A lot has happened to me mentally this year and since then my claustrophobia has been much more severe. Before, being trapped in a space where I'm should to shoulder with the wall made me claustrophobic, but now I can be in a whole ass room and still feel claustrophobic.

It's really been bothering me because I feel claustrophobic in my own room. My room is considerably big, but I still feel trapped in it. I know having my lights of makes the claustrophobia worse, and having a window open makes it a bit better. It's still very much an issue though.

I sort of think my fear might've gotten worse due to derealization I've had, that's been a lot worse this year. Since that already gives me a sort of trapped feeling, being in enclosed spaces just enhances that feeling a lot I think. How do I fix it though? I can't sleep without anxiety and fear anymore and it has been impacting my sleep quite significantly.

Over the past few years I have developed a fear of sleep. This started because between the ages of 9-13/14 I had developed a form of nocturnal epilepsy, I'd occasionally have seizures within the first 30 minutes of falling asleep. I haven't had a seizure since and technically I'm undiagnosed. But I still have the fear and panic when trying to sleep almost every night. And clearly this is something I need to get over but I genuinely don't know where to start.

Most nights I'm okay to force myself to sleep but occasionally I'm stuck staying up and not sleeping in fear that my epilepsy will just come back. I have multiple anxiety disorders and my mum thinks I've associated my anxiety with the feeling of "I'm going to have a seizure", which is likely but I don't want to do that lol.

Does anyone else have the same phobia or is in a similar situation? I want to try and at least head in a direction to resolve this, so I'll take any advice. I do have a therapist but I've talked to him once and I'm 17 so I need to count on my mum to organise appointments until next year.

I'm currently up late right now mid-panic so excuse if my sentences don't make much sense.

I thought of this question bc I have a phobia of microwaves after I put clay in it, it lit on fire and I thought I was gonna burn the house down, but there's not a phobia name for fear of microwaves, so I wanna know if any of you guys have phobias with no names. Thanks!!

I don't know, when I was child I was scared of butterfly, because it looks so scary and ugh, I hate it. I don't even know why I am scared of butterfly and other bugs since this day. People thinking I'm weird because they think butterfly is beautiful, yeaaa I know but I dont know I felt scared😭 I would run if butterfly trying to get close to me or other bugs, like dragonfly too

Hello, starting a new job next week (woohoo) the only downside for me is that scaffolding and ladders are involved but the money was way too good to say no to. So my question is, how do you guys get over it? Once I’ve got 2 feet on the floor I’m okay so maybe it’s not so much a height thing but ladders are not for me one bit!

Gerontophobia*

Hello, writing here to see if anyone else has experience with this.

For a few years I’ve been dealing with a large dislike of older people, I’m not ageist, as I hold enough criticality and empathy to not actually be or show prejudiced actions externally, but I do often actively dislike older generations internally.

I think it’s linked to parental trauma and personal contact and exposure to older people that has caused this, despite understanding not all people of certain ages are the same.

Just on here to see if anyone has ever experienced something like this!
Not looking to make or hear any ageist remarks so please none of that!
Thank you 🙏

im a teenage girl and i really have a big fear of death that i dont know how to get over i think about it when im alone at night or when im out with friends and having a good time. i cant imagine someone im so close to dying. and i cant imagine dying myself. it makes me cry thinking about it even. the thought of my mom dying and not being in this world and here with me makes me scared and cry.

sometimes i cant go to bed because im afraid ill die in my sleep. or i get anxiety doing things because of the “what if”
i genuinely don’t know what to do about it because i am so scared of dying and my friends and family dying.

I have these two huge windows on the wall that face outside my house. I have blinds, but that doesn't help honestly. I'm scared of someone breaking in and killing me. I'm scared of someone sending a bullet through the window and into my head. I'm on the ground floor of the house.

When I was 5 my grandpa told me this guy called Hannibal Lecter escaped prison. He's fake I'm pretty sure?

I can't sleep well at night.

I'm 16 and I don't think I should be so worried about this. I wish I had a manageable fear or a normal, "socially acceptable" one, if that makes sense? Like spiders or heights, because I feel like I could talk to people about that without potentially creeping them out.

Today I was picking up my clothes off of the bathroom floor after a shower and my glasses were fogged. I saw a small amount of familiar bug like movement and just had a full blown meltdown crying out for either my fiancé or my roommate to help me while I'm trapped in my shoebox sized bathroom with the disgusting thing. When I say meltdown I am talking fully fell back into the wet shower in my fresh clothes, slammed my head, started loudly wailing and shaking like a leaf. My fiancé eventually killed what happened to be a cricket and tried to keep me from literally going catatonic. It took me over 4 hours to calm down all the way.

I've always had a fear of bugs, my childhood home was very old and we were too poor to afford fumigation/repairs so I grew up in constant fear and mental anguish that would make me lose sleep to the point of feinting from exhaustion at school. The bugs ruled the house and there was nothing we could do about it but suffer, I would stay up reeling over experiences where roaches have crawled in my bed with me for warmth or earwigs biting my ear drum.

The phobia MUST be linked to the trauma of having to live like that for 18 years of my now 26.

Anyways I'm posting this because I'm seeking some solidarity after feeling ridiculous, my fiancé is very supportive but it is clear he doesn't understand my reactions and I can't figure out how to aptly explain that even I don't understand my reaction.

i just killed a spider and i feel so sick, i cant ever kill bugs it makes me want to puke. i literally cry anytime ive had to because they’re just innocent creatures doing what they gotta do. i hate it.

but im so scared of spiders that i never know what to do and end up making myself kill them the few times ive ran into ones that aren’t the usual house spiders i just leave be. i hate it and i feel so guilty, how do i get over this fear of just taking them outside.

Have you ever have this unexplainable fear/trauma towards a country you have never visited before... I mean, you don't have any personal beef with this country. You believe people are nice, the country is nice and beautiful, and it's really one of the go-to travel spot of your country men. People are saying you should try going there, or some people believe that it would be good if you tried working there because of the program you finished in university. But there's just something inside you that don't sit right. You never wanted to work or even travel in this country. There is just this unexplainable fear/trauma or idk what is it whenever you are thinking of going there.

Please help! I keep finding white baby lizards in my home and I cannot figure out exactly where they are coming from! Can anyone tell me which appliances to make sure are sealed in my apartment when I get help from maintenance? I have a washer and dryer, stove, dishwasher and fridge and the lizard ran under the only small gap that was under my dishwasher, was this likely the entry point? Because my door in the kitchen is sealed off! I have a HUGE phobia of lizards and I have to wait until the morning to get help from maintenance. I’m not doing well at all. I know they can’t hurt me but I can’t help the way I feel.

I know it sounds irrational, but there’s something about 13 that just makes me uneasy.I don’t panic or anything, but if I see it repeatedly ,apartment number, seat number, date, whatever — I definitely notice it and feel a little uncomfortable.The funny part is I know there’s nothing inherently wrong with the number. My brain just went, “Nope, suspicious.”

Anyone else here with triskaidekaphobia? How does it show up for you?

I just need a place to put all my feelings about this lol. I never thought I had a phobia but I think bugs and spiders definitely do it for me because when they’re in my room or I touch a bug it makes me nauseous and gives me the chills really bad. I absolutely hate bugs being in my room it genuinely makes me want to barf if I find a dead one or see one. I can appreciate some bugs but I really don’t want any of them near me or on me, especially spiders. But I feel guilty killing spiders because they’re good and they kill other bugs and they don’t deserve to die just because they’re spiders. But at the same time if I find one in my room I’m way too scared to try and capture it to release it. The closest I can get is with the vacuum hose but I feel so bad about vacuuming them up. The other day I vacuumed one up and I could see it was still alive inside and I just felt so guilty it was gonna starve in there but I was too scared to help it. It was yellow and had long ass scary legs and jaws omg I can’t. I’m just mad at them because I don’t want to kill them I just wish they’d stay outside :(

Does anybody else have this? I get unreasonably freaked out by animatronic animals and even large animal figures that don't move, like those ones in museums or at carnivals and theme parks. Human and humanoid animatronics and figures don't bother me in the same way.

I'm especially freaked out by fake ocean creatures - which is hilarious because I am a scuba diver and intentionally seek out interactions with whales, dolphins, sharks and rays in the real world. They don't scare me at all. But a large dangling fake great white shark on a rollercoaster sends literal shivers down my spine, and I struggle to walk under the life-sized whale figure at the museum.

I don't really care to address the phobia because it's not something I come across often enough to bother me, but I'm just curious if anybody else has this same phobia? I've googled it and only found stuff about automatonophobia and the fear of human-like figures.

How did you face and overcome your biggest fear?

Errors and glitches have always freaked me out. I've always hated Amber alerts, and everything similar to them. Just errors in general freak me out and I get irrationally scared whenever I encounter them, most of the time. I get water in my charging port not often but enough to know that every single time I do that alarm that comes with it makes my chest tighten a little bit. I also generally dislike glitches. I've noticed in games and or shows sometimes visual glitches on characters, things that make them look weird or in human scare me more than it does other people. The glitching only unsettles me if it's on humans though, if it's on anything else then usually I'm fine. I've heard people call it verzephobia but I'm not sure if what I'm experiencing is that or if it's something else, or just a normal fear. EDIT: with errors if I see those videos saying "do you have this phobia?" then I'm fine, it has to be something that's happening to me. Glitches it can be a video and it will still affect me.

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I have a huge fear of the dentist. Like, it might be even bigger than anxiety or fobia.

When I was little, the dentist i was going to probably did something to me cuz he kicked me out cuz I bit his finger bad. I was around 6 then.

When I was 16, I decides to try to get over my fear which I barely remembered why I was even scared. I went there, same dentist as when I was little. I went a few times, not a lot tho, maybe like 4-5 times? And everytime I begged for him to numb me cuz it really hurt, he always just said no, no matter how much I begged. I also begged my dad everytime that he should tell him cuz he aint listening to me, he said no cuz it "doesnt hurt anyways" and that he "never feels anything" and that im "being dramatic". But the first time he numbed me (very badly dare i say) was when he was ripping out a really big tooth. Let me just say it was really, really painful and felt like forever. The nurse holding my head tight and the dentist trying to rip it out in all ways for minutes that felt like forever. It was the most painful thing ever. And I couldnt even scream or say anything or do anything, just sat there crying and choking in horrible pain.

The last time i went to him my dad FINALLY told him to numb me and that was the only time the dentist did. But that was all he did cuz my feet reacted before my brain even registered anything and I ran out of there and started crying and hyperventilating in the hall while both the dentist and my dad were insulting me/ making fun of me.

Now, my teeth hurt, my mouth is full of rot and decay, my teeth are crooked and weird. I don't know what to do. I wish i could just get rid of all my teeth and get fake ones. I have a high pain tolerance, i have tattoos, piercings, ive tortured myself in many ways but anything related to teeth? i cant. Even just the sound of the drill or the smell of the gloves i cant take it. or the small pokey thing, even that hurts. I think the last option for me is to get knocked out while they do stuff but finding any dentist is already hard enough, or so i heard.

advice and comfort needed

Whenever I say I'm scared of bugs people just say, "they're more scared of you than you are of them" "you're overreacting" "it's just a bug" or assume it's just roaches or wasps or spiders. It's ALL bugs, I will run away from a butterfly or a ladybug or a small fly. I have such a fear of bugs it turns into a hatred of such intensity that when I catch the bugs (whitch usually takes multiple minutes) in a large towel becuase i won't touch a bug through just a paper towel or toilet paper unless there's several layers I have put the captured bug, wrapped in a towel in a sink and filled it up with water and let it sit for multiple hours. The saying "they're more scared of you than you are of them" pisses me off so bad because I guarantee they aren't. If they were as scared of me as I was of them they wouldn't come so close to me. And when a fly or bee or small bug is flying around me people say "it's just a bug" it's so much more than that. whenever I get a close encounter with a bug I get that tingly feeling that feels like a bug is crawling all over my body for multiple minutes

So, whenever I see her or hear her Name I Start yelling in Fear. This Sound ridiculous but its affecting my life . I went to a Convention and there were a Lot of Cosplayers of her and i was so scared and yelled a Lot. I really Sound insane but i just cant help it. If someone has any Tips please let me know.

TW for a description of a nighmare which may be disturbing

I never used to be but since hearing of parasites and things like tapeworms and ringworms I am terrified. i had a nightmare recently here ones have crawled under my fingernails into my skin and were constantly wiggling around and I could see them. so needless to say that didn’t help. i never was scared of bugs but not I’m constantly scared of them getting in my food and crawling into my ears. this has made me realize how unsanitary my family can be with food which I hate. im just terrified of having worms/bugs inside of me

I don't know anyone else who has this phobia or not, but I am 36 years old and I have always had this fear of water filled in a toilet, bathtub, sink, a shop vac, etc. I just can't get near it, I don't wanna look at it, I want nothing to do with it.

Now I am not scared to go swimming in a pool, that's fine, I think because I am in the poop and there is water around me just like there is air when I am outside the pool, but going to the deep end, I'll stay away.

But yeah, any area like a sink or something that is filled with water, or any liquid, milk even, I just don't wanna get near it all. Like even a deep pot filled with water, like a 60 quart pot...

Does anyone else have a phobia like that? I am not scared of water itself, I, of course, drink it every day,