What are you afraid of?
I don’t think I have anything that I am really scared of. Certainly not a phobia. Some things make me uncomfortable, others I don’t like, some things that worry me, but there isn’t anything that I would say that I am truly scared of.
When I met my husband, I quickly discovered that he was afraid of cats. I am allergic; so I have never owned one, but I always loved them and when I discovered his fear, I may have mocked him a little. How could you be afraid of a cat? They are so cute and lovely. In the early days, I possibly didn’t take it very seriously but then I began to see how scared he actually was. This wasn’t a mild dislike, he was actually physically terrified of them. I don’t like insects, but I’m not really scared of them and I started to see that a genuine phobia of something can be quite difficult to live with (especially when you live in an estate where everyone else seems to own at least one cat). He was more than uncomfortable, it would make him fidgety and then stressed, even coming out in a cold sweat and getting palpitations.
When I researched a fear of cats a couple of years ago, I discovered that it is actually quite common. Ailurophobia is the proper name and although a fear of dogs is much more common, my husband is definitely not alone in his fear. Somehow, the cats of the world seem to know this too as they home in on him; whether leaving the house to go the car or if we visit friends who have cats, they come running over enthusiastically and cause him to have a mild panic attack.
I often joke that I will get a kitten and how lovely it would be. He glares at me and tells me that will be the day he leaves. Something to bear in mind when I have had enough of him, I suppose.
I thought that the children were all phobia free until a couple of years ago. As a mum, I was very conscious that I should try to not show fear of silly things as I didn’t want to pass on any irrational fears to the children. Two years ago, however, L started to show signs of a more unusual phobia. When I was pregnant with him, I went off baked beans. I never ate an abundance of them before, but I couldn’t even look at them when I was carrying him and have never really eaten them since. Fast forward a few years and L hates baked beans. He has never eaten them and can’t bear to see them. If anyone else on the table has them, it makes him really uncomfortable and then he will start retching. It really isn’t pleasant but it must be worse for him as his brother sees this as a great opportunity to goad his younger brother and it rarely ends well. We saw something on television about a man who was so obsessed with beans, he had a beans themed bedroom and L just sat staring at the television in horror; mouth open with all colour draining from his face at the thought. We fondly call it ‘heinzophobia’ but I think that the fear of beans called Leguminophobia (or terror in a tin as one article described it) and again it is a known phobia but one more unusual one.
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Phobias are extremely common with Acrophobia (a fear of heights), Claustrophobia (fear of enclosed spaces), Arachnophobia (fear of spiders) and Trypanophobia (fear of injection or medical needles) being amongst the most common. According to the NHS website, around 10 million people in the UK alone have a phobia of some kind.
Interested in finding out more about the nation’s fears and phobias, Benenden ran a poll where they asked people to share their unusual fears and the results are fascinating. Scaffolding, clowns, moths, beards and even cotton wool are some of the many fears that people listed. The fact that 8% of the people polled said that their fear was being without phone coverage was a surprise, although a sign of the dependence that people have on their devices I suppose. You can find out more about the results of the survey here and the options available to overcome fears and phobias.
Having asked a few of my own friends and family, I uncovered a few unusual fears amongst them. My mother in law is terrified of snakes and worms and the boys used to terrorise her with a rather life-like toy snake when they were younger. I also have friends who are afraid of buttons, balloons, heights, going underwater and feet. It is fascinating to see the range of fears that people have and how random some of them are too. Let me know what your afraid of as I am really interested to know.
This post was written in association with Benenden.
Not exactly a phobia, but I hate getting anything wet on my hands. Water is fine, but I hate washing my hair and feeling the wet hair with my hands, or wet sand on a beach. I especially hate washing up and feeling something (other than the dishes!)in the water. Even if I’m wearing rubber gloves the water needs to be emptied, sink cleaned and refilled with fresh water!
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Gosh that is a really unusual phobia, that must make life difficult for you. That makes our weird phobias seem really trivial. Have you ever had any help with it?
The fear of cats must be hard to live with – and fear of beans would be a nightmare in our house! (The kids insist on eating them pretty much every day.) I can just imagine my boys taunting each other too!
My fears are claustrophobia (which I’ve tried to hide, but have slightly passed on to my eldest) and fear of vomiting. I’m much better with the vomiting than I used to be, but I will always try to run out of the room if I can – I will stay with the child if hubby isn’t around as I’m not that cruel! When I was a kid I would run away and cry for hours if my brother or sister was sick. Personally, I haven’t been sick since I was 12 (!). I think my body knows how much it would upset itself, so it doesn’t bother!
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The fear of beans is certainly a challenge sometimes as R loves them but I hide them in little pots and put L at the end of the table so he is less likely to see them. Interestingly, the fear of vomiting is really common, but must be awful. I wonder if you have built up a resistance to sickness bugs because of your phobia?
Your husband must never come to our house then as we have 3 cats! I used to be absolutely terrified of dogs, as in I would turn around and do a massive detour if I came across one. Then I got to know a couple of dogs, that were softies, and my fear eased off. But I was worried my kids would have this fear so we ended up getting our own dog to ensure they wouldn’t, and now I’m fine with my own dog, just nervous around others when I walk him. The beans one though – that’s a funny one!
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