Is it normal people have gotten angry at me for being scared?

I have a phobia of flying cockroaches.
I know that they don't really "Fly",
but I have seen them flutter their wings
and it just scares me to no end because
I don't know rather they're going to try to land on me,
if one did, I would probably scream and cry,
quite possibly even have a panic-attack.

Anyway, due to this fear, I have had people get angry and frustrated at me, one person even got so angry
that they literally smashed a cockroach with her hand
and said,

" There, I killed! It's guts are all over my hands!"

I was only 13 at the time and I remember crying for most of the night, mainly because she had always been such a good friend to me and it just broke my heart that she mocked my phobia.

Another person has also called me an " Idiot"
for being afraid of cockroaches.
Look, I know that they don't really harm anyone,
but I can't just turn off my fear like a button.

Anyway, is it all right for people to mock others for their phobias?

No, phobias are serious and can not be helped. 20
No, that's mean. 10
I wouldn't do it. 9
It's only all right if the phobia is funny. 4
I don't care, I can make fun of others if I want. 1
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Comments ( 8 )
  • Short4Words

    People should not make fun of you, but it's hard to have sympathy with what we don't understand. Although we should. My friend has a deathly fear of bees. I guess he had a really bad experience, I on the other hand ended up stepping on a sickly one, another flew into my mouth and you could say it never really bothered me to much from then on. On the other hand, I am afraid of heights. In fact, I can't so much as look up directly above myself for fear that I'll fall into the emptiness of the sky, now if that is not stupid I don't know what is. My point is, we all have stupid fears.

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  • changes123

    A professor I knew had a phobia of falling. She's a completely rational woman, who is very intelligent, but she couldn't stand even wearing high heels or any shoes that elevated her off the ground more than 2"

    It's a fear that you can't control. There's nothing wrong with you, but people who don't understand will always judge. I am deathly terrified of Flying Cockroaches, Wasps, hornets, and bees. Basically any creature that can fly, and has a stinger. The odd thing is, I have never been stung in my life by any of them. I've been stung by ants, but they don't phase me. Yes, I will run into traffic trying to avoid one, but I can't help it... It's a fight or flight trigger caused by hormones. Don't worry, there's nothing wrong with having a phobia.

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  • RoseIsabella

    Immersion therapy works quite well. To simply say you can't help it is to accept defeat. I used to have a fear of cockroaches myself.

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  • GoraIntoDesiGals

    When I was in India I once woke up to a cockroach walking on me. I'm not phobic but it sure crept me out lol.

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  • KeddersPrincess

    Nah, don't sweat it. I'm afraid of mosquito eaters.

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  • DangerousPotatoGuy

    sometimes the reason why people get frustrated is that some people try to look for things that make them seem different your friend maybe failed to understand that it may not always be the case

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  • imadragon

    I pretty much let my class and my teacher know about my phobias last week, that was interesting. We've all had a psychology class where we talked about phobias and why people have them and how they get them, so I know they would understand. It made it a lot easier to understand my feelings when I reacted to my phobias.

    My phobias are for worms, parasites and pregnancies.
    There was (for some reason..) some sort of dead little worm in a classroom one day, and it was right under my bench. I didn't notice it until a friend who sat on the row in front of me saw it. I of course got very concerned about it, and tried to stay calm but my friend who sat next to me noticed that I wasn't acting normal. She understood why and suggested I would sit somewhere else, and she even removed the worm and tossed it in a bin. I almost started crying when she pick it up.

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    • RoseIsabella

      I'm actually quite fond of night crawlers but honestly I've always been afraid of pregnancy. I can't understand why more women aren't afraid or grossed out by it. When I was three years old I remember waiting in the car with my grandma watching my mother come out of the hospital in a wheelchair after my sister was born. I was so scared and freaked out.

      Truthfully, I've never loved or trusted a man enough nor felt that a man loved me enough to justify the ordeal of pregnancy.

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