You're afraid of WHAT???

[George Jung]

What is the cause of Clown Phobia?
Like all fears and phobias, clown phobia is created by the unconscious mind as a protective mechanism. At some point in your past, there was likely an event linking clowns and emotional trauma. Whilst the original catalyst may have been a real-life scare of some kind, the condition can also be triggered by myriad, benign events like movies, TV, or perhaps seeing someone else experience trauma.

But so long as the negative association is powerful enough, the unconscious mind thinks: "Ahh, this whole thing is very dangerous. How do I keep myself from getting in this kind of situation again? I know, I'll attach terrible feelings to clowns, that way I'll steer clear in future and so be safe." Just like that clown phobia is born. Attaching emotions to situations is one of the primary ways that humans learn. Sometimes we just get the wiring wrong.

The actual phobia manifests itself in different ways. Some sufferers experience it almost all the time, others just in response to direct stimuli. Everyone has their own unique formula for when and how to feel bad.

http://www.changethatsrightnow.com/problem_detail.asp?SDID=809:1477

[edit] Causes of specific phobia
All information about the Causes of Specific Phobia (except NOTE) comes from the textbook (2006,) Essentials of Abnormal Psychology:Fourth Edition

Direct experience
This is where the object that a person is afraid of is experienced directly. For example if a person is afraid of snakes and he/she got bitten by that snake, then he/she has just experienced a direct experience
Experiencing a False Alarm
This is actually experiencing a false alarm just as having a panic attack in the presence of the frightening object
NOTE - False Alarm experiences can be the catalyst for object selection in seemingly illogical phobias. While fear of such objects appears illogical, the significance of the selected object is that it allows a person, prone to unpredictable anxiety attacks, the ability to make the attacks more controllable or predictable. One such example is a girl who was afraid of cotton balls. By assigning these as the cause of her attacks and conditioning herself to believe it, she was able to reduce the trigger for her anxiety to one set of avoidable objects.

Observing someone
This is where a person observed another person getting attacked by a snake. Therefore, he/she is afraid of the snake this way. That person is afraid that what had happened to that person could also happen to them
Being Told
This is where a person is told about the dangers of a snake. The warning is so great and frightening to the person, he/she develops a phobia because of it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specific_phobia


Just did a little search and this is some of what was found.  Hope it helps.

p.s.  Some people say taking baby steps and confronting your fears is the way to overcoming them.  I want to help so I found this guy!

[carolyn77531]

this is what I'm afraid of....i really dint like to admit to this...I'm scared of bogey man....u know the thing under the bed....when i go to sleep..i have to have the covers tucked under my feet

[goofynina]

Gosh darnit George, LMFFAO,  just when i was MAYBE, POSSIBLY beginning to understand and ready to start taking my "baby steps" you go and post that pic, just 'bout made me soil myself   (yes, shit my pants)  
I wish i could recall any event that might make me feel this way but i just cant.  What is weird is that even if i know the person in the clown suit, that doesnt matter, i still do not trust them.  The same with mascots (which i know i have never had any bad encounters with them)  my hairs stand on the back of my neck and my heart starts pounding, whats more embarrasing is when my 5 year old little great-niece tries to comfort me  Now come on, who could be scared of Chuck E. Cheese??  ME THATS WHO,  aye yi yi  

[okarol]

Very bad clown... John Wayne Gacy

[Sluff]

I ain't afraid of anything.

[goofynina]

not even having to start dialysis 

[Sluff]

Sh( you got me there! 

[George Jung]

goofynina - What about Disney Characters?

[glitter]

I ain't afraid of anything.

 

[goofynina]

goofynina - What about Disney Characters?

George, i dont know what Disney cartoons you see but i KNOW these arent them, and i am just not going to click on anymore links you put on the net, lol, i am going to have nightmares now, muchas gracias

[George Jung]

Let's try something else.....

 

[goofynina]

Ohhhh, your soooo lucky, lol,  even though i said i wasnt going to click on it, i did,  Thank you George     much much better 

[okarol]

THIS!

[Amanda From OZ]

Cockroaches!!!!!!!!!!!! omg i cant even look at this picture!! 

[carson]

this is a no-brainer for me...

needles! I get so queasy when I look at them I can't even post a pic!!

Just thinking about them almost makes me vomit! my stomach gets all jittery and my back gets all tense. I cry whenever the doc threatens me with iron shots.

Thank the Big Guy for PD!! If I ever need hemo, I'm screwed!!!!!!!!!!

[MyssAnne]

I cannot stand dark closed spaces. Such as basements.
I cannot tolerate crowds. They really make me uneasy.
Spiders, I hate them. Ugh.
I hate needles, but as long as I shut my eyes, I'm okay. I can even do myself for my epo shots.

[jbeany]

I can't put my face under water.  I panic and my throat closes shut.  Stupid reaction - but it's because I nearly drowned when I was little.  We were at a college reunion weekend with all my mom's old college roomates.  The kids were supposed to be splashing around at the edge of CMU's olympic sized swimming pool.  I didn't know how to swim, but they put me in and told me just to hang on to the edge and kick.  It worked fine until someone cannonballed over me and knocked loose my grip on the drain around the edge.  I sank to the bottom and no one noticed - the adults were too busy talking to see what the kids were doing. 

Guess I was too stubborn to die even then, though.  When I realized no one was coming to get me, and I couldn't figure out how to get back up the slippery tile wall in front of me, I started across the corner of the pool to the ladder on the other side.  I was partway up the ladder before I started to black out, but by then, one of the older kids had realized I was missing, and yanked me the rest of the way up.

Ever have that nightmare where you are falling?  Instead of sky I dream I'm sliding past the little blue tiles from the sides of the pool I nearly drowned in.

[nextnoel]

I can't put my face under water.  I panic and my throat closes shut. 

ME, TOO!  When I was little, I started taking swimming lessons, and at one point, the instructor told us (we were in the shallow end of the pool) to sit on the bottom.  I was really tiny, and some of the kids started splashing around, and I up-ended just when I had to take a breath.  I can still remember the exact feeling, both physically and emotionally.  Anyway, I breathed/slurped in a lot of water, and had to be hauled out, sputtering and when I could get my breath back, screaming bloody murder.  I never went back in.  My terror remained so bad that my old family physician, love his dear, deceased heart, actually wrote me a doctor's note to get out of the swimming class we were required to take in college!

If I absolultely have to, I can put my face under the shower for a split second, but I fixed my wall-mounted showerhead so that it hits at about neck height.  When I see those ads on TV for shampoo, where the models are letting the water run directly on their faces, I have to look away!

Jbeany, I thought I was the only person in the world like this!  My sister!

[jbeany]

Jbeany, I thought I was the only person in the world like this!  My sister!

 

Oddly enough, I can go swimming, even in a pool, and I like it - I just can't put my head under the water.  I've even tried a snokel mask to keep the water off my face- no such luck!  I don't stick my face under water in the shower, either!

[George Jung]

Hospitals.  Dialysis centers.

[nextnoel]

Jbeany, you're light years ahead of me - for me, a tub bath signifies GREAT  D A N G E R ! 

[Falkenbach]

I on the other hand am afraid of Clowns and Mascots (anything in a mask or costume)

When I was about 4 years old, my mother took me to visit a friend of hers. Her friend's children were older than me and must have thought tormenting me was a good way to have fun.

They had found the head off one of those ventriloquist's dummies on the road, of all places, out in the bush (they lived out in the bush). So whilst mum and her friend sat in the kitchen having coffee, I was chased around the house with this darn dummy-head. No matter which room I tried to hide in, this head would appear around the edge of the doorway - the kids kept themselves hidden behind the door frame so it appeared that the head had a life of its own. They would have their hand up inside the thing, making the mouth flap at me. The horror was unbelievable, even though logic told me (even at that age) that the kids must be doing it and that the head couldn't be acting alone, I was still scared out of my wits.

I ended up running outside and hid in my mother's car where I wasn't found for quite some time! To this day, I HATE those darn ventriloquist dummies.

Other than that, I'm terrified of windy, hilly roads with drops off the side.

[Yonanamama]

I can't put my face under water.  I panic and my throat closes shut.  Stupid reaction - but it's because I nearly drowned when I was little.  We were at a college reunion weekend with all my mom's old college roomates.  The kids were supposed to be splashing around at the edge of CMU's olympic sized swimming pool.  I didn't know how to swim, but they put me in and told me just to hang on to the edge and kick.  It worked fine until someone cannonballed over me and knocked loose my grip on the drain around the edge.  I sank to the bottom and no one noticed - the adults were too busy talking to see what the kids were doing. 

Guess I was too stubborn to die even then, though.  When I realized no one was coming to get me, and I couldn't figure out how to get back up the slippery tile wall in front of me, I started across the corner of the pool to the ladder on the other side.  I was partway up the ladder before I started to black out, but by then, one of the older kids had realized I was missing, and yanked me the rest of the way up.

Ever have that nightmare where you are falling?  Instead of sky I dream I'm sliding past the little blue tiles from the sides of the pool I nearly drowned in.

jbeany...I almost drowned when I was 3 years old.  I was walking around our pool with my blankie wrapped around me.  Dad was supposed to be watching me but I'm sure he got sidetracked by a Dodger game!  Anyway, my 5 year old sister asked my dad, "Daddy, why is Debbie at the bottom of the pool?"  Needless to say, he jumped in and saved me.  He always took the credit for saving me, but I always give thanks to my big sis.  (We've always been obnoxiously close!)  Anyway, to this day I have dreams where I am tumbling in a barrel of water.  I go over and over and over, like a somersault.  And it's not just in my dreams.  Sometimes I daydream it.  Surprisingly though, I love swimming in a pool.  Don't like the ocean cuz I don't like the black openess under me.   But, I'm not afraid of water, at all! 
Do you ever have "flashbacks" about your near drowning?  I'd be interested to know.

[ILOVEFLUID]

centipedes

[jbeany]

Yonanamama, I don't have any flashbacks - just that strange, recurring dream of sinking past tiles.