Autobiography 2: Fears

Ichthyophobia:I have always had this odd fear of fish. I am not entirely certain why as I have never been attacked by a fish nor have I probably been within biting distance of a fish, however, their scales, their mouths, their lack of arms or feet, has always scared me. Give me a bug, give me a snake, give me a poopy baby and I will be fine, however, something about fish.

According to Wikipedia: "Ichthyophobia is a variety of a specific phobia which is an intense and persistent fear of fish, described in Psychology: An International Perspective as an "unusual" specific phobia. Both symptoms and remedies of ichthyophobia are common to most specific phobias."

Acrophobia: Although it sounds like being afraid of acrobatics, it is actually the fear of heights. Personally I have a devil-may-care attitude towards slightly risky behaviors (hanging out of windows, climbing random buildings, etc), however, I cannot stand to watch other people do things like this and I especially dislike seeing people get too near the edge of high objects. Once when we were in San Francisco, I went to the San Francisco Bay bridge with my friends Cami and Dave and my brother Josh and when Cami climbed on the rail I couldn't take it and started to feel sick. Of course this reaction only encouraged her and so I had to turn away and start running back towards the land where I couldn't see her. She didn't end up falling and I was definitely more effected than she was. I'm not sure what brings this on, however, my friend Kevin surmises it has something to do with my motherly instincts and the fact that when I see other people in potentially dangerous situations I feel like I have no control whereas when I am there I can control the situation.

Iatrophobia and Phonophobia –Although I don’t really have a fear of doctors or telephones, these two were the closest to the fear I feel towards calling doctor’s offices. I think this reverts back to my issues with control, but I will do pretty much anything to avoid having to call a doctor’s office (or any office) to set up an appointment. I once had my co-worker call to set up an appointment, just because I was so afraid. Doctors themselves are quite intriguing and once I’m in the office I really like looking at the various vaccination and disease posters. I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that I never went to the doctor growing up, my mom always gave us homeopathetics and a slew of vitamins whenever we would get sick. Although I was always dubious of this method of treatment, I always faithfully swallowed my 6 vitamin C, Echinacea, garlic, and mysterious green sugar covered Chinese pills. Once I started attending BYU though I decided that I would eat plenty of fruits and vegetables and get exercise and when I got sick I would rest and let my body take care of itself. This worked great until I wanted to go on a mission and I needed to call a doctor’s office to set up an appointment and for some reason, maybe because I had never done it before or for whatever reason

Porphyrophobia- This is the fear of the color purple. I actually do not have a fear of the color purple, I do, however, have a great dislike of artificially flavored purple items. I think part of this reason is that they try to imitate “grape” taste and I like grapes too much to think that this pathetic excuse for an imitation is actually good. This carries over mostly into otter pops and all candy. Although when it comes to candy I am usually very particular: i.e. I only eat skittles and M&Ms in matching pairs (red & green, blue & orange, etc), I only eat pink and red starbursts, I don’t eat most American chocolate because I am a chocolate snob and I like hazelnuts too much, etc. It’s not something that I have to do, it’s just the way I do things.