My phobia - going to the toilet in a public place or someone else's house, doing a #2, and the toilet not flushing. Having to stand there and reflush and reflush until it goes away.
Limeslice - I'm not sure why i'm afraid of daogs but I have been my whole life. I remember being 4yrs old and jumping up on my nan cause there was a little tiny puppy coming towards us. Do you know anyone who has tried hypnotherapy? Does it work?
I have a phobia of open water. Scares me so much. Whenever I am in a plane over the ocean and cant see any land, cant be the person furthest out in the ocean at the beach.
I remember it becoming very clear to me when I went snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef. I was on the reef snorkelling then all of a sudden I swam off the reef and just saw pitch black below me. Had a massive panic attack!
And dont even talk to me about that movie Open Water where they get left on the reef!!!
I'm not sure about hypnotherapy in that I've never tried it.
Specific phobias such as yours with dogs are very very treatable. General fears are really common, I think they're only called phobias once the fear is changing your behaviour or restricting you in some way. Since this sounds like it is really starting to affect you negatively, I'd recommend that you see your GP and get a referral to a medicare registered psychologist who deals with anxiety. You'll get around 6 sessions that are claimable on medicare making it reasonably affordable. It should generally take around 6-8 session to get a good outcome with something like this.
There are a number of behavioural and thinking techniques that you can learn to help you reduce your fear and get to the point where you can cope with seeing a dog on the street and not panic and also to help you feel more comfortable going out without worrying about it constantly. You'll get relaxation techniques, information about the physical panic response, and help to change your thinking to be more helpful - like searching for evidence of a threat - and more realistic.
HTH. I really encourage you to seek some help from someone qualified in this area. It is really treatable.
btw - my fear is of confined spaces. I don't think I have a full blown claustrophobia but I do have to concentrate on my breathing and staying calm when in small spaces, especially crowds and lifts and things.
My phobia: spiders, spiders, spiders, spiders, spiders!! *shudder* Even just pictures of them freak me out.... I am terrified of them.
I know it's not a reasonable fear to have & that "they're more scared of you..." yadda yadda yadda, but OMG I think they are evil & sneaky & very, very scary!!! Arachnophobia the movie was TORTURE!
I hope you can work something out re your dog phobia, I cannot imagine ever not being scared of spiders myself, but I suppose it would be cool to be free of that. Good luck if you decide to work on it.
My phobia is called "Trypanophobia". What it is, is a fear of medical needles. It came to a head when I was 17 and a bunch of nurses in a ward felt it was their place to hold me down to take blood. As can be expected, I became physically defensive, almost broke a nurses arm and signed myself out of the hospital as soon as possible. The blood test was not necessary - it seems they just decided that I had to do it, because my refusal was "irrational".
When I got pregnant with DD2, my sister and DH started working with me to get me to the point where I could give blood (I am still terrified of injections and so needing my oxytocin by drip is not so bad really). Because she was an AIN, she understood well who was the best person in a hospital to see about needles. In this order was an Anesthetists, Pathologists, Registered Nurses. I tended to agree after watching a doctor butcher putting a canula in my son. It spiked my phobia to see several holes in my sons arm, all bleeding. The doctor was probably lucky to make it out of that room alive! An RN came in instead and got it in first time.
Anyway, my sister got the Pathologist at the hospital to work with me, and eventually we could get me to a point where I gave blood via use of a "butterfly". It was a tiny needle that they stuck in the top of my hand. There was a hose from that to the collection tube, so she could change tubes without disturbing the needle at all. I have been progressing since then that I can get a canula in my arm without becoming physically defensive. But it took baby steps.
For you, baby steps might be the best idea. Start with a puppy. The little ones at the local pet store. See if you can pat them - and then if you can bring yourself to. From there, little lap dogs might be an idea next. Make sure you know they are big sooks and will give you a nice introduction to dogs in a safe, controlled way.
Baby steps is a good idea Inertia. A smaller baby step would be to look at a picture of a dog - or even thinking about/imagining them if you need to before building up to a real dog - maybe one in a cage at a pet store or something/behind the glass. You'll need some good relaxation techniques to go with this though, otherwise, the exposure will just "spike" your phobia further as Inertia mentioned with needles. You need to stay with the small step until you feel relaxed or reasonably under control. And then move to the next one etc.
BIRDS!!!! I am petrified of all birds! I will cross the street if I am walking my dog and there is a bird on the footpath! haha I don't know why I am afraid of them, always have been....
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