What Are You Afraid Of?

What are you afraid of?  The Dentist?  Tornadoes?  Scary movies?  Most fears are normal, we SHOULD be afraid of Tornadoes!

According to a new study, at least HALF of us have a fear that's strong enough to be considered a phobia. The most common type is the Fear Of Heights. That's followed by a fear of the dentist, fear of flying, and fear of spiders (claustrophobia was high too)  About 25 percent of people with phobias say they don't want to admit it. About 10% say the phobia has affected their love life . . . and 7% say a phobia has cost them a JOB.

I have a buddy who's scared of "Sock Monkeys".  I'm not very fond of the ventriloquist dummies either.  I don't think either is a "phobia", just more creeped out by it.

Hypochondria has always been intriguing to me too, it has similar traits as a phobia, but it's more broad, and you could fear MANY things as a hypochondria but it's all related to fear.  Some people we could call a "germ freak" might simply by a hypochondriac.

Of course none of these conditions are funny (ok, except for sock monkeys) and they are all treatable.  The bottom line when general fear becomes unmanageable it's probably moved into a different category that needs some attention.