To think that the term phobia is over used?

[DesolateWaist]

People seem to use the word phobia to mean anything that makes them feel slightly uncomfortable.
AIBU to find it disrespectful to people who have a genuine phobia?

It's like when people say they are a 'bit OCD' because they like things neat. Or say they are depressed when they mean a bit sad.

There should be a new word meaning 'this makes me feel uncomfortable but not so much that I'm on the verge of a panic attack'.

It is overused and people often don't understand how real a phobia can be. I had/have a fairly unusual phobia which people used to find funny. I don't want to out myself, but it is a fairly commonplace object. I had people jump out at me holding it, hit me with it etc, and it was only when they then saw me melt down into a shaking, crying, hyperventilating mess that they realised it was serious.

Thanks to some decent treatment, I can control my reactions in most circumstances now, so I no longer tend to say I am phobic, but panic attacks are never too far away.

I have a real but unusual phobia people have laughed at me for it i manage to keep it under control but inside i feel sick and clammy

A phobia is a mental illness and affects the way you love your life. As is OCD.

I'm a mostly recovered emetophobe and its so frustrating when everyone says "oh yeah me too" because of course no one likes vomit. But for someone with a genuine phobia it affects their diet, relationships, behaviour, travel, everything! At my worst I lived on dry bread and crisps, missed a lot of school, avoided alcohol and places people might be drunk, didn't have enough water so I wouldn't have to use public toilets, wouldn't contemplate a ferry or plane ride, couldn't be in my home with a sick person. I still have a problem with vomit, especially when it's contagious, and I experience a high level of anxiety in those situations. But I don't avoid any situation where there could be vomit. I still react more strongly than most people but no longer consider it a genuine phobia as I can get on with my life.

I also have a close family member with OCD, so I also know the devastating effect of that disease, on the sufferer and their family.

Everyone's examples really get on my tits too.

I suffer from terrible anxiety, as well as a few other MH issues. It's impossible to tell and every one of my friends or family members has been genuinely shocked if it's come up.

I hate it when people self-diagnose anxiety because they get reasonably stressed when reasonably stressful things are happening. If they knew the difference between that and living it a constant state of hopelessness and fear, maybe they'd understand.

I have the same problem with 'triggered'. It has a specific clinical meaning relating to PTSD but is popularly used to mean 'reminded me of something bad that happened once and made me a bit upset'. It debases PTSD and encourages perfectly resilient and well-adjusted people to treat themselves as fragile in a way that is itself unhealthy.

I agree with triggering it is interesting how these catch on iyswim another is redflags bugs me

Totally agree, the word is overused and detracts from those of us with a genuine, lifelong, controlled-by-medication phobia. Not just a mild aversion to something.

I have a massive dislike of anything to do with eyes, having to use eyedrops would be a nightmare, and I hate things that look like eyeballs eg Scotch eggs. If I had a phobia I wouldn't be able to put mascara on or look at myself in the mirror.

YANBU to say the word phobia is overly used.

YADNBU! I agree very much so, i have a crippling phobia of hypodermic needles. (I literally struggled to type the word). Now a lot of people are scared of needles or don't like getting them done and that's totally fine! But because that many people in hospital, etc say "oh i have a phobia of needles" that when i try to explain to medical staff i have a genuine phobia i get a barrage of these responses:

"Just don't look"
"Don't worry it doesn't really hurt"
"I'll hold your hand"
"Close your eyes"
"Just a little scratch"
"It'll be done before you know it"
"Come on now it's only a little needle"
"Stop being silly, no-one likes them"

What they fail to realise is i have an actual phobia. So i hyperventilate, i faint, i throw things, i'm physically sick, scream, i cower in a corner and shake, i beg them to stay away from me.... Just by being in the same room as one i can't see! I always get "wow you really are afraid" and 10/10 times "i've never seen anyone that scared before".

If people didn't over-use the word phobia so much then the world could be more prepared for those of us that do have them!!

I also despise the use of OCD and if i ever heard someone say they were "a bit Autistic" about something, i'd go mental (as i've got ASD).

Absolutely walking. Virtually no one I know has seen me properly freak out at a spider but I'm sure they would be shocked if they did see it as they are so used to people who are 'phobic' but can pick them up with a glass and put them outside.

I was running around banging on neighbours doors late at night once because I needed help as there was a huge spider in my house. I was seconds away from phoning the police because I was hysterical and didn't know what to do.

Everyone thinks this is incredibly funny but it's not. I was terrified. The only people who didn't find it funny where two relatives who are also arachnophobic. It is genuinely difficult to live with.

I frequently describe myself as a bit OCD. It's the simplest way available to me of explaining the difficulties I have to someone in a way they can understand.

if you ever met anyone in real life with OCD, littlemiss then you probably wouldnt do that. It is a serious disabling condition.
Would it be OK for me to describe myself as ' a little bit schizophrenic'?

I really dislike the whole 'a bit OCD' thing.

"I've seen people in FB groups saying they got 'all autistic' about something, when they mean 'obsessed'."

Worra, that's awful!

if you ever met anyone in real life with OCD, littlemiss then you probably wouldnt do that. It is a serious disabling condition.

I would and have. Because as I've already said it's the easiest way I know to explain my difficulties.

" if i ever heard someone say they were "a bit Autistic" about something, i'd go mental "

lol sorry but you must see the irony in that....

I bet every one uses words in the English language slightly incorrectly sometimes. It's part of the way language involves and ordinary language tends to differ from medical terminology.

I used to find these things annoying and disrespectful. And I understand that imprecise usage can blur a word's meaning. But I've lost the capacity to care about thoughtless hyperbole.

Yes, it's unhelpful if someone says they're 'a bit OCD' or 'a bit depressed' or 'a bit autistic' when they mean something quite different. But recently I find that instead of getting annoyed I just assume they don't know what they're talking about (and I also assume that this ignorance probably extends to everything else they talk about). So I judge without getting pissed off.

I sort of miss the feeling of righteous indignation, and I worry that I'm going to turn into some kind of caricature of right wing offensiveness.

I totally agree, the over use of "phobic" downplays actual phobias.
I dislike spiders, I wont go near them and get panicked to see one in the same room. However I can cope and my DD removes them for me and I can carry on glancing up at corners around my house in a normal fashion.
However ive a phobia of clowns - people always assume I just dont like them, nope I am literally reduced to tears and can not cope at all. My ex house mate discovered this rather well, thinking I just didn't like them she hid in my wardrobe and jumped out wearing a clown mask.
I instinctively reacted, punched it in the face with the force you would expect when you fully believed something could, and would kill you. I then ran out the house shaking, crying and hysterical. My fight and flight reaction working well.
she gained a knowledge of how phobics react that night....and a broken nose, that I wasnt even sorry about!

If the world and their wife stoped using phobic for uncomfortable, real phobias would be easier to understand!

I'm afraid I'm one of those annoying people who says they're 'a bit OCD' but I do suffer from anxiety, intrusive thoughts and have had certain rituals to (try to) control it - just not enough to ever go into detail with a doctor about. I am having treatment for the anxiety though. Sorry!

I do have phobias - claustrophobic definitely as I have panic attacks, I can't go near wasps, not even pictures - their horrible evil faces... I feel ill just typing this and thinking about them. Most weirdly I have a thing about dead woodlice, it's like a contamination thing and I can't go near them or touch them, if I do touch them it's major panic and I have to wash (preferably scrub the affected area) immediately. Live ones are fine. So yeah. If you can be in the same room as the thing you claim to be phobic of without it bothering you, you're probably not.

I absolutely hate when my friend talks about " her OCD"
She just likes a clean house! When I mentioned going to the GP about it she just shrugged it off and laughed.
People don't get it.

Mirime I would say that you are using it correctly tbh, it sounds like you have OCD with the anxiety, rituals and intrusive thoughts. It also sounds like you're still able to get on with your life so milder than some people who can barely leave the house, but still causing you distress. So: a bit OCD or mild-moderate OCD sounds accurate (not a medical professional!)

I do hate small holes, I have phobias over certain patterns.

Then I came on MN, and now 99% of them have a phobia of small holes! Until then I had never met anyone with my phobia. I have OCD and my fear of patterns has been present since I was a child.

You can't be a bit OCD. It doesn't even make sense. A bit obsessive compulsive disorder? You can have mild OCD or you can be an obsessive person over certain things but you can't be a bit OCD.

I frequently describe myself as a bit OCD. It's the simplest way available to me of explaining the difficulties I have to someone in a way they can understand.

OCD ruined many years of my life. My son has OCD so badly that it is currently ruining his. The fear, the thoughts, they have negatively affected his quality of life. Please stop using a 'bit OCD'. It makes it harder for people like me and my son to be taken seriously. If we mention we have OCD so many people assume we wash our hands a lot and that's it. The thoughts my son have are nasty and very traumatising for him, sometimes he would rather be dead than live with this. We hope treatment will help him soon. People need to stop trivialising what is a very serious disorder.

My friend has talked about her 'OCD' because she likes her pictures hanging straight.

Hmm I always considered my fear of small irregular pattern holes as a weirdness as opposed to a phobia. I'm told it's trypophobia? I'm not googling it and don't suggest anyone does if prone to mild mental discomfort.

But it's not really a phobia for me I know that, because I used to have arachnophobia, even a piece of cotton or fluff that looked like a spider would trigger it, feeling sick, dizzy, racing heart, weak legs. I couldn't even have tomatoes in the house with the stalks still on! had hypnotherapy which removed the worst of the symptoms, although I still don't like them and won't deal with them, I don't fall apart anymore.

So different to me feeling uncomfortable and icky when seeing small holes in irregular patterns!

So agree, phobia is used too frequently, maybe in some cases to perhaps add a level of interest into a persons character...

Yes, most people dislike the holes. Everyone in my house does.

My reaction is very different to theirs (those in my house I mean)

As a child I had a dog with patterns on its nose and I asked my mum to scratch them all off. I couldn't sleep, and (still couldn't) if there was a shadow on my bedroom wall because the shapes made me feel really ill. There's a reason I have lots of plain fabric over my bedroom window now.

No doubt a lot of people who say they have trypophobia have it really bad, most probably just don't like them very much. I try to expose myself to it at times, per CBT advice. I am sure my trypophobia isn't as nearly extremes as others either.