SYL Micropublishing 2012

By: Adra McBride

Mark the day a phobia finds the inner child, where uncontrollable fear takes over, screams are all that will be heard. So best not to put childhood memories on a shelf... all that will be left is Fear Itself

Somnip

hobia

[S

o-m-ne

e-fo-b

ee-ah

]:

An i

rratio

nal fe

ar Of s

leep

“When I was five, I left my beanie babies

in my bed and forgot about them. At

bedtime, with the lights out. I crawled

into bed and jumped back out, scared.

Because I couldn’t remember putting

those beanie babies there and was un-

familiar with it’s texture on my feet. For

a split second I had believed there were

creepy crawlies on my leg.” -Dave

Arachnephobia [Ar-ach-ne-pho-bee-ah]:An irrational fear of spiders.

“One night I was sleeping and had an insane urge to pick my nose and sneeze. Turning on the light, I reached for my tissues and sneezed out a dead spider.” -Chris

Aquaphobia

“I got pushed into a pool one time and couldn’t help but to panic. I suddenly envisioned the Titanic ship sinking and how my body would do the same. Ever since that incident I can’t stay under water for very long, even if it’s just in the shower.” -Max

{Ah-qwa-fo-bee-ah]:

An irrational fear of water

Coulrophobia [Kal-ro-fo-bee-ah]: An irrational fear of clowns

“My phobia is Coulrophobia which is the fear of clowns. When I was little I use to go to Circus Circus in Las Ve-gas, Nevada and one time I saw this clown it kept follow-ing me around which was al-ready strange, after that day I kept dreaming about this clown chasing me and trying to attack me, but every night in my dream he’d get closer and closer to killing me. So now I can’t even stand the sight of them.” -Mar

[Be-d-lo

-fo-bee-

ah]:

An irratio

nal fear

of

leech

es

“My grandparents have a cottage on Lake George in New York, and when I was little, my brother and I would go pick wild blueberries in and around the swamp at the back of their property. Being little and clumsy, I slipped off the wood plank path and into the water, getting stuck in the mud, of course. It took a few minutes to get me out, and when I finally did, there were two leeches on my right leg. Smreaming and crying, but refusing to move at all, they were quickly removed, but I’ve been terrified of leeches ever since.” -Cee

Bdellophobia

Beef-Taco Phobia [B-eef-ta-ko-fo-bee-ah]: An

irrational fer of beef in tacos

“I suffer from a beef-tacophobia. When I was 10 and I had a beef taco for dinner, I threw up. The next time I ate a beef taco it tasted like my vomit. Ever since I hav-en’t been able to be near beef tacos. I breathe heavy, sweat, and my throat closes. Sometimes I even cry.” -Jean

[ha-p-hee-fo-bee-ah]:

An irrational fear of

being touched

“I have a phobia of my face being touched by others and sometimes even myself. As a child I was molested by a family friend. I am now afraid to have my face touched and I have an obsession with thor-oughly washing my hands (even if I know they are clean) before I have to touch or wash my face.” -Darla

Haphe

phob

ia

Hemophobia [hee-mo-fo-bee-ah]: An irrational fear of blood

“My first memory is when I was two years old, I fell up a set of stairs and cut my chin open and had to get 20 stitches across the bottom of my chin. I remember them putting me into a re-straining device (almost like a straight jacket) in order to hold me down, since I was a vivacious two year old and didn’t want the scary doctors near my face. Every since then, I have had a fear of blood. Whenever I see, think, talk, or hear anything about blood, I pass out. I even passed out when I lost my first tooth.” -M

Claustrophobia

“Ever since I got stuck in the elevator with twenty people during the Christmas holiday for fifteen minutes, I can no longer be inside an elevator. I get too overwhemled.”- Tina

[cl-aw-s-tro-fo-nee-ah]: An irrational fear of tight spaces.

SYL Micropublishing Class 2012

Most common everyday people have a phobia. More than a million people suffer from them and half of those victims need to be medicated to cope with their phobia.

This book is dedicated to my biological mother: Beth Chairacova and my adoptive mother: Elva McBride The two role models who helped me overcome my fears and

special thanks to all who participated by giving me a phobia to work with and trusting me to keep their identity confidential.