Aa
"It's not coming out of the TV" (phobias)
My biggest reason for anxiety is my phobia! The entire summer-season goes to being scared and jumpy because I "might see a reptile" (thank goodness I live in a cooler part of the world).
Last summer I had bouts of anxiety, close to flashbacks, because I saw a porcupine (spelling?) in the garden and thought: "Oh snakes eat them".
I had a boyfriend who had two reptiles in the apartment - I broke up with him the morning he goofed and woke me up by putting one on my stomach. While I dated him, my phobia was almost cured!
Most likely, I have this phobia because it is LIKELY that I might meet a snake in the garden, even though it 99% of the time doesn't happen. I hate visiting my parents because they live in a warmer, more humid area where there are ran-over vipers in the roadsides and everything. I'm blushing only to admit that one of the reasons for me not visiting them anymore is because of me knowing I'll probably panic. I am sweating as I think of Animal Planet, National Geo or other animal channels LOL.
Two years ago my husband pulled me to a zoo where I knew it was reptiles in the other section, closed for the public at that time but I panicked and waited for my husband and daughter in the aquarium-section watching the fish instead. I loved that of course - they went to the crocs instead :-) Great for them!
It's getting pathetic, even cat eyes might trigger me at times. Already in April I'm worrying about how to face the coming summer. Mind me - the most poisonous snake in this country is the viper. (One day I might have to pull up the antiserum in prehospital care settings and that's bothering me).
Phobias are maybe getting obsessed by "possible threats" so my daughter's saying one time when I jumped sky-high in the couch as we watched TV still rings loud and clear in my mind: "Mom, it's not coming out of the TV! It stays right there!"
I don't want to watch "Snakes On The Plane" or go to a zoo to get this cured so does anyone have any other good ideas on how I can break this?
Florena
Last summer I had bouts of anxiety, close to flashbacks, because I saw a porcupine (spelling?) in the garden and thought: "Oh snakes eat them".
I had a boyfriend who had two reptiles in the apartment - I broke up with him the morning he goofed and woke me up by putting one on my stomach. While I dated him, my phobia was almost cured!
Most likely, I have this phobia because it is LIKELY that I might meet a snake in the garden, even though it 99% of the time doesn't happen. I hate visiting my parents because they live in a warmer, more humid area where there are ran-over vipers in the roadsides and everything. I'm blushing only to admit that one of the reasons for me not visiting them anymore is because of me knowing I'll probably panic. I am sweating as I think of Animal Planet, National Geo or other animal channels LOL.
Two years ago my husband pulled me to a zoo where I knew it was reptiles in the other section, closed for the public at that time but I panicked and waited for my husband and daughter in the aquarium-section watching the fish instead. I loved that of course - they went to the crocs instead :-) Great for them!
It's getting pathetic, even cat eyes might trigger me at times. Already in April I'm worrying about how to face the coming summer. Mind me - the most poisonous snake in this country is the viper. (One day I might have to pull up the antiserum in prehospital care settings and that's bothering me).
Phobias are maybe getting obsessed by "possible threats" so my daughter's saying one time when I jumped sky-high in the couch as we watched TV still rings loud and clear in my mind: "Mom, it's not coming out of the TV! It stays right there!"
I don't want to watch "Snakes On The Plane" or go to a zoo to get this cured so does anyone have any other good ideas on how I can break this?
Florena
I know exactly what your talking about, i do not have panic attackes but my biggest animal fears are cockroaches and mice and rats, i cannot tolerate to even think about them yet it seems that a have alot of dreams about them. I cannot look at a show or commercial regarding mice or rats, when my son and i go into petco to get food for our cat the first thing you see when you walk in is the glass containers of mice and rats, i immediately look to my right whenever we go in, i live at a dead end right by the woods and have plenty of mice through the years, we set up traps and my husband have to check them and get rid of them, i will not even look at them. Now there is a new show that is starting called the verminator, its about people getting rid of vermits, DISGUSTING. I JUST CAN'T DO IT11 DON'T WORRY ABOUT SNAKES, YOU WILL HARDLY EVER SEE ONE, AND IF YOU DO THEY WILL NOT HURT YOU, PROMISE.
CRUMY
CRUMY
Thank you very much for this help! All I needed was the motivation to run this back to a more specialized counselor. Now I even know the name of it!
To answer the questions though:
I live in the northern part of Europe, more specific: Norway. The viper I talk about is not so very toxic (but has a hooooooooorrible - can be discussed of course - zig-zag pattern on the back, black and silver). If you're bitten, it is a general allergic reaction, that has a treatment range of 24-48 hours.
Its latin name is Vipera Berus, the ONLY poisonous snake in the northern Europe (besides those illegal pets of course).
My reasons for holding onto this phobia are the excuses, most likely! It becomes more like a reply to myself in the moment of fear "it is ok that you're terrified, you have your reasons". Rewards never stopped working lol.
Sometimes I'm so irritated and agitated with myself that I can watch the entire Junglebook (disney) without a shiver. The leakage is huge. Assosciations are pretty amazing stuff!
My daughter made a couple of things at daycare the other day. She brought them home and wanted to share with her parents of course. It was a figure of a horse, a snake, a piece of chocolate. Only to break my own anxiety I dary jumped out in it and the thingy-snake is still at my desk. Maybe that one can be my way out of this LOL. Starting with the tiny innocent and totally fright-free things...
I know I've got to stop feeding the anxiety-animal that's caged up. If I feed it, it stays alive. Hm!
You all got me something to think of here, and that's good!
I especially liked the "why bother". It is a horrible lot of senseless energy to spend on "possible possibles". I know I'd run if I saw one anyway. I've got my feet.
Florena
To answer the questions though:
I live in the northern part of Europe, more specific: Norway. The viper I talk about is not so very toxic (but has a hooooooooorrible - can be discussed of course - zig-zag pattern on the back, black and silver). If you're bitten, it is a general allergic reaction, that has a treatment range of 24-48 hours.
Its latin name is Vipera Berus, the ONLY poisonous snake in the northern Europe (besides those illegal pets of course).
My reasons for holding onto this phobia are the excuses, most likely! It becomes more like a reply to myself in the moment of fear "it is ok that you're terrified, you have your reasons". Rewards never stopped working lol.
Sometimes I'm so irritated and agitated with myself that I can watch the entire Junglebook (disney) without a shiver. The leakage is huge. Assosciations are pretty amazing stuff!
My daughter made a couple of things at daycare the other day. She brought them home and wanted to share with her parents of course. It was a figure of a horse, a snake, a piece of chocolate. Only to break my own anxiety I dary jumped out in it and the thingy-snake is still at my desk. Maybe that one can be my way out of this LOL. Starting with the tiny innocent and totally fright-free things...
I know I've got to stop feeding the anxiety-animal that's caged up. If I feed it, it stays alive. Hm!
You all got me something to think of here, and that's good!
I especially liked the "why bother". It is a horrible lot of senseless energy to spend on "possible possibles". I know I'd run if I saw one anyway. I've got my feet.
Florena
I confess to this driving need of more data. Where do you live? You say the viper is the most poisonous snake "in this country." Which country.
I don't mean to arouse your Ophiophobic sense, but the word, "viper" is just another word for "snake." Which one is the "most poisonous -the one you are talking about? In Australia, that might be the "brown" snake, for example. The reason I ask is that a bit of information about who the bad guys really are might be helpful in handling your fear.
My g/f also has (or had) the snake thing going on -they figured prominently in bad dreams and she was very uneasy seeing them on TV. I, on the other hand, enjoy them. Quite often, the fear is also coupled up with a sort of morbid fascination -sort of like not being able to pass a gruesome accident seen without looking through a squint at what disaster occurred. I don't know if that is true in your case, but in the case of my g/f, I relied on the fascination to help her get a better grip. When I caught a snake, I told her to tell me how close or how far to approach with it, (and I promised to release it immediately on demand) so she could (safely) have a better look at the object of terror. She actually got to the point that she was able to stroke it. That said, she really would rather NOT, so I do not tease her about it or challenge her to go any further.
It is entirely possible that you don't even need to consider an encounter experience whatsoever. If snakes don't really appear often in your life, why bother? There are certain things which are regarded as scary in every culture -spiders and snakes being two of them- so you are by no means alone in this.
Fear and obsession, while often occurring together, are by no means the same thing, however. And so, if you see some "leakage" of the snake revulsion and fear into other areas -like the eyes of a cat or something materializing from the TV, then THAT may benefit from a professional intervention -counseling. At the bottom of it all, something else entirely may be at work in your psychology. It has simply used snakes as a token for some unresolved conflict. Therapy can help disclose this material, if in fact it is the prime mover.
Your are high functioning and completely self-aware, so there is an excellent chance you can over-come this issue, at least to the extent that it stays with the object itself and doesn't contaminate other areas of thought and experiences. While you have very wisely deployed some wit and humor in thinking about all this, the fact is that terror ain't fun, so anything you can do to reduce your index of anxiety is a good idea. My opinion: run it by a therapist. I hope you will let us know the results.
I don't mean to arouse your Ophiophobic sense, but the word, "viper" is just another word for "snake." Which one is the "most poisonous -the one you are talking about? In Australia, that might be the "brown" snake, for example. The reason I ask is that a bit of information about who the bad guys really are might be helpful in handling your fear.
My g/f also has (or had) the snake thing going on -they figured prominently in bad dreams and she was very uneasy seeing them on TV. I, on the other hand, enjoy them. Quite often, the fear is also coupled up with a sort of morbid fascination -sort of like not being able to pass a gruesome accident seen without looking through a squint at what disaster occurred. I don't know if that is true in your case, but in the case of my g/f, I relied on the fascination to help her get a better grip. When I caught a snake, I told her to tell me how close or how far to approach with it, (and I promised to release it immediately on demand) so she could (safely) have a better look at the object of terror. She actually got to the point that she was able to stroke it. That said, she really would rather NOT, so I do not tease her about it or challenge her to go any further.
It is entirely possible that you don't even need to consider an encounter experience whatsoever. If snakes don't really appear often in your life, why bother? There are certain things which are regarded as scary in every culture -spiders and snakes being two of them- so you are by no means alone in this.
Fear and obsession, while often occurring together, are by no means the same thing, however. And so, if you see some "leakage" of the snake revulsion and fear into other areas -like the eyes of a cat or something materializing from the TV, then THAT may benefit from a professional intervention -counseling. At the bottom of it all, something else entirely may be at work in your psychology. It has simply used snakes as a token for some unresolved conflict. Therapy can help disclose this material, if in fact it is the prime mover.
Your are high functioning and completely self-aware, so there is an excellent chance you can over-come this issue, at least to the extent that it stays with the object itself and doesn't contaminate other areas of thought and experiences. While you have very wisely deployed some wit and humor in thinking about all this, the fact is that terror ain't fun, so anything you can do to reduce your index of anxiety is a good idea. My opinion: run it by a therapist. I hope you will let us know the results.
You could always move the extreme north of Canada - not too many reptiles there. I shouldn't be so fasicious; I'm terrified of wasps, cockroaces and - as mentioned above - Junebugs. They are supposed to be here for a purpose but what it is I don't know. What I do know is how paralyzing and debillitating phobias can be. If I had to pick who to share a room with - one cockroach or ten rabid rottweilers, I'd pick the rottweilers (no joke).
lonewolf
PS: Don't know why this just popped into my head - our shih tzu's favorite possession is a cat toy in the shape of a mouse that we call "Snake".
lonewolf
PS: Don't know why this just popped into my head - our shih tzu's favorite possession is a cat toy in the shape of a mouse that we call "Snake".
Part of the problem I have to overcome it is that most don't understand how much it ruins my summer. From June through late September. I don't sleep and I am sure I get rid of a whole lot of energy just to walk around high-tensed...
The reasons of my phobia are a few - from I was 3 years old I've heard "be careful!". When my mother died, the neighbor kids said "she was bitten by a snake". I did one time overcome it, but when it returned, it got ten times worse!
I used to take a MAO for wintertime depression but last summer I I had the Remeron all year. It didn't take the fear away of course but it helped on my chestpain!
I feel for everyone who have phobias. It must be difficult to live with them!
The reasons of my phobia are a few - from I was 3 years old I've heard "be careful!". When my mother died, the neighbor kids said "she was bitten by a snake". I did one time overcome it, but when it returned, it got ten times worse!
I used to take a MAO for wintertime depression but last summer I I had the Remeron all year. It didn't take the fear away of course but it helped on my chestpain!
I feel for everyone who have phobias. It must be difficult to live with them!
Hahahahaha!!!
My biggest fear would be moths and......JUNEBUGS!!!
So I'm in an NA meeting years ago and it's Summer. We're in a small room with about 15 of us. All the doors are open because it's hot. Suddenly, I feel something BUZZING IN MY HAIR!!! OMG.....I'm screaming "Shut the doors, shut the doors". No one could see what had happened so I look like a complete nut!!
Your not alone with the phobia thing Florena.
My biggest fear would be moths and......JUNEBUGS!!!
So I'm in an NA meeting years ago and it's Summer. We're in a small room with about 15 of us. All the doors are open because it's hot. Suddenly, I feel something BUZZING IN MY HAIR!!! OMG.....I'm screaming "Shut the doors, shut the doors". No one could see what had happened so I look like a complete nut!!
Your not alone with the phobia thing Florena.
I have the same fear or phobia of spiders. I can go completly out of my mind at just the sight of one, be it small or ehhhhhhhh. I can't even talk about it.
Anyway, I was told that I would have to let one walk up my arm and feel there leg's on my skin. RIGHT.. I think I'll carry this fear to my grave.
Good Luck
Anyway, I was told that I would have to let one walk up my arm and feel there leg's on my skin. RIGHT.. I think I'll carry this fear to my grave.
Good Luck
Mmmm... Confirmed my worry there. I know exposure helped a great deal, and that was the only way my mind didn't take off either. Handheld proof don't lie.
I met a psychologist once - sadly it was only one time - that was a specialist in phobias. If I remembered his name I'd seek him. He'd make a lot of money on this LOL!
We'd maybe end up eating popcorn laughing out loud watching SOTP? Fancy thought... I'd probably have been found melted in a pool of water under the chairs somewhere after reading the title...
I'll consider it again though. Thank you!
Florena again
I met a psychologist once - sadly it was only one time - that was a specialist in phobias. If I remembered his name I'd seek him. He'd make a lot of money on this LOL!
We'd maybe end up eating popcorn laughing out loud watching SOTP? Fancy thought... I'd probably have been found melted in a pool of water under the chairs somewhere after reading the title...
I'll consider it again though. Thank you!
Florena again
Oh Florena, I know it's not funny, but you did make me laugh out loud. You know, I saw something like this on Oprah where the person, and you're not going to like this, was slowly exposed, and then finally held a snake or something along those lines. The point was to desensitize I believe. This is my only thought. I don't know what else, other than exposure, might help. Maybe someone else has an idea.
I'm so sorry you're suffering with this phobia Florena. It must be so stressful.
Take care ♥
I'm so sorry you're suffering with this phobia Florena. It must be so stressful.
Take care ♥
Have an Answer?
You are reading content posted in the Anxiety Community
Find out what can trigger a panic attack – and what to do if you have one.
A guide to 10 common phobias.
Take control of tension today.
These simple pick-me-ups squash stress.
Don’t let the winter chill send your smile into deep hibernation. Try these 10 mood-boosting tips to get your happy back
Want to wake up rested and refreshed?
