Dealing With Uncommon Fears and Phobias

Are you afraid of height? Spiders? Snakes? Are you afraid of the dark? Many people share these rather common fears and phobias. We get them for various reasons, though some spring up just because we do not understand something or because someone else we know has that fear or phobia. If you have a common phobia, you may know others with the same one, or at least people understand that your fear is not all that uncommon. What do you do, however, when your issues are rather uncommon?

What you do depends on the fears and phobias that you have. If you have common fears, people almost have a respect for that and they may leave you alone about it. They may offer advice about how to overcome your fear, but they may not give you too much grief about it. However, if your fears and phobias are uncommon, they may not give you as much space as you would like. If someone you know has a fear of lady bugs, how often would you tell them it is silly and even try to get them to touch one? What about someone with a fear of the color blue? Would you wear that color often around them?

Someone with a fear of crowded spaces may get a lot of sympathy and understanding from everyone they know. If someone has a fear of public speaking, others have probably felt this to come degree and can sympathize with that feeling. Most people will not start a fire around someone with a deep fear of fire, and they will not chase someone with a snake phobia with the biggest snake they can find. If fears and phobias are considered normal, no one thinks a person with them is crazy, but they may not say the same thing to someone who has a fear of taking medication or that fears grasshoppers.

When you have unusual fears and phobias, you may just want to do all that you can to avoid those things and keep your issues to yourself. What can help you out is to know that most people have something about them that they know others would think of as odd, and they keep those things to themselves. If you can do that, that is what you should do with most people. When you are close to someone, however, it might be impossible to keep to yourself. Don't worry, if they love you they will not think your fears and phobias are crazy, they may just think they are a quirky extension of the person that they love. It may endear you to them even more.

Dealing with your fears and phobias can be exhausting if the subject of your problem is a common thing or occurrence. If you really feel that your life is not what is should be because you avoid certain things, and that it could be much better if you could 'get over it' then you may want to see someone to help you out. Most therapists are trained to help you iron out what bothers you and they can help you overcome many of your fears and phobias that are limiting your life. There is nothing wrong with getting help, and you have everything to gain.