Research

[Mark Robson]

I'm currently working on developing a character for my new series who suffers from several phobias and also suffers from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. If anyone here suffers from a serious phobia and is willing for me to interview them, either by email, or over the phone, I would be much in their debt.

I have obtained some great information from the National Phobic Society: National Phobics Society - The Anxiety Disorders Charity and they are sending me more by post, but first hand accounts of what it is like to suffer a life-restricting phobia would be most useful.

Please don't feel you have to post on this thread - either PM me, or email me on info@swordpublishing.co.uk

Many thanks.

[BookStop]

My husband thinks I have a ladder phobia just because my muscles tense up and quiver, my stomach turns itself inside out, and I break out into a rather profuse sweat. But isn't a phobia an irrational fear of something. I'm thinking if all those physical side effrects happen to me, it might make me pass out, then I really would fall. Depending on the hieght of the ladder and where I am, it makes sense that I could actually break my neck =, so it's not all that irrational, right?

Ok, so maybe I have a problem. My hands are really shaking right now and I don't want to think about it any more. (although I do also suffer various nervous effects as listed above when I see others on ladders as well)

Later

[HappyHippo]

This sounds stupid, but I can't learn to drive becasue I'm terrified of roundabouts... I'm terrified when we approach them in the car, and I have to close my eyes, or cover them with something, I shake, and I hold my breath.
I'm convinced I'm going to die in an accident on a roundabout, and it makes no sense, really.

My mother's got a balloon phobia, and she will detour by any distance if she sees someone with a balloon coming towards her. She can't watch them on TV comfortably. Once she walked out of a church servicxe because the minister was using balloon modelling to demonstrate a point, and she was nearly sick before she left. If that's the kind of thing you're after?

Very intrigued, now...

[The Ace]

I suffer from mild claustrophobia and hydrophobia, the main reason I never learned to swim, I can and do have a bath every day, but I'm terrified of showers. I have lived in my present flat for five years and have never used the shower.

[Teresa Edgerton]

I don't have a reliable source to cite on this (though you may have come across it in your reading already, Mark), but I've read that some people inherit a genetic predisposition to develop phobias. It's a chemical thing. If you have a stronger physical response to fear or anxiety, you're more likely to develop a phobia about situations that set it off.

It makes sense to me. In my family, we have a long, proud tradition of claustrophobia. Other phobias and anxiety disorders turn up among us from time to time, but claustrophobia is the most common one.

For a long time, my mother could not get into elevators under any persuasion or any circumstances. Even if she needed to get some place that was six flights up, she would take the stairs. I remember many a long climb in her company. I don't have a huge problem with elevators -- although if they are too small, too crowded, or too slow I do get anxious -- but any space smaller than the average elevator -- say the size of a closet -- and I do panic. Anything that goes over my face, like a mask -- I get the same response. Even if I'm undressing and I can't get the clothes over my head quickly enough I panic.

Medical equipment -- the kind that is big and heavy and hovers over you while it scans you -- is also terrifying. If it's just over my body I can grit my teeth and endure it, but if it's over my head as well, forget it. What makes it worse is that medical technicians either don't get it, or they lie to you. You ask, is this anything that's going to bring about a claustrophobic reaction, and they say, oh no, we get people with claustrophobia in here all the time and they don't mind it a bit. Right. I guess they figure once they've got you on the table you're less likely to refuse the test.

And I can't stand being in any place so dark that I can't see my surroundings, because the darkness closes in on me. I always have a night light. This can be a problem when, for instance, you're on a trip and sharing a hotel room with friends who can't sleep unless it's really dark.

A couple of years ago I started having anxiety attacks. The kind where your heart races and you have difficulty breathing. When you're in your late fifties with diabetes and hypertension, doctors take this kind of episode very seriously -- because they're always afraid that you really are having a heart attack. Rather than just give you something to calm you down, you're hooked up to heart monitors and they keep you in the hospital overnight, and they're very, very reluctant to let you go the next day until they've given you every possible test. Now I have an anti-anxiety medicine I can take if I feel something coming on. It sure beats a trip to the hospital.

Since the attacks usually come in the evening, when there are not so many things going on to keep my mind occupied, it finally reached a point where just the fact that it was starting to get dark would serve as a trigger. I'd think, uh-oh, night-time (spurt of adrenaline, squirt of stomach acid), and unless I found an instant distraction it would go from there. Now it rarely gets past the knot-in-the-stomach stage, but as I said, on those occasions when I feel it escalating I have the medicine. Since the pills don't have any side effects -- I don't feel drugged or sedated or anything like that -- I'm not tempted to take them when I don't need them.

If I'd been born in the 19th century, I would probably have turned to gin or laudanum just to get through the bad nights. Then I would have developed an addiction and come to a bad end.

[Mark Robson]

Originally Posted by BookStop

My husband thinks I have a ladder phobia just because my muscles tense up and quiver, my stomach turns itself inside out, and I break out into a rather profuse sweat. But isn't a phobia an irrational fear of something. I'm thinking if all those physical side effrects happen to me, it might make me pass out, then I really would fall. Depending on the hieght of the ladder and where I am, it makes sense that I could actually break my neck =, so it's not all that irrational, right?

Ok, so maybe I have a problem. My hands are really shaking right now and I don't want to think about it any more. (although I do also suffer various nervous effects as listed above when I see others on ladders as well)

Later

It is fascinating that just thinking about ladders will set your hands shaking. I can see how a fear of something could cause this sort of reaction, but it is very hard for me to really understand it. I suffer a mild form of acrophobia (fear of heights) but I've never found it limiting. Everyone used to laugh at me for being a pilot who was afraid of heights, but somehow the flying never used to bother me. The worst bit about flying for me (particularly the big aircraft) was invariably climbing the ladder to get into the cockpit! I guess it was because the ladder connected me to the ground. Once in the air the height became so surreal that it no longer played on my mind.

Originally Posted by HappyHippo

This sounds stupid, but I can't learn to drive becasue I'm terrified of roundabouts... I'm convinced I'm going to die in an accident on a roundabout, and it makes no sense, really.

My mother's got a balloon phobia, ... Once she walked out of a church servicxe because the minister was using balloon modelling to demonstrate a point, and she was nearly sick before she left. If that's the kind of thing you're after?

Thank you, HappyHippo. Yes, this is exactly the sort of thing I'm after. The fact that your mother actually came close to vomiting through such a demonstration is again fascinating. My difficulty is understanding the emotions that someone with such a phobia goes through, and the physical manifestations that those emotions can cause. The body and mind are so complex that often people with similar phobias seem to experience quite different physical reactions, though the increase in anxiety levels is the common strand that holds the responses together.

Originally Posted by The Ace

I suffer from mild claustrophobia and hydrophobia, the main reason I never learned to swim, I can and do have a bath every day, but I'm terrified of showers. I have lived in my present flat for five years and have never used the shower.

Many phobias seem to centre about control of one's environment. I guess yours must be linked to this. You can control the amount of water in a bath, but it is much harder to control the waterflow over the body in a shower, which when combined with the confined space of the cubicle gives the illusion of nowhere to run. An interesting variation on a theme. All these little gems are stacking up in my mind.

Originally Posted by Teresa Edgerton

I don't have a reliable source to cite on this (though you may have come across it in your reading already, Mark), but I've read that some people inherit a genetic predisposition to develop phobias. It's a chemical thing. If you have a stronger physical response to fear or anxiety, you're more likely to develop a phobia about situations that set it off.

Actually I'd not come across this yet, but the big pack from the National Phobic Society only arrived this morning, so I've no doubt I'll find something in there to corroborate this.

Originally Posted by Teresa Edgerton

It makes sense to me. In my family, we have a long, proud tradition of claustrophobia... Now it rarely gets past the knot-in-the-stomach stage, but as I said, on those occasions when I feel it escalating I have the medicine. Since the pills don't have any side effects -- I don't feel drugged or sedated or anything like that -- I'm not tempted to take them when I don't need them.

Thanks for the detailed descriptions. These will be very useful. I was fortunate enough to interview someone who has suffered OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) yesterday and she gave me some great insights on how phobias like yours often bring on OCD. The behavioural response to something that one knows to be irrational is frequently to control it through ritual - a pattern that gives one a sense of control and safety in the face of their fear. For those who suffer certain phobias a common response is handwashing and obsessive tidiness. For claustrophobics, I imagine it would be something like setting the door at a certain angle, and checking the night light (possibly re-checking the night light) before turning out the main light etc. Routine is a control mechanism that seems to crop up a lot.

The anticipation you mentioned approaching evening was something I hadn't yet considered - again a most useful insight. Your distraction technique is interesting too.

Originally Posted by Teresa Edgerton

If I'd been born in the 19th century, I would probably have turned to gin or laudanum just to get through the bad nights. Then I would have developed an addiction and come to a bad end.

That just doesn't bear thinking about!

As my character begins in a medieval setting, there are no labels for what she feels, and her colleagues have no understanding of her problems. My intention is to show her gradually managing to control her fears, though to do so she will also progress through OCD. It's going to be an interesting path to tread, and I know I shall have to walk it most carefully if it is to have anything of realism about it.

[BookStop]

I know what you are saying about the flying thing - not that I often do, but my mild fear of heights isn't present at all when I fly. I'm not a big fan of high bridges, or tall buildings, but I'll walk around on/in them anyway. I do not climb tall ladders - ever. (I do have a small step ladder at home I sometimes have to use to reach things that are high, but I don't enjoy it.) It's strange how I used to be a bit of a daredevil when I was younger, but hte older I get, the more pronounced my 'fear' symptoms seem to be. One summer when I was a teen, I helped my dad roof a house. I wasn't thrilled to climb the ladder, but I didn't let that stop me. Now I wonder if I would be able to escape a burning house if I had to leave by ladder.

[Mark Robson]

Originally Posted by BookStop

It's strange how I used to be a bit of a daredevil when I was younger, but the older I get, the more pronounced my 'fear' symptoms seem to be.

From the reading that I've done over the last week, you will be pleased (or not) to know that this is a perfectly normal progression! Phobias tend to increase in severity as one ages. There are lots of theories as to why this is, but my personal thought is that it is largely due to regular mental reinforcement of a fear, or anxiety, over time. The net result is that without some form of treatment, the problem does tend to grow. I guess the fact that it's normal should bring some comfort, though the decision as to whether to do anything about it will depend on how limiting, or debilitating you feel the phobia to be.

[Oxman]

A slightly different viewpoint on this.

My mother is terrified of cats. She stops dead in her tracks if she even sees one in the distance when walking along the street. She’s had this fear all of her life and says that her mouth goes dry, her heart starts to beat and it feels like something is crushing her chest, constricting her if one of them happens to get too close to her. Rather than run away from a nearby one (or even walk briskly to protect her dignity!), she is petrified; rooted to the spot.

When she was a baby, a cat leapt into my mother’s pram. It curled up and lay down on her face, smothering her. Even though my grandmother told my mother that she had been distracted for a couple of seconds, the cat was quite content and was getting ready to go to sleep, before getting shooed away. My mother remembers nothing of this and was told about it much later on by her mother. Needless to say, my good ol’ ma wonders if there is some subconscious part of her that recalls this incident deep down, provoking the fear. If so, then it’s not an irrational fear but a legitimate self-preservation instinct. Of course, it might not be related at all and the phobia is one that she randomly suffers with.

On a side note, my grandmother used to have a couple of cats and had no problem with them, and I have four of the little varmints. So, at least in her case, it’s not hereditary. If my mom talks about cats, she gets a shiver down her spine, but none of the shaking, clammy hands etc that have been mentioned elsewhere. For the fear to really kick in, there has to be one in a fairly close proximity.

[catzzz]

'While Googling "Balloon phobias" I came across your reference to the subject. I am a balloon phobic and have been one as far back as I can remember. I have no recollection of having been scared by any particular event, related to balloons in my childhood which may have sparked this fear off.
Only yesterday, I needed to get some petrol and to my horror, they had balloons attached by strings blowing not 4ft from the pumps (in every lane). I felt my throat start to close up and that awful prickling sensation on my skin and froze. I stopped the car and seriously considered driving away. I have to say that this phobia doesn't exactly controll my life as I force myself to face the fear. I parked the car and went to the pump, I felt sick but felt that I was still in controll. (if a balloon had become detached while I got the petrol I would have run away, I had even considered going into the Petrol station attendent to ask if they would remove them for me , my fear of being revealed as a 'whack job' was greater then my fear of balloons..hmmm)I suppose thats how I deal with all encounters with balloons, I avoid them at all costs, if I am so confronted in a social situation that I cannot outrun, I have closed my eyes and imagined that that situation is not there. When I get the moment to flee, without drawing too much attention to myself, I will leave the area untill the situation either looks safe again, or I will physically remove myself. I cope with it because I am in just enough controll that it doesn't controll me, I hate that other people find my fear 'Funny'..Ha, ha...NOT!

[Mark Robson]

Hello, Catzzz, and welcome to my little corner of Chronicles network. Thank you for responding to this thread. It's those little descriptions of how a phobia makes you feel that I hope will really give my fearful character life. I've almost finished the first book of the series now and am having to make her face up to the things she is most terrified of. It is not an easy section to write, but thanks to little snippets like the one you've posted and some of the others that people have put up here, it has been made a lot easier.

I hope you will take time to look around the rest of the site. It's a great community with a very varied set of likes and dislikes.

I also wish you well with mastering your phobia.

[littlemissattitude]

Goodness. Don't know how I missed this, Mark. I would have had some stories for you...I've been phobic and with OCD since I was a child - as far as I've been able to determine, it began when I was 7 years old. It has been worse at some times than at others, but it never entirely leaves. It got so bad at one point in the 1980s that I was almost completely housebound for nearly a year. I'm much better now, and managed to work myself out of the agoraphobia (I finally just decided that I couldn't go on like that and broke myself of it over several months of determination and willpower), but I still have anxiety attacks from time to time.

[Mark Robson]

I'm still more than happy to hear your stories, Littlemiss. The character will be working on her problems for 4 books, so anything you can give me on how you overcame your fears will be most useful.

[TigerLilly]

I never used to be scared of spiders, but now I hate them. I'm okay with the big ones, it's the small ones I will run from. I think it's like you said, as we get older, we become more aware of dangers and fears and things...

[Katie.S]

My mum suffers from anxiety. She avoids going out and when she does go she needs to be with someone she knows and to stay away from big crowds if she doesnt do this then she ends up shaking, feeling sick, crying and not being able to get out of bed the next morning because she feels so ill. Also because of this she suffers from depression and has also led my step dad into depression because of how much he has to care for her and 3 kids. It can effect people who know her sometimes (for example my step dad). she does very well and keeps strong despite of all of these problems. She never really overcomes this but does the best she can do to do what she has to do though she needs help from family along the way.

Hope this helps a little bit for your next 3 books.