Phobias Options

[Frisk]

What are some of LCN's biggest fears? Talking about my fear of driving in the channel made me curious.

So yeah, obviously I'm afraid of driving. I'm also terrified of heights and kidney stones. But kidney stones are a totally rational fear.

[P.P.A.]

 My emetophobia actually vanished a few years ago, but despite that, I still feel anxiety going out, suffer from occasional panic attacks, and generally carry over many of these symptoms, despite no longer being scared of anything in particular.
 The very moment I read about it the first time, I knew this was agoraphobia, however. Agoraphobia is the fear of not being able to escape from a place or situation in case of a panic attack (or something similar), or at least not without major embarrassment or complications. The result is the avoidance of anything where a quick and easy flight is not guaranteed—such as distant locations returning from which would take very long, public transport, open spaces (where the nearest safe spot is visibly far away), crowded places, or solemn/obligatory events where leaving untimely would raise eyebrows.
 Agoraphobia is less of a phobia than an anxiety problem though, usually arising in people with a history of panic attacks (such as myself). What makes it so sneaky is that the subconscious fear of not being able to flee if it becomes necessary triggers various stress responses, which are then interpreted as a reason to flee, thus exacerbate themselves, and eventually result in either a panic attack, or flight—and in the end, avoidance of the situation in the future.

 These are all things I am all too familiar with. My movement is extremely limited; I reply on my parents to get to other places, can't do into stores alone, and, until recently, I couldn't even go into the city core some 200 m down the street because I considered it “too far away”.
 Once I learned about agoraphobia and identified it as my problem however, I started to try and cure myself, exploiting the good weather (temperatures of -15 °C to 10 °C, clear, blue sky, no hay fever) to take one or two walks each day, always exploring new routes and corners of the city I have not been to before, lengthening my walks, and testing my limits. This worked very well actually, and I was able to vastly expand my movement radius, now easily covering distances and crossing places I was dead afraid of not long ago.
Alas, this regimen ended once the weather changed. It got warmer, the latent grey cloud cover returned, and so did my hay fever. I'll have to see how I am going to continue dealing with this.