Spiders and Claustrophobia are mine. But not the usual type of claustrophobia, not me. I'm fine in close quarters...I can even ride in elevators, as long as I know that the doors will open when it stops. As soon as I realize I'm locked in, I shut down.
Edit: Found this in the page Anna linked to - this is what we have: Cleithrophobia or Cleisiophobia - Fear of being locked in an enclosed place. <g>
That is exactly what I have, too, Anne, so I completely understand you. I'd hate a joke like that too. I am not afraid of small spaces if I know I can get out. I still hate elevators, and I'm always uneasy in them, but I can ride them. As soon as I'm locked in, I freak.
Re elevators, I've hated them ever since I was little and my mom told me the story of how she and her friends got stuck in one when they were little and waited for the operators for hours to get them out. That idea terrifies me. Plus I get the uneasy feeling that the cord is going to snap. I have to add that the elevators in Canada are about 4 times bigger than the ones I had to ride in back in Israel. They're tiny. When I visited this summer my family would take the elevator all the time and I avoided it at all cost. Fortunately we were only talking 2 or 3 stories, not 14, like here (oh, the fun I had clibing THAT up and down. I may get a nice view out my window, but just wait til the fire alarm goes off with no reason). <g> And no, I don't know why they were taking the elevator down 2 or 3 stories.
Going back to the topic, I can't *stand* being locked anywhere. It was worse when I was little, but it's still there. From the time I was in grade 3 til the time we moved here, I've had my own key and would come home alone from school every night. My parents would only come home much later in the evening. I used to never lock the door behind me, because I had the uneasy feeling that it might not open again. My parents told me, repeatedly, to lock it when I'm alone, but I could never bring myself to do it.
Furthermore, when I *did* find myself locked somewhere, I freaked out, went into hysterics, and had my heart racing and my airways tightning. Even if I wasn't alone.
Once in elementary school, me and the rest of the class, including the teacher, got locked inside a classroom. I started crying hysterically, even though obviously I knew were were going to get out eventually. Even if we didn't open the door, there was a small window from the classroom to the hallway which students could fit through, so while the teacher wouldn't encourage me to climb through it,
I'd like to have seen her stop me if it took them longer to open it. <g> I also have to add that I was the only one in hysterics.
Another time I got locked in the school gym with a girl a year older than me. We were only locked in it for a little while, less than 20 minutes, probably, now that I think about it, but it seemed like forever. She kept telling me to calm down, but I was in hysterics again.
And another time, when I was 12, we were having stuff done to our apartment
and the door to my new room had no handle on it yet. My friend's dad was the one doing the work, and he was right outside the room we were in (my friend and I). She closed the door, forgetting the missing handle, and of course we got locked inside. Now, he was *right* outside the door and opened it in about 30 seconds with a screwdriver or something, but in those 30 seconds I went into hysterics again.
Then, when I was 13, I was riding down the elevator and it was packed with people, so I was definitely not alone, when there was a power shutdown for abour a minute. In that minute, the elevator stopped, and the lights went out, and while all the other people just sort of went, "dammit," I started freaking out and screaming for them to press the alarm. A minute later the lights went back on and the elevator opened on one of the bottom floors, so we all exited and took the stairs down the remaining few flights... but I think those people thought I was a lunatic. <g>
I also have Phasmophobia - the fear of ghosts (Wendy, put away the lipstick <g>). Yeah, I know I wouldn't normally find a white sheet floating around out to get me, and I'm only *really* afraid of them at night, but still.
Once I was at the computer at night, and some plastic bags that were on the balcony started rattling because it was windy. And they were white. <g> In addition to that, back in my room I had a huge picture on the wall, and the frame was pretty light, so the wind coming from my open window made it knock against the wall every few minutes. That night I thought the place was haunted. I was in tears at the computer and in an IM convo with a friend, who told me I was being a wuss.
And really, I know I was... but I can't help it. At night, whenever I need to leave my room, I feel uneasy until I turn a light on. Fear of the dark accompanies this, though I don't know if I'd call it a phobia.
Also, like Karen, I hate scary movies. A lot. I ran out of the room in tears when I watched Scream and couldn't sit through it (course, I was 11), after only the first victim died, and when I watched The Ring there were at least two parts where I ran out of the room and started crying. I did sit through it, though. In agony.
I'm also afraid as hell of death. Not necessarily my own. I'm often paranoid about things, but for the most part I get over them.... besides worrying about my family. I find myself thinking, each time my dad leaves for work or I leave for school, "what if this is the last time I see them?" I suppose in a way it makes me not take things for granted, but it also ruins my nerves. When someone is late to come home I freak out. Once I came home from school, expecting to see my whole family home... instead, no one was home. I called my best friend, in tears, and kept her on the phone for about an hour until they came home, and in that hour came up with so many horrible theories of what might have happened to them that it couldn't have been healthy. I know it's natural to worry for family when they're late, but not this much.
I get nightmares about things like that, what might happen to them, and I'm always really, really upset when I wake up. I don't want to elaborate here, but again, it can't be normal and healthy. I'm really paranoid about these things. Sometimes I even feel like I know something horrible is going to happen eventually, and I'd like it if it just happened so I could stop being afraid of anything else happening. I know that it doesn't make any sense, of course, and I also know that I probably will still be just as paranoid, if not more, if anything happened (
/me knocks on wood) but I can't help thinking that way sometimes. I think it might be because I haven't experienced any losses so far, and I know I'll have to at some point. I don't know the name for this phobia, but it's definitely a phobia.
Here's my... 2 dollars <g> It was great to get off my chest. Thanks for the thread, Anna. I'm finding other people's posts fascinating, by the way - like Wendy, I really admire those of you who are conquering their phobias, and it's kind of nice to know I'm not a lunatic after all. Sorry for ranting for so long, hope it wasn't too tough to get through. <g>
Julie