General Discussion Thread

[Haiz]

I'm always super embarrassed about things like crawling under my desk because of thunder and in a way it makes me feel less embarrassed.

If it makes you feel any less embarassed, I had/have a habit of crawling under my desk to cry/sulk/protest against real life in the middle of class........

[Viisikielinenkantele]

Yes, acrophobia here too... but weirdly only on man-made things like ladders or towers. I'm perfectly fine in the mountains...until someone decided that there would be a good place for a handrail 

[SectoBoss]

When I was young I used to be deathly afraid of medium-height old buildings. Modern skyscrapers? Fine. Mountains? Fine. But stuff like medieval castles used to scare the bejesus out of me. I would become convinced that the whole thing was about to collapse under me whenever I went up the towers or onto the battlements, and end up clinging to a handrail or the stonework for dear life. This became a bit of a problem, as most of my family's holidays were to north Wales and my folks absolutely loved visiting all the old castles there. You can probably still find the gouges in Caernarfon castle from where I had to be prised off it.

[Chizu]

In general phobias have to do with the serotonin levels in your brain and how well you manage that particular neurotransmitter. In some new theories it is also suggested that genetics may have a role in the formation of individual's phobias, which is not that surprising. It is all based on the concept of triggering events; in other words your parents or grandparents or someone down the line had a traumatic event that has provoked the serotonin released from a nerve cell into the synaptic gap between cells, to not be recognised by the second cell. Which in tern makes the fear pathways in the amygdala to fire up to the conditional stimuli -spiders etc. and later on affects the plasticity. All of this is similar to some types of schizophrenia, hence why they believe that fears and phobias could be geneticly passed on the next generation. Some fears are just evolutionary such as fear of darkness and height. They fall under the category of rational and are 99% with children. It is quite a vast subject, very interesting as well.

[Haiz]

I think it's scary to walk stairs but like. lifts are wayy scarier. I once experienced a lift door opening when the lift wasn't there, just the empty shaft.... and especially those old ones where you don't have a proper door, so you have the moving wall rIGHT THERE. nope. I always thought about how it could swallow and crush my hand if I touched it. which reminds me of escalators, which are also scary because when I was little, I thought not getting off in time would mean you get swallowed up at the end there. About not going off in time - skiing lifts are scary too, and----


......... my mom is scared/repulsed by buttons, what does that mean

[Piney]

I think it's scary to walk stairs but like. lifts are wayy scarier. I once experienced a lift door opening when the lift wasn't there, just the empty shaft.... and especially those old ones where you don't have a proper door, so you have the moving wall rIGHT THERE. nope. I always thought about how it could swallow and crush my hand if I touched it. which reminds me of escalators, which are also scary because when I was little, I thought not getting off in time would mean you get swallowed up at the end there. About not going off in time - skiing lifts are scary too, and----

Stairs without railingsoh hell no. Also I was once on an airplane elevator on an aircraft carrier and it was gigantic but it had no railing so it freaked me the heck out; I had to stand as close to the center as I could and like, grab on to my sister for support. Even the idea of a bunk bed without railings freaked me out (thankfully the bunk bed in my dorm did have railings, phew)... anything without railings... >.<

......... my mom is scared/repulsed by buttons, what does that mean

Funny, my (now former) roommate was apparently super afraid of buttons as a kid; she'd, like, remove the eyes from her teddy bears and everything.

[Haiz]

Stairs without railingsoh hell no. Also I was once on an airplane elevator on an aircraft carrier and it was gigantic but it had no railing so it freaked me the heck out; I had to stand as close to the center as I could and like, grab on to my sister for support. Even the idea of a bunk bed without railings freaked me out (thankfully the bunk bed in my dorm did have railings, phew)... anything without railings... >.<

Funny, my (now former) roommate was apparently super afraid of buttons as a kid; she'd, like, remove the eyes from her teddy bears and everything.

ahh yes I always get top bunk because i'm so Small, which is always fun on ferrys..... I mean the top bunks in the cabins usually DO have railings, but very small, and in the middle? what's up with that, it's on a boat, it's gonna mOVE AND I'M GONNA FALL OUT (i've never fallen out)

and stair without railings, ahaha ha ha.......... super long ago we visited a water-generated power plant with my class, it was in the middle of a mountain (I think? it's getting hazy) and there was an elevator going to the top that would take 20 minutes - but it was really just a platform on a track, and if there was an Accident you had emergency stairs right by. The stairs had 4000 steps. they were small and slimy and only had a rail for the first 100 steps or so. the ultimate nightmare stairs

a fear of buttons is called koumpounophobia apparently. it seems rational after watching Coraline

[Piney]

and stair without railings, ahaha ha ha.......... super long ago we visited a water-generated power plant with my class, it was in the middle of a mountain (I think? it's getting hazy) and there was an elevator going to the top that would take 20 minutes - but it was really just a platform on a track, and if there was an Accident you had emergency stairs right by. The stairs had 4000 steps. they were small and slimy and only had a rail for the first 100 steps or so. the ultimate nightmare stairs

NOPENOPENOPENOPENOPENOPENOPE

[Fimbulvarg]

Why am I not surprised that the flow of the discussion suddenly turned to phobias. Let's see, My fears... Crippling disease I suppose?

Fim, didn't you mean to say:

Oh, I don't judge. Fear isn't always governed by reason.
Today I saw a person run from a mediocre boulder-filled avalanche two kilometers away, even though they admitted they knew it probably wouldn't get kill us where we stood. It's like an instinctive need to escape I suppose.

Nah, when I said mediocre I meant mediocre.

[Chizu]

the fear of buttons is called koumpounophobia apparently. it seems rational after watching Coraline

 . . . .

[mithrysc]

NOPENOPENOPENOPENOPENOPENOPE

*agrees wholeheartedly, though is confused at some point when she starts seeing OPEN*

*flashbacks to Grand Canyon trails*

Somehow, though, I've survived hiking trips up/down stairs that were mostly of the "roughly hewn rock on the edge of a canyon or basically almost ladders" variety. I suppose that there were enough people walking/climbing up underneath me that I couldn't look down? Or that they would cushion any potential fall, idk

[BreezeLouise]

Also I was once on an airplane elevator on an aircraft carrier

What what when where what how

[Adrai Thell]

My fear of heights is very selective - mountains? Sure! Cliffs? No problem! Skyscrapers? No sweat! Ropes course ten feet off the ground? WHAT IS THIS EVIL KILL ME NOW.

Also, not sure if this is a phobia, but I don't dare swim since my "swimming instructor" dumped five-year-old me in the deep end of the pool, I got a concussion, and nearly drowned. Fun times. At least I acted like a duck, as directed by my only instructions.

[Mélusine]

*Count* Three bruises, one scratch. Obviously we were all rusty at sport this evening.

A stupid phobia ? Dogs.

Also, not sure if this is a phobia, but I don't dare swim since my "swimming instructor" dumped five-year-old me in the deep end of the pool, I got a concussion, and nearly drowned.

Oh, so this kind of "swimming instructor" exist everywhere... *Bad memories*

[Haiz]

A stupid phobia ? Dogs.

ohhhh finally someone else who's scared of dogs, too
everyone is like "HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE DOGS"
and it's not like I don't think dogs aren't great but I'm always very anxious around them for some reason? probably not as intense as a straight out phobia, though..... I do have some memory of me as a kid desperately trying to run away from a very small dog with poofy white fur. i remember its sharp teeth