Monday, May 28, 2007

The Only Thing to Fear is Fear Itself

Pennywise from Stephen Kings IT

What scares me? I guess everyone has got some fears in their lives some that are secret and some not so secret. As for myself I do have a few fears that bother me although not so severe these few things get on my mind. I believe the first step in conquering your fears in first admitting them then facing them. There are definately a few of them I would not care to face at any time.
Here are just a few.
  • Dentophobia; Fear of Dentists. I always feel sorry for dentists, they must be the ony profession where the clients are only willing to see them when the pain is too numbing for them to bear and considering the level of pain most people are willing to tolerate in order to delay that appointment is an indicator of the degree of fear. (no wonder dentists have been reputed to have among the highest suicide rates for any group of proffessionals cos they feel so unloved). I have faced this fear several times but luckily for me my Dentist belives in not prolonging the agony and he ensures that most procedures are completed in 10 minutes flat. Luckily I haven't had to face a root canal.
  • Ophidiophobia; I am really afraid of snakes. I used to have these recurrent nightmare that consisted of having a snake run up my trouser and being unable to take off my pant. admittedely the fear has been made considerably worse by the fact that I live in a part of the country where coming across a snake on your front door is literally an every day occurrence. I have actually woken up to find a 2 foot serpent coiled on the window sill of my bedroom (inside) I have never left the house so fast before. Due to the frequency of encountering them I am now able to see a snake and let it slither away in peace but the though of accidentally stepping on one or having it crawl under my bedcovers still haunts me.

Someone forwarded this so I just decided to add.


  • Catagelophobia; Fear of being ridiculed or loosing face; I am loath to make a spectacle of myself, I enjoy keeping a low profile should I get noticed it must be in a positive light. This may not be a bad thing but it keeps me from letting go thus avoiding overexposing myself e.g. dancing, getting drunk, singing etc
  • Claustrophobia; My fear of enclosed spaces combined with my fear of crowded places has ensured that box type(7-aside) matatus which incidentally are the only matatus in these parts and crowded lifts are out of limits for me. I remember having to visit a friend at KNH and anyone who has gone there knows are the huge and during visiting hours are tightly packed immediately the doors were closed I got a massive panic attack and was literally out of there at the first stop needless to say nowadays I always take the stairs at KNH.
  • Isolophobia; I fear being alone, may be not in a physically but socially, I don't understand how some people would rather stay away from people it would be very difficult for me to stay away from people and will always try and go out and mix with people even if it is just going to the club and sitting and watching rather than staying alone at home.

Definately there are many more but these are the few I wanted to share. It is very interesting to discover some of the things that people are afraid of there are a few interesting ones. (with a few links to help you face the fears)

If you suffer any of the above I hope you can face them soon, perhaps reading this post will have given you a severe case of Hellenologophobia- Fear of scientific terminology. And in case you are afraid relax there is no tagging here.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Correction:
It is not true that dentists have the highest suicide rate. Look up in google scholar for recent studies...
Studies actually point to the contrary, dentists have a lower suicide rate (1).
Some studies have indicated that the suicide rate amongst vets is about four times higher than that of dentists (2)!
Lastly, the suicide rate in the dental profession has decreased in the past decade.
So hebu wacha kutuchochea.

(1)http://jada.ada.org/cgi/content/full/132/6/786
(2)http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4310596.stm

dr. toothie

Unknown said...

@Anon, I must have used dated stats, sorry but you catch my drift the sound of the drill postively scares me. There must be a super pain killer developed in the past decade then :-)

egm said...

Here is a complete phobia list. As for yours, we share somewhat in the catagelophobia. On the isolophobia, I think I am the opposite of that and more of an isolophile!

egm said...

Ah, here it is...

Ichiena said...

Anon? the resident dentist perhaps? Lakini Kirima, snakes? Oohoohoohoohooohooo....They horrify me senseless. Lakini that list; seems I am a closet philemaholic/philemaphile! LOL!

jm said...

Brilliant post!! I liked it ... this could be one for a tag one of these fyne days ...

Try:

Gunnophobia - Fear of Arsenal!! :)

Anonymous said...

Kirima,
I know how irritating the sound of the drills can be. Next time you have a dental appointment, carry an Ipod. In our dental practice we play movies for patients and this distracts them. I have never had a patient who is apprehensive beyond control! :-)

Dr. Toothie

Half 'n' half said...

Is Phallophobia the fear of a big.............?

Who gets chrometophobia? what is the opposite?

Great post

but the tagging thing would work! We learn soo much about bloggers through the tags

feather said...

It's true about facing your fears but we also need to remember that we have not been given a spirit of fear but of love, power and of a sound mind. so fear doesn't have to control us. Snakes give me the creeps, even when I see them on t.v. i hope they are not in Heaven.

Anonymous said...

Caligynephobia - Fear of beautiful women Really? and the fear of money. Where in the world as for your fears most are a tad natural save for claustrophobia. Kenyans should be genetically predisposed ot closed spaces.

Klara said...

LOL!
Well written lakini
Me I have fear for anything that Crawls..

Anonymous said...

What is the fear of tags called? coz if I get tagged again I'll have revealed the whole of Bomseh.

My Phobias as per ur list:
Catagelophobia;Probably why I'm still on the B-Train

Dentophobia;though I only visited the dentist for fencing (bracing teeth).

Unknown said...

@EGM, I think I was there before you or do you think I know all this weird terms.
@Ichiena, hehe! I hope you keep your self busy with the Philemamania.
@Mwangi, I thought this season was enough for you to overcome this fear.
@Dr. Toothie, Which movie? I hope not tha Mr Bean episode with the dentist! hehehe!
@HnH, Yes it is... My people don't fear money so I guess I'll never know.
@Feather, I hear you and Welcome here.
@Aizoh, You mean you have never felt been struck numb by a devastatingly beatiful woman. lucky you!
@Jamvi, I know I can't stand crowded places maybe thats why I live out here in the open lands.
@Klara, Anything? even a cute 6 month old todler? :-)
@Bomseh, Tagmephobia (I just made that up)

egm said...

There before me? Really? :)

Unknown said...

@EGM, Aieee! I seem to be eating my words too much on this post let me just eat humble pie and shut up. Thanx for the correction

egm said...

Karibu, na usijali! I have had my fair share of eating humble pie. As for that picha... eh... that's some twisted stuff! Kwani where does the snake think it's going to??

Komi said...

Dentophobia; I had it until I realised the pain it took to correct the problems was nothing compared to the one that kept me awake.
@feather-I don't think snakes will be in heaven and if they are, then they will be singing praises
:)They give me creeps as well and will not be visiting Kirimas diggs anytime ever ha.

Girl next door said...

I had no idea people can have fear of kissing or money!

I'm with you on snakes, it creeps me out to see pics of them hanging around someone's neck.

I remember taking the stairs at KNH a few yrs ago--the elevators were too packed.

I'm the opposite of isolophobia--I prefer to spend most of my time away from people.

Anonymous said...

ati Gallophobia??lol thats funny!

i guess i have fears that are bizarre then, sijaona kwa list.

Unyc said...

U hv enuf fears. I fear spiders n sme ugly lizards sijui called what....

I fear failure sana sana. Am 2 ambitious so if that happens...dont how 2 cope with it.

Anonymous said...

what's the fear of being in the light (yaani the main otero) called? stage-fright in the -phobia sense?

dentists...i zoead
snakes...feared
alone (socially)...feared
alone (physically)...i'm never scared

interesting list. downloaded it once and said i'll read and cram all of them (save them for a dinner chat) but yah right...i have that phobia what did you call it...hellenologophobia (typed it real slowly)..couldn't remember even the simple ones

betty sure ain't suffering from gallophobia...

kirima huko ni wapi unaishi...sikuji, siwezi, sitaki...hope i never

Klara said...

LOL! Kirima! LOL..That'a a 10 nil..
bt u know i didnt mean that huh?

Unknown said...

@Komi, I'm begining to get less scared of snakes and there are alot less around nowadays.
@Girl Next Door, Yeah those KNH lifts are definately the worst, Don't spend too much time alone you may need company when there is a snake around.
@Unyc,Arachnophobia & Herpetophobia. Yeah I also have Atychiphobia I hate to fail.
@Betty, Dont you find the french habits and behaviour a tad bit complex.
@Modo scared, Maybe I should invite you over so that you can see hehehe!
@Klara, glad to see that you have overcome your fear of toddlers hehehe! (pedophobia)

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