Other Phobias (blennophobia)

[Upside Down Eagle]

I have such extreme blennophobia sometimes it nearly drives me suicidal.
Blennophobia is fear of slime, which is pretty much impossible to avoid if you live inside a human body.

Today I self harmed a lot because of it and I finally worked up the guts (desperate times call for desperate measures) to tell my therapist in an email. I was too ashamed of it to tell her earlier because it´s not just related to nose and mouth but to genitalia as well.

I hate this and I know that it isn´t rational and that a bit of slime won´t kill me but it makes me feel so sick. Do you guys have any experience with extreme phobias that you encounter everyday?

Could you help me understand how to deal with it?

Hugs,
Radise

 

[The Albatross]

Hmmm. Do a goal/challenge with food that has mucosals like chia seed/flax seed/slippery elm? I have to use these to replace the mucus layer protecting my esophagus but swallowing something slimy was a hard sell due to my sexual traumas. Necessity won out and it normalized.

 

[Ronin]

Well, I talk myself through panic reactions to phobias, far more intensely than through other reactions. Analyzing it mid-go, the level of danger at least.

Which gets kind of funny when a huge part of me is absolutely persuaded it's gonna bring death to me/mine.

But I found engaging analytic & rational self talk, to the maximum of one's ability, to be really helpful. Anxiety lessens with time. Possibly to simple discomfort. Possibly to faint reminders of what used to be and isn't any more.

What Alba said, about normalizing, basically.

* * *

JEKB&B's post reminded me: Is it anxiety / fear / shame based? What's the basic emotion triggered, in regards to that phobia? Because how to deal with it after won't be the same with fear based phobia and anxiety one, ditto if your primary feeling is shame / self loathing because of shame, and the like.

 

[JEKBreatheandBelieve]

I am sorry you have such a hard fear to struggle with. I always say that I have pantophobia, which according to "Charlie Brown's Christmas" is the fear of everything though it seems it is not an actually recognized phobia. I am afraid of so many things that it seems like that.

I do not think I can help you understand how to deal with your phobia, but I can share two of my extreme phobias so maybe you will know you aren't the only one with extreme phobias. I am super afraid of escalators and go-karts. I can drive a car but the mere thought of driving a go-kart paralyzes me with fear. Luckily, I don't have to face go-karts every day. In order to make it down an escalator, I have to count and then go. If I don't go on 5, I am stuck at the top. I have been known to repeat this many, many times. Again, I am lucky in that I do not live in an area where I need to deal with escalators very often.

I would definitely take the approach of small steps towards overcoming the fear or at least making improvements towards it. Also, whenever you meet with a small step towards it, reflect on that success- write it down, tell it to yourself, tell it to your therapist, but recognize that you accomplished something towards overcoming that fear. I am doing that with challenging my right and wrong thinking.

 

[Upside Down Eagle]

Hmmm. Do a goal/challenge with food that has mucosals like chia seed/flax seed/slippery elm? I have to use these to replace the mucus layer protecting my esophagus but swallowing something slimy was a hard sell due to my sexual traumas. Necessity won out and it normalized.

Yes, I think some kind of exposure might be good. Sometimes I go walking (in the cold) which not only triggers the bottom end of my body but also my nose starts running :P Maybe I should do that more often.

Well, I talk myself through panic reactions to phobias, far more intensely than through other reactions. Analyzing it mid-go, the level of danger at least.What Alba said, about normalizing, basically.

That could work too. I´ve never done that. There is a little bit of a difference though where I´m not sure if the phobia is based on experiences in the past or on gender. But I will talk about that with my therapist.

I would definitely take the approach of small steps towards overcoming the fear or at least making improvements towards it. Also, whenever you meet with a small step towards it, reflect on that success- write it down, tell it to yourself, tell it to your therapist, but recognize that you accomplished something towards overcoming that fear. I am doing that with challenging my right and wrong thinking.

I´m sorry that you have phobia to so many things. I´m pretty much scared by anything that has bacteria on it and this one. But I definitely recognize the pattern where you start to adopt habits to deal with it. Unfortunately I can´t quite walk away from slime since my body thinks it´s necessary... :D

Yes it definitely helps to know that other people struggle with phobias too. They seem so irrational and I often feel like a complete fool for having such an intense reaction.

 

[Ronin]

if the phobia is based on experiences in the past or on gender.

It could also be a little bit of both, or one in some time and the other in another, & I can see how dysphoria would warp survivor issues up in a bundle so very easily. Maybe positive affirmations could be a good bridge until you can really work at this, bringing the stress level tied to this down gradually?

 

[twinkle30]

After my car accident I developed a phobia of driving on freeways. It took a year of therapy and small exposures on side streets but I have driven this week and last week twice on the freeway. I plan on driving to an appointment this Friday.
I would say exposure therapy is what works but don't let anyone rush you into it. It took me a year to face my phobia and I am still nervous on freeways. I hope in another year I can drive without a second thought. You might seek out a therapist that specializes in phobias. That's what I did.

 

[Upside Down Eagle]

JEKB&B's post reminded me: Is it anxiety / fear / shame based? What's the basic emotion triggered, in regards to that phobia? Because how to deal with it after won't be the same with fear based phobia and anxiety one, ditto if your primary feeling is shame / self loathing because of shame, and the like.

Definitely. Lot of shame involved, although I am not completely sure why atm. This is why I didn´t tell my therapist for so long (have been keeping it secret for years, but it seems to be getting worse. I feel kind of humiliated by it, brought down, the same exact feelings that I used to have when my parents assualted me physically.

It´s probably both, yeah, I guess that´s gonna be a bit of a complicated factor.

.I would say exposure therapy is what works but don't let anyone rush you into it. It took me a year to face my phobia and I am still nervous on freeways. I hope in another year I can drive without a second thought. You might seek out a therapist that specializes in phobias. That's what I did.

Good to hear that you are making a bit of progress. With me it´s tied into a lot of self loathing for some reason, so I could do exposure but would have to be very careful not to cross any lines where I´d want to harm myself. I think someone specialized in phobias could help, I already floated the option by my therapist.

 

[twinkle30]

Yes a specialist would def help. I went to a general therapist for 10 months and nothing. I went to a phobia specialist just a few times and I am already starting to get over my phobia.

 

[barefoot]

I have a phobia around throats. Men with prominent Adam's apples - very difficult for me! I've walked out of meetings and changed carriages on public transport to avoid an Adam's apple that looks like it's going to fall out! To just sit and look at one...? I get really distressed and get lots of anxiety induced physical symptoms. Light-headed, sweaty palms, heart racing...and then I start doing this annoying throat clearing/coughy type thing. And once I start doing that, it's like that becomes a bit of a compulsion and I find it very difficult to stop doing it. A close friend had surgery for thyroid cancer a few years ago - she now has a scar across her throat. I can't look at it without feeling the same level of distress as Adam's apples.

I don't want to look at anyone's throat, touch anyone's throat, have anyone touch my throat....no, no, no!

It started sometime in my teens, I think - not sure why/how. But it's got worse as I've got older and it becomes more of an issue if I'm in a higher state of anxiety generally. I realised a couple of years ago that it's somehow about a fear of having my throat cut. Again, no idea why that is something I'm particularly afraid of.

Once I've got something about throats in my head, it's incredibly hard to stop thinking about it. I generally find it helps to put some pressure (using my hands or a scarf) on my throat - almost to reassure myself that my throat is still there/still intact, I think?! Once the compulsive throat clearing starts, I know it means my anxiety is rocketing, so usually I try at that point to do things to reduce the anxiety rather than do something about throats. Grounding techniques really, I suppose. And as @Cashew says, just trying to talk sensibly, rationally, calmly to myself to reassure myself that...well...no one's cut my throat. Or something! Talking myself down by trying to remind myself that this isn't a rational fear.

Throats are hard to avoid. As is bodily slime! So really this just a "me too" on the body-related phobia front. It sucks. I hate it. I hope we manage to find a way through to get some respite.

 

[barefoot]

@twinkle30 - what kind of method(s) did the phobia specialist use?

I've mentioned mine to my therapist but we haven't ever worked on getting rid of it. Interested to hear what worked for you.

 

[Friday]

Sarcasm. Nothing is quite at scary as it once was while being mocked.