5 Fears Caused by Anxiety Disorders

Anyone who suffers from an anxiety disorder will tell you that fear is as common as breathing to them. Sometimes I'll feel a fear response for absolutely no reason. My brain just decides that something must be wrong and therefore panic. Sometimes fellow sufferers like me will have fears of things we really shouldn't be afraid of, yet we panic nonetheless.

5. Agoraphobia - The Fear of People

I'm literally afraid of people. I'm afraid of crowds, strangers, people being too close to me, people looking at me, just people. It can literally cause me to go into a panic attack if I have to walk through a crowd to get somewhere and god forbid if I need to go somewhere alone where other people will be. Is everyone out to hurt me? No, probably not. Most people are just going about their daily lives but knowing this doesn't stop my heart from jumping into my throat when I approach a crowd. Stranger still, I can go to a concert and be surrounded by people and I'm fine, but I can't go to a crowded intersection or auditorium without wanting to run as fast as possible to a secluded place. When I was admitted into inpatient psych (because sometimes things get out of hand in your head) because I needed help, I spent most of the time panicking even though everyone there was either in a similar boat as me or doing their best to help me.

4. Allodoxaphobia - the Fear of Opinions/Conflict

There are times when you're confronted with people having a bad day, and they take it out on everyone around them with or without realizing it. You can tell by their tone and their body language that they're just fuming but for whatever reason, you have to interact with them. When I'm in this situation I immediately start getting upset because I know I'm going to be snapped at or treated badly. Most of the time, this exact thing happens, and if the person is especially mean and starts berating me (which has happened, more than once) it will put me in a panic attack. Standing up for myself is literally impossible. If I try, I freeze, feel nauseous, and start shaking uncontrollably. Hardly anyone around me understands this fear and usually just tells me to grow a backbone, but I literally can't.

3. Monophobia - The Fear of Being Alone

Specifically, being afraid of being alone with your own thoughts. Having anxiety causes a lot of crazy thoughts. Most sufferers understand these thoughts are nonsense, but can't stop them from happening and for some, that alone is terrifying. If I'm alone at home for too long and my thoughts start to wander into dark and ridiculous places, all it takes is one person not responding to me (usually my husband because his phone is constantly dying) and I go into a panic attack which only prompts the thoughts to get more severe. I have to constantly be mentally stimulated and distracted to be alone for long periods of time. This can be frustrating for my husband because he'll check his phone to find six missed calls and about ten jumbled text messages. Unfortunately, this prompts me to also feel like a burden.

2. Autophobia - the Fear of Loneliness or Being Unloved

Similar to Monophobia, Autophobia is a fear of being alone, but in another aspect. You're afraid that you're a burden to loved ones and that in all actuality you are unwanted and unloved. This causes intense feelings of loneliness and makes reaching out extremely difficult. I feel like a burden quite often and have caught myself with messages to friends open, but erasing every message I start to type because I'm positive it would only annoy them and they have more important things to worry about than me. This often causes intense feelings of sadness that lead me to feel worse than when I first tried to reach out. It's why a lot of people who suffer from mental illness struggle to reach out for help. We feel like no one cares anyway and we're only a burden. The panic often happens when the attempt to reach out is ignored.

1. Dementophobia - The Fear of Going Insane

I picture becoming insane more often than I care to admit. There are images of a padded room and that lovely hug yourself jacket. There are syringes with medicine to make you calm. These images are terrifying and every time my thoughts get out of control, I become petrified that this very scene is my future. This is likely caused by how movies demonstrated mental illness and caused those who suffer from them to fear those very scenarios happening to them. I'm constantly wondering when I'll finally snap and lose my marbles, so to speak. The thing is, I always feel like I'm teetering on that edge and just need one more push to fall off.

I don't know if anyone else can relate to these or if hearing my experiences will help anyone feel like they're not alone, but I do want any of you out there who do understand these to know that you are not. This includes those who suffer from debilitating phobias not on this list. If you made it through today, go have a cookie. You deserve it.