Irrational Phobias or OCD-ness

[warlok1965]

Being late to something, even if it is trivial.

Door handles in bathrooms. Upon leaving, I use a paper towel to open the door if I can, cuz I know how many disgusting people have pissed or shat and then walked out that door sans handwashing.

 

[Connemara]

In the not so distant past, I was unable to open door handles (even in my own home) with my bare hands. Also could not eat/drink if someone touched my food or glass. I washed my hands at least 3 times an hour, maybe more.

Had my most recent nervous breakdown when I saw a bunch of moths in my lakehouse living room. I felt like I was being attacked. For a good 15 minutes I was prostrate on the floor, barely able to breathe and whimpering like a dog!

Thanks to Prozac I am now worry-free.

 

[Stazy]

I think the closest thing to OCD-ness that I've got is my penchant for taking showers. I ALWAYS take two: one in the morning and one before I go to bed. I'll take a third if I break a sweat at all during the day.

Originally Posted by warlok1965

Door handles in bathrooms. Upon leaving, I use a paper towel to open the door if I can, cuz I know how many disgusting people have pissed or shat and then walked out that door sans handwashing.

I do this all the time. I don't consider it irrational or OCD though - just basic hygiene.

 

[sho'nuff]

Originally Posted by Stazy

I think the closest thing to OCD-ness that I've got is my penchant for taking showers. I ALWAYS take two: one in the morning and one before I go to bed. I'll take a third if I break a sweat at all during the day.



I do this all the time. I don't consider it irrational or OCD though - just basic hygiene.

this is just good hygiene, not ocd

 

[Dakota rube]

Originally Posted by warlok1965

Door handles in bathrooms. Upon leaving, I use a paper towel to open the door if I can, cuz I know how many disgusting people have pissed or shat and then walked out that door sans handwashing.
Add me to this list.

Originally Posted by Connemara

Had my most recent nervous breakdown when I saw a bunch of moths in my lakehouse living room. I felt like I was being attacked. For a good 15 minutes I was prostrate on the floor, barely able to breathe and whimpering like a dog!

Thanks to Prozac I am now worry-free.

This is pathetic, Mike.
Even for you.

 

[Mauby]

Originally Posted by Stazy

I think the closest thing to OCD-ness that I've got is my penchant for taking showers. I ALWAYS take two: one in the morning and one before I go to bed. I'll take a third if I break a sweat at all during the day.



I do this all the time. I don't consider it irrational or OCD though - just basic hygiene.

You just made every French person that reads that scream in horror.

 

[Mr. Moo]

I don't like flying insects indoors (other than flies and tiny things). Outdoors I don't really mind. I have fought and won two battles in my life against giant, flying, bee-like black things in my house. They were both easily 1.5-2" long, fat, and made thumping noises when landing on/flying into things. Perhaps they were just large bumble bees, but I was always under the impression that bumble bees had some yellow on them. These were all black. Nasty.

I also don't particularly like heights, aka climbing a tall ladder, but can stand atop a tall building without issue. Even so, I've done some ropes courses and such in my life.

 

[sho'nuff]

i really detest roaches, silverfish.

we have the occasional silverfish and when i find one, i destroy it with tissue but i still wash my hands in scalding hot water and soap for about a minute because i feel i am infected with some silverfish cootie.
i hate roaches, we dont have an issue with that, but my heart skips a beat when i am walking down a sidewalk nearby a restaurant and you see the scurry of roaches on the sidewalk late at night.



i dont mind spiders at all. i actually like them. i never kill one, just pick them up with my hand (scoop it up with my hand) and bring it outdoors.
even if i were lying down and see a huge one next to my head, i dont freak out.

i think it has something to do with the spider character in James and the Giant Peach when i read that in grade school, the explanation of spiders and killing spiders in that book stuck with me to even now in adulthood. i never took spiders as a vermin or insect (they arent insects anyways) and always just considered them little benign characters.

 

[clarity]

Any tall heights, specifically looking over the edge of a dropoff, cliff, building, balcony or something similar.

 

[Stazy]

Originally Posted by Mauby

You just made every French person that reads that scream in horror.

The sad part is I'm half French. I'm an embarrassment to the motherland!

 

[Standard Toaster]

I have quite a bizarre one. If say for example I'm wearing a hooded jumper and using public transport, if I see someone looking at me I always think, "ahhh! have I left a sock in my hoody from when I did the washing?". Then I'll sit still, waiting for them to look away before I can check.

 

[Vashin]

I have a fairly strong fear of heights, but really enjoy roller coasters. kinda weird

 

[Jekyll]

Bugs. Especially large bugs or large amounts of small bugs. I was in New Mexico several years ago at a national park welcome center and saw several large black flying insects that had to be at least five inches long on the walls. I didn't feel comfortable for days.

 

[Rambo]

Are these really phobias? I imagine somebody with a phobia shutting down completely at the sight of a spider. Not being able to move or speak and breaking out in sweats. Or Conne's door handle thing.

 

[JLibourel]

Originally Posted by iammatt

Are rattlesnakes not considered dangerously venomous? I thought young ones were. Anyway, snakes are my one real fear.

I realized after I wrote that that my language was infelicitous. Of course, rattlesnakes are dangerously venomous (and their venom has been becoming much more virulent in recent decades). So are cottonmouth moccasins, copperheads and coral snakes among North American snakes.

However, it has recently been discovered that just about all the colubrid snakes--garter snakes, gopher snakes, king snakes, racers, all the snakes we were told were "harmless"--are in fact mildly venomous. They just don't have enough of a payload to harm a human--usually. There was a strange incident locally many years ago in which a boy was bitten by a garter snake and displayed classic symptoms of envenomation. Scientists were baffled. It was thought that it was some kind of allegic reaction to the snake's saliva. Now we know better.

I have heard the claim that the venom of young rattlesnakes is more toxic than that of mature ones, but I don't know if it's true. Much more important is the amount of venom injected. For example, the Southern and Northern Pacific rattlesnakes have much more toxic venom than the Western or Eastern Diamondbacks. However, the latter are much bigger snakes, have longer fangs and more aggressive temperaments, so they typically inject a lot more venom and are definitely more dangerous snakes.