Phobias and other irrational anxieties

[Rían]

Yes - although teaching them to clean is important, there are things that are more important

I realized this morning that I have a slight thing about 13, and that I tend to count things automatically. I was putting on underarm deodorant, and I did 6 strokes on one side and then 7 on the other, and I had to go back to the first side and do one more because it was 13 I guess I'm a little more OCD than I realized ...

[inked]

There's OCD and ther there's OCD:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ind-crime.html

[Rían]

That's crazy!

[Tessar]

Actually that's a law I could completely get behind. People need to not be noxious. >.<

[Rían]

Well, the only hard part is finding out who the perpetrator is ... <.< >.>

[Alcuin]

You know what “they� say:

Even paranoids have enemies.

[Jonathan]

Lol Alcuin! Brilliant

[Midge]

Originally Posted by EllethValatari

I am, but I often forget all about it

It's good that your emetophobia isn't extreme enough to interfere daily.

Yeah. It could be that I just make such a big effort to avoid it that I don't have to have it interfere. I'm pretty sure I would be really upset if I watched someone puke through the window of the office where I work sometimes.

Originally Posted by Eärniel

Why is stepping on cracks on the floor bad?

This is what I found (and someone else did most of the work - I couldn't corroborate anything said, so it might just be picking birds from the sky)

Ill-fortune is said to be the result from stepping on a crack in the pavement. Present day society usually associates the superstition behind treading on cracks to the rhyme: "Step on a crack, break your mother's back" but the superstition actually goes back to the late 19th - early 20th Century and the racism that was prevalent in this period.

The original rhyming verse is thought to be "Step on a crack and your mother will turn black." It was also common to think that walking on the lines in pavement would mean you would marry a ***** and have a black baby. (Apparently this superstition only applied to Caucasians and because of the rampant prejudice against black people, was considered an activity to avoid.)

Stepping on cracks also had significance for children. In the mid-20th Century it was popular to tell children that if they stepped on the cracks in the street, they would be eaten by the bears that congregate on street corners waiting for their lunch to walk by.

Also, the number of lines a person would walk on corresponded with the number of china dishes that the person would break, later in the day.

Only in the last few decades has the rhyming superstition resurfaced to be the recognized "step on a crack, break your mother's back" and in some areas, two superstitions above are melded together to include the number of lines one steps on will correspond with the number of your mother's bones that are broken.

I spent a good amount of time walking with my face down so I could make sure I didn't step on any cracks. My feet were small enough (and may still be) to fit in the 12x12 tiles on the floor at school, so I would just take slightly larger steps than was comfortable and step on every other tile. I moved almost like a knight in chess.

I would also over- or undercompensate if it appeared I was going to misstep and hit a crack.

Originally Posted by RÃ*an

Good for you!

I don't have a phobia, but it does make me gag a lot to be around throwup - I have to hold my breath and sometimes leave the room for some air if I'm the lucky one to be cleaning it up.

I'm always jealous of people who are able to just get over it. I'm an adult, I can take care of myself now, but when I was younger, I had to have at least one parent available if I needed them when my brother was sick. I'm sure it was frustrating for my parents, but we got through.