Inspired by a spider thread on another part of the site [bugrin]
Ok, I know that a phobia is somewhat subjective and affects everyone differently but it really gets on my nerves when people claim that they 'have a phobia' of something when what they really mean is 'I'm a bit scared of X' or 'I really don't like X'.
It isn't the same thing!
For example, I have a friend who claims to have a 'spider phobia' - she says she finds it hard to put a glass over them and take them outside, she gets all itchy afterwards.
Compare that to me who has an 'actual' phobia of spiders - recently I was in hysterical tears because there was a HUGE spider in the kitchen and DH had gone out. I could not deal with it myself, I couldn't even go near it, I phoned my friend at 11pm and begged him to get out of bed and remove it because I didn't know what else to do. When that didn't work I put a frantic message on facebook to everyone who knew me to come and help me, I was desperate!
I just think that for every person who claims to have a phobia of something who doesn't really it makes people less, I dunno, tolerant and understanding of people who genuinely do.
Like people who would scare you 'for a laugh', thinking its funny to trap you in a room with 'X' or shove 'X' in your face and then being all 'oh, I didn't think you'd react that badly' when you have a panic attack!
AIBU?
AIBU?
to get quite irritated with people who claim to have a 'phobia' of something when they really don't?
extremepie · 29/03/2013 15:18
I am not afraid of flying. I am afraid of the plane plummeting to the ground and smashing to smithereens. 
I have a phobia of cows. Shake,sweat,legs turn to jelly if there is even the slightest chance one or more might be able to get on the same path or field as me. I once refused to walk over a field (public footpath) where you could see for miles there was no cattle on it except for one little corner obscured by trees that we would have had to pass. My DH had to walk the whole length of the field to check out this corner and then signal to me it was cattle free before l would leave the safety of the road.
My DF and many others cant understand it and rib me mercilessly,yet she is an arachnophobic(sp) whilst l have no problems whatsoever with picking up the things and putting them outside etc.
Now correct me if l'm wrong but in the uk at least l have never heard of anyone being killed by a spider but every year there is at least one story of a walker being injured , even killed by cows surrounding them.
Yet apparently l'm the one with the irrational fear.
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Myshootfly me too. l think that although it is so statistically unlikely to get eaten by a shark it is just so horrific that even the slightest miniscule chance of it is just too much.
A poor man got eaten off the North Island of NZ a few weeks ago and we had just arrived there the day before. l think it was the first shark attack in living memory there or for a very very long time,tens of decades or whatever, but they weren't sure they actually shot the shark or sharks that did it as they found no bodies (they managed to retrieve the poor mans body) - guess what - people were still swimming along that stretch of coast the next day - l was like this > 
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