Posted on 12/27/2008 3:06:45 PM PST by managusta
A terror of frozen peas, a fear of barns and a dread of kneecaps have emerged as some of Britain's most unusual phobias. Britain's weirdest phobias include a fear of peas and kneecaps.
While spiders and heights are common sources of anxiety, many people's lives are blighted by phobias of seemingly innocuous objects. David Allison, a therapist based at Addenbrooke's hospital, in Cambridge, was filmed treating some of the worst sufferers in an ITV1 documentary to be shown next week.
They included Sue Williams, 37, from Dudley in the West Midlands, who is so terrified of knees that she has not touched her own for 16 years and cannot say "kneecap" without bursting into tears.
"I don't like my own. I can't touch them. I certainly can't touch anyone else's," she said. "I know it's strange. People tease me about it and they have got every right to. But I think I'm the normal one and everyone else is weird."
Until her therapy sessions, Mrs Williams was unable to wash her knees in the bath and could not look at her husband's knees. Mr Allison's treatment involved showing her photographs of knees, which reduced her to sobs.
In the final session, he wore a pair of shorts and encouraged her to look at his kneecaps until the feelings of terror subsided.
Louise Arnold, from Gloucester, has a pea phobia which means she cannot walk down the frozen food aisle of a supermarket. Explaining her dislike of peas, she said: "They tend to just look at me – ganging up on me. All the hairs on the back of my neck go up. I have to know where they are in the supermarket before I go in.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
“Tea bags, tree roots and midgets are other terrors......”
Must resist......
I have a fear of foreign phobias.
I feel terrible, but I am yucking it up over this!
Having said that, phobias are very real to the sufferers, and are not funny at all. I don't have any, but oddly I can kind of relate to this lady with the pea-phobia. Some small, round things gross me out and I finally figured out why: I think they remind me of kids making Rubber Cement "boogers" which looked like real boogers, rolling them around in their fingers and admiring them, LOL!
... and they also seem to be developing a fear of freedom.
I have never liked clowns. My sister saw Ronald McDonald at a local McDonalds in the 1970’s and was traumatized. I just think they’re creepy. Mimes are the same, just more annoying.
That’s not a phobia. Clowns ARE creepy.
There would be plenty of material here for a Monty Python sketch.
> That’s not a phobia. Clowns ARE creepy.
Yup. Ever seen/read Stephen King’s “It”? Perry Wise the Dancing Clown? Crikey! That’s enough to scare kids...
What’s it called when you fear having your in-laws come for a visit? They’re union liberals by the way, how my husband turned out conservative is a miracle. At my house on Christmas, I took out my latest gun purchase to show my Dad (conservative) and my Mother-in-Law says “you have a gun?”. Answer “I have 4”. M-in-L “Why?”. Answer “ because this is AMERICA that’s why.” I swear she has cotton candy for brains. Everytime the husband says “guess who’s coming to see you?” I get a twinge of panic. I guess that is a phobia!
> midgets
Midgets can be creepy. So can dwarves.
Empty beer cans! Only cure is a full one.
Sanity.
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