Are Those on the Autism Spectrum More Prone to Phobias than Others?

[Sportster]

. . .

 

[Gracey]

Dented cans should end up in the bin/trash. That dent has altered the cans' effectiveness.
Heads up for everyone, some supermarkets will insist the dented tins are merchandised at the front of a display (Easy grab for the busy, stressed and unfocused)
(Yes, I have worked in merchandising - yes I did receive several "Quiet Words" from team leaders for not following that particular instruction)

Germs.

(But I have tumbled into the realms of OCD)
depending on how stressed I am will determine how far I go with this. On the one hand I have earned my right to live due to natural selection and thee most awesome immune system, on the other hand and if I think about it too deeply,...Ewww..(shudder)...just no.

 

[Mia]

As far as I know I don't really have any phobias. I have a dislike of sewer rats but not pet rats. Unafraid of heights, speed, snakes, spiders or any insects that I've encountered in places that I've lived.

I like sameness, routine and habit makes me comfortable. Loud noises startle me, and set up a fight or flight response, still after all these years. Perfume and scents like candles and synthetic sprays make me nauseous. But if I have to endure them in an enclosed space I will, if I don't have a choice. Inebriated people scare me a bit, especially if they're past the point of rational thought and are slobbering or vomiting or walking crazily.

 

[Momo]

As far as I know, I used to have a whole toss up between being OCD and autistic, even now I'm not sure. I have a tendency to repeat actoins such as flipping light switches, focusing on every crack in the path and stepping over in the 'correct' numerical order, even words and so on I use to deal with break downs, sometimes random facts as well. I don't know, perhaps I do have OCD and not autism, then again that wouldn't explain everything like autism does... Ah, such confusion. I suppose I'll find out when I get my diagnosis now won't I? Can one have both autism and OCD?

 

[Tyrantus1212]

I'm prone to a lot of phobias! These include death, disability, losing people I care about, insects, dogs, disease, heights, water (for swimming), "facing the music", conflict, driving, flying, and making mistakes at work. There may be more that I've forgotten about, I'm sure they're too numerous to list.

 

[SusanLR]

Spiders, lightening, flying, driving, death and being alone needing a place to live. I guess I fear my own mind because I have lived with anxiety/panic attack disorder since age 13.

 

[OlLiE]

sorry, no weird phobias

but one phobia that is a bit odd by being very particular in how it manifests itself,
i have a fear of heights, but oddly enough, only if i am exposed to wind and if i can feel movement due to the wind,
also if i feel that i have to move my centre of gravity to look over an edge, then that makes me feel very uncomfortable, i think it comes from understanding that the more i move my centre of gravity, the greater the degree of instability and the higher the probability of an accidental fall

so standing on the eiffel tower makes me nervous (at the top they show a screen that shows how far the top of the tower is rotating around its centre point), looking over an edge makes me very nervous, but airplanes and inside skyscrapers, no problems at all

maybe it's more of a phobia about losing control over all things that i can control and that can impact me negatively through my negligence

 

[xudo]

I have phobias in the actual sense of the word - butterflies, ants and lifts (I'm much better with that one now). However I do also have OCD. Whole range of things there, but it has been somewhat better since it was diagnosed last year and I had CBT.

 

[ksheehan88]

I have true phobias... Arachnophobia, etomophobia, acrophobia, thalassophobia. I'm not just "scared", these things can cause me to collapse, hyperventilate and tremble uncontrollably. Spiders can and have caused me to fit.

The fact that so many people don't understand the difference between being frightened of something and having a phobia of something really irks me. I'm not saying this is what you have done, just making that point.

I've gone off track, apologies!

 

[Alaska]

As far as I know, I used to have a whole toss up between being OCD and autistic, even now I'm not sure. I have a tendency to repeat actoins such as flipping light switches, focusing on every crack in the path and stepping over in the 'correct' numerical order, even words and so on I use to deal with break downs, sometimes random facts as well. I don't know, perhaps I do have OCD and not autism, then again that wouldn't explain everything like autism does... Ah, such confusion. I suppose I'll find out when I get my diagnosis now won't I? Can one have both autism and OCD?

Yes. They show in the same people a lot.

 

[Judge]

Can one have both autism and OCD?

Yes indeed. ASD, OCD and clinical depression for good measure as well. That would be me.

When I think of phobias, I think of my OCD first and foremost. The worst kind IMO. Those that can be utterly random and have no logic. The result of intrusive thoughts and worst-case-scenarios.

 

[Idahocalypse]

Can one have both autism and OCD?

Yes, I've been officially diagnosed with both.

 

[Jet Weiss]

I have a severe phobia of spiders, I can't even see a picture of one without hyperventilating and feeling like I'm going to die.

 

[Jet Weiss]

Oh yeah, I know how you feel. I used to be that bad, but then I started to keep cans of Raid strategically placed around the house. Here in Alabama we have plethora of nasty critters. Thus far since moving into this house, I have killed four black widows and numerous brown recluse. The most disturbing thing was turning on the lamp beside my bed only to discover several hundred baby spiders had made a web and had taken up residence on my lamp. I quickly dispatched them with some Raid. However, what had me worried is where was the mother?

That is so terrifying, omg

 

[Momo]

I have a severe phobia of spiders, I can't even see a picture of one without hyperventilating and feeling like I'm going to die.

I would say, don't live in Australia then. We have so many spiders everywhere here, it's almost ridiculous.

 

[Jet Weiss]

I would say, don't live in Australia then. We have so many spiders everywhere here, it's almost ridiculous.

So I've heard Needless to say, I won't be moving to Australia anytime soon

 

[toothless]

i have a phobia of water which stems from the severe pain i have felt from it my whole life [sensory issue],and i also have a phobia of hoovers because when i lived in an institution the staff chased me around with hoovers;turned on because they knew i had very sensitive hearing and that was their 'fun'.
i cant look at one without hyperventilating-APART from the one in my store cuboard because im in control of when support staff use that-i look at it with some fear,thinking it could turn on any minute and try to hurt me but i dont run off and hit myself like i would with other hoovers.
when its in use [they only hoover my bedroom,eveywhere else is laminated] i have two doors in between shut and my ear defenders on,mr shadow is deathly afraid of the hoover to.

 

[Chance]

My phobias are real but mostly controllable and logical.

Spiders - we have mass numbers of brown recluse spiders (which rot your skin if they bite you) so its logical to be frightened when one of these nasty things are close by or on you.

Heights - I love flying, but not standing or climbing something tall. I start to feel dizzy and sick, so I just cant.

Death - maybe dying without having lived, or not caring about what I did with my life

Loud unexpected noises - they don't scare me as much as it actually hurts to hear them. I usually kind of get angry because it did maybe scare me, but more so because it was painful.

Doctors, hospitals, ER's, waiting rooms - its just bad... it' like I can feel something I cant explain and maybe its other peoples pain... It sucks the life out of me. I cant function in those places for very long at all without being medicated to some extent... Sad but just being real.

Funerals - I don't know what to say. Same feeling as Hospital. I get this life sucking feeling that I don't know how to deal with. When people start crying I just start hunting all the logical reasons I can find to remain calm.

However on another aspect of the same issue. I am about to say something so wrong to most people but... If it was a person who was a dirtbag in real life, and these mourners try and make this person a saint in his death... I actually want to puke... FAKE PEOPLE make me physically and mentally ill.

Just say what he was... "a dirt bag who wasted his life. Better luck next time, I hope you learned what you needed to learn while you were here..."

Right there is a good dose of some full blown unhidden ASD in full color. I AM VERY REAL with LIFE, but basically I cant express it in a good or bad circumstance, but I can write it out when not under pressure or fear.

MY BIGGEST PHOBIA - is wasting my LIFE, not caring, not trying to become a better form of what I am.

I don't get people who waste LIFE or try and waste other peoples lives... It seems to me like this unspoken, unwritten, one big thing that we must account for. It has nothing to do with heaven or hell or religious undertones.

Every action creates cause and affect... its universal and eternal and how we learn from our past. In that is gain or loss on this eternal spin wheel. In my most inner being there is always a place where we start over and over and over, but we can gain or lose in that starting over point, by our past actions - thus equalling a heaven or hellish type thing if you want to go there, but even that isn't permanent, everything is about constant change. if it isn't changing it will become nothing.

I KNOW in my deepest part of who I am, that I am an eternal being just temporarily trapped in a messed up meat suit. In the big picture, there is no beginning or hellish end for me or anyone, just countless places to start over and over and over forever.

I am sorry if I offended anyone by being brutally honest and nearly getting off topic, I suck at keeping focused.

 

[Bella Pines]

I think the phobias come hand in hand with the obsessive or addictiveness. If I obsess about a phobia it can get out of control and it can escalate very quickly.

 

[Mr Allen]

There are only 2 things I'm scared of... Snakes (especially Pythons and Cobras) and cold water (I hate Showers in general, mostly because of something that happened at school)