Has anyone heard of this phobia I have?

[MetalJunkie]

I have a very strange phobia, and it's very extreme. Worse, even, than my fear of spiders (which is immense).

I have a fear of vast underwater expanses. The underwater shots of 'The Hunt For Red October' and 'Star Trek IV' made me very uncomfortable. I had to look around the room to sort of remind myself I was there. It's even worse in games. I know not everyone plays WoW, but those that do are probably familiar with Vashj'ir. It's a zone that's entirely underwater. As soon as I arrived there, I went "fuck no" and started questing somewhere else. I've noticed that it increases fivefold with the presence of a large creature (such as a whale or whatever might be lurking in Vashj'ir)

I'm trying to figure out the reason for this phobia. It's almost like the opposite of claustrophobia, I guess. I've never had bad experiences on the water. In fact, I love swimming in the lake, provided I'm near the shore and people. I love boating, too. So... the fuck? Anyone heard of this?

[JayOctavarium]

that is strange

[kári]

the fuck?

[Ħ]

Some kind of aquaphobia.

[JayOctavarium]

agrophobia is the fear of open space... so aquagrophobia?

[Gadough]

aquagrophobia?

*pulls out list of future possible band names*

*writes that down*

[JayOctavarium]

i better get credit in liner notes if that's ever used

[Gadough]

Oh, trust me.

You won't.

[MasterShakezula]

Fear of the depths, Fear of the depths
Aquagraphobia has always got me down
Fear of the depths, Fear of the depths
I have a phobia that I'm about to drown

[MetalJunkie]

Except I don't have a phobia of drowning.

[MasterShakezula]

Um, I'm quite sure artistic liberties can be taken when coming up with Weird Als of songs for Gadough's debut album.

[MetalJunkie]

I would think that's up to Gadough.

[Gadough]

anything goes

[GuineaPig]

Cousteauphobia.

[Kosmo]

Vashj'ir is shit anyway.

[jimbosile]

Doesn't seem strange to me. I feel the same. Probably not to the same extent, but I sort of do have a fear of the ocean and sea creatures so when I see the sort of thing you are talking about, the vastness is sort of overwhelming.

[YtseBitsySpider]

Watch the Abbyss....overcome you fear.

[Progmetty]

MetalJunkie I used to have that same problem but since I had it as a teenager I was closer to the source of the fear time wise, enough to work it out rationally and find out why I'm afraid of looking horizontally while under water (I always wear goggles when swimming). Although in my case seeing it on T.V would give me a chilling excitement -like watching a horror movie- instead of the discomfort you experience. But while swimming it's be really discomfort and worry.
Initially the only reason I could come up with is that I'm slow and crippled under water and would never be a physical match for a creature who's natural habitat is water, so if that creature was of an aggressive nature I would be done for, especially -and that's where the phobia comes in- if I can't see horizontally past a few meters and then it's plain blue. That plain blue scared the fuck out of me even if I was just in a big swimming pool and there's no chance of anything attacking me there.
That line of thinking took me to movies and that's where I easily arrived at the problem; I saw the JAWS movies at a very young age, we had absolutely no monitoring or the idea of checking movie ratings and parental control advisories at our household at the time, much like all of the homes in my country at the time, it just did not occur to anyone.
My dad used to go to work trips to the states and he's always return with a dozen VHS tapes of his favorite movies/new movies in general (movies that would otherwise unavailable for us cause there was no such thing as cable at the time) and these movies were viewed openly in my presence, a period that ranged from me being 5 years old up to 10 years old.
Clear blue means the murderous shark is gonna show up from within the blue. Once I realized that the under water view didn't bother me anymore.
The only other thing that's similar -in relation to discovering phobia sources to be something you watched on tv as a child -is a recurring dream that rarely left me since childhood of me lying on a rail road track and my movement is limited to how I can center myself between the metal railings so the train would pass over me without killing me. That comes from watching The Good, The Bad & The Ugly when you're 5

[zerogravityfat]

in my summer house, i dive this area where there is a huge underwater shear wall. the mountain sheared off because of earthquakes and it continues under water so after making a turn in the corals, you see a 50m drop with nothing around you, you would flip your shit there and die.

[Zook]

The main reason I hated the ocean was that I didn't know what was lurking below me, so I rarely went to the beach. But even when I did go, I never went far enough to where I couldn't touch the bottom anymore. On a side note, I used to have a prehistoric animal book that had a 2 page spread of sharks and plesiosaurs, and it was scary as fuck. I'm sure if I saw it today it would still disturb me.

[SPNKr]

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

tap -- tap -- tap

tap tap tap -- tap -- tap

- iconic whistle -
wah wah wah

[wolfking]

I have a very strange phobia, and it's very extreme. Worse, even, than my fear of spiders (which is immense).

I have a fear of vast underwater expanses. The underwater shots of 'The Hunt For Red October' and 'Star Trek IV' made me very uncomfortable. I had to look around the room to sort of remind myself I was there. It's even worse in games. I know not everyone plays WoW, but those that do are probably familiar with Vashj'ir. It's a zone that's entirely underwater. As soon as I arrived there, I went "fuck no" and started questing somewhere else. I've noticed that it increases fivefold with the presence of a large creature (such as a whale or whatever might be lurking in Vashj'ir)

I'm trying to figure out the reason for this phobia. It's almost like the opposite of claustrophobia, I guess. I've never had bad experiences on the water. In fact, I love swimming in the lake, provided I'm near the shore and people. I love boating, too. So... the fuck? Anyone heard of this?

I was a bit of a swimmer and I work in aquatics and have for the last 6 years, and open water actually freaks me out too. I never go to beaches or lakes, I just stick to my pools, that's as far as I can go.  I'm a very competent swimmer but even just the feeling of duck diving and looking at the openess of the bottom of the pool is a little too much for me, mainly about 2m under or deeper.  I wouldn't cope with the beach or a wide lake.  The open water and the thought of the depth and what is underneath the surface, really quite scares me. 

I think it also could tie to a fear of drowning and not being able to reach the surface for air.  I can't really understand either, but I empathise with you.  I can look at pictures and play games and stuff, but it's an uneasy, eerie feeling.  I even like looking at deep sea paintings, especially with sea creatures or old greek mytholgy type depictions.  I leaves me uneasy but at the same time I find it fascinating.  I can't explain it any more, but I'm with you.

[JediKnight1969]

I find those images really disturbing, but at the same time fascinating. Like this one:

[wolfking]

Yeah exactly.  I find that fascinating but eerie as fuck.  If I near that water though, I would freak out.

[Zydar]

The main reason I hated the ocean was that I didn't know what was lurking below me, so I rarely went to the beach. But even when I did go, I never went far enough to where I couldn't touch the bottom anymore. On a side note, I used to have a prehistoric animal book that had a 2 page spread of sharks and plesiosaurs, and it was scary as fuck. I'm sure if I saw it today it would still disturb me.

I can identify with this. I don't know what it is about the ocean or vast water, it always makes me feel uncomfortable.

[Jirpo]

I actually love the idea of vast expanses underwater. Instead of scaring me, it fascinates me, much like the idea of having a huge "room" in a cave, but more so. I don't seem to have that fear of creatures or whatever. Probably because I spend a lot of my life at the beach. I love fish

[Logical Nightmare]

The thing is, phobias are irrational. Therefore, they can be applied to anything. There are spider phobiacs, eggshell phobiacs, vast underwater spaces phobiacs... Whatever the phobia, there doesn't have to be a reason for it, and while it's kinda weird to have that kind of fear, it's not abnormal.

I have no reason whatsoever to freak out when seeing a spider, but I do, just as you freak out about water. That's just how phobias work.

[Volk9]

The main reason I hated the ocean was that I didn't know what was lurking below me

This was a reason I was always scared at the beach when I was younger. Omg, and dont get me started on all the seaweed that rubs on your feet and you have no idea what it is.

[antigoon]

and you have no idea what it it.

seaweed

[Volk9]

and you have no idea what it it.

seaweed

Sorry; playing Halo while typing

[TempusVox]

MJ sounds like you have whats called Bathophobia. It's probably more common than you think. I have a bit of that myself but not to too much of an extreme. It comes from having at first a sense of awe and wonder at the enormous size and expanse of the ocean depth; combined with the unknown of what goes on or lurks beneath the surface. It's one of those things that manifests itself really from the creative impulse of your imagination. Basically, it's your sense of awe and imagination run amuck. For me it only really bothers me when I'm on the open ocean in a boat, I get a little freaked out if I'm not careful and I let it happen.

My greatest fear is heights.

If it gets to be too profound, get some help. Contact a therapist, who can send you to the right support group. While I've never seen a therapist for any phobia, I know someone who has, and it really helped her alot (though she stopped going and allowed the phobia to return). It was my adopted dads girlfriend. She is deathly afraid of cats. I mean, pass out or die freaked out. My adopted dad once told me, "If a cat walked into this room right now, Robin wouldn't run as fast as she could to get away, she would run as fast as she WANTED too!" 

[theliloutkast]

https://youtu.be/KG1CjFoX-8E

[VioletS16]

agrophobia is the fear of open space... so aquagrophobia?

Yes, snakes are agraphobic, which is why....

You are half snake


*starts to giggle but throws hand over mouth*

[Aramatheis]

I have no reason whatsoever to freak out when seeing a spider, but I do

I'm fairly certain it's because spiders are the demonic spawn of Satan.


And MetalJunkie, I share your feelings. I've never been much of a swimmer, so when I happen to be at the beach, or in a lake, I don't swim out very far.
Specifically, I freak out the most when I can't see what's under my feet.

But when I went turtle watching in the Caribbean, everything was so clear and beautiful (as well as being vast!) so it didn't bother me much. But I still agree, vast, dark underwater places are very much eerie.

[Logical Nightmare]

I have no reason whatsoever to freak out when seeing a spider, but I do

I'm fairly certain it's because spiders are the demonic spawn of Satan.

To be honest, that's going easy on them.

When not in the vicinity of a spider, I like to imagine I'm not really that scared. "If there was a spider on the wall over there, I could totally walk right up to it without feeling scared." Last time I found a spider on a wall - and it wasn't nearly as big as I imagine them to be - I handled the situation by hyperventilating, screaming, swearing and crying in panic. I was home alone, so I had to take care of it myself. I ended up missing it when trying to kill it with a shoe, because it jumped away, and then I was scared to use the bathroom for a week. So much for handling my phobia.