too...really weird.

"I don't fly, never have, never will! I'd rather drive the 3000 miles to California than set one foot on that plane."

[img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

Re: irrational fears
 

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I have a fear that someone will push me onto the tracks when I'm waiting for the subway. It may have started with that famous Homicide episode with Vincent D'Onofrio, but I'm not sure. Anyway, I don't let it ruin my life or anything, I just step back toward the middle of the platform until the train arrives.

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I do this too. Not because of fictional episodes - I've seen at least one news report where someone was really pushed.

Re: irrational fears
 

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what gives?

people deathly afraid of spiders, needles, etc. what is the world coming to? what are your irrational fears and excuses?

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I opened up this thread with the intent on replying that I hate both spiders and needles. Honestly.