Fear or mascots

[Anicca173]

I've always had an intense fear of mascots, I don't really know why. Ive never really been very trusting due to physical mental and sexual abuse, but none of my trauma involved mascots. I saw a reindeer one at a festival today and spent the whole time avoiding it. I almost had a panic attack, I'm an adult I don't think I should be scared of such stupid things. my family makes fun of me for it which only makes my anxiety worse. Does anyone else deal with this?

 

[Friday]

Any of your trauma involve stuffed animals as big as you were at the time?

 

[GrayOwl]

Yes.
Not myself, but I have seen postings about this. Especially clowns.
And I have a nephew with an incredible fear of mascots/clowns.
Throw him in a Chucky Cheese and I think he'd kill everything between himself and the exit.
It should definitely be taken seriously.

I have an insane fear of heights - perhaps more common - but all the same illogical.
And I have to work hard on controlling/dealing with that.
I wish you well in healing and health.

 

[RecedingMoonlight]

It's nothing weird. In fact, it's pretty common.

It's probably also the same reason, say, some people would be frightened of animatronic puppets, clowns, or anything that has a masked face and moves in an erratic or unusual way. Seeing something cartoony or otherwise bright with unnatural coloring behaving in a human-esque way sends off all kinds of "nope" alarms in many people. For some it might be because it's an inhuman creature behaving like a human (I was fully unable to watch the Wizard of Oz as a child /solely/ because I was deathly terrified of the Cowardly Lion and the flying monkeys). For others it could be the simple fear of the unknown - you know there's a person underneath there, but you don't know who, and the lack of true identity itself can unsettle some. (Also, people under mascot costumes are incapable of speaking or at least rarely do by my experience...having a lack of voice to identify it from doesn't help either.)

I'm thinking this seems a lot like a PTSD Stress Cup metaphor. Personally, when I see a mascot, I kind of cringe, but I slowly adjust to it. For someone with PTSD, perhaps the anxiety or stress of the unknown upon seeing a mascot could trigger a fight or flight response in some.

PostEdit: Come to think of it, regarding the voice or the lackthereof, maybe that's the reason why I've met a few friends who told me they were scared of mascots, but okay with, say, Seasame Street. The puppets in their worldly setting seemed to fit, and they had voices to identify them with. That's just speculation on my part completely though, just a random thought...

 

[MisterCatLady]

Yes! I have always been terrified of mascots! It extends to masks but mascots are the worst. My parents told me I've had this fear since I was a toddler. Still to this day I go into a panic if I am close to one.

 

[Anicca173]

Any of your trauma involve stuffed animals as big as you were at the time?

I was sexually abused in a play room but none of my stuffed animals were that big

 

[Ronin]

I was sexually abused in a play room

That could be enough, though?

Play room => Stuffies, Big Threat (whoever abuser was, it doesn't even matter if they're smaller physically; threats & fear just do crazy things with proportions perception) => Big Stuffies => Big Threat => Generalize that, any one: Big Threat.

It doesn't have to be literally real to register as a threat, a lot of details around a thing wreck havoc. :wtf:

Not bizarre, I promise. Whichever your particular logic to this was, not bizarre.

 

[Ronin]

Seeing something cartoony or otherwise bright with unnatural coloring behaving in a human-esque way sends off all kinds of "nope" alarms in many people.

& I saw some research linking it to thanatophobia, literally a fear of dead people coming back, though I don't know if I can source that claim again.

 

[Hanala]

I don't think it's at all irrational especially if your trauma is connected to childhood. A mascot is like a giant stuffed animal that chases you around. It could be that in of itself and that is totally valid on its own.

It could also be the fact that you can't see a mascots face/who they are and they often think it's appropriate to be buggy or touchy which is a huge area of stress for a lot of us.

Mascots in general are obnoxious imo