Thursday, December 7, 2006

wtf-ophobia

Anyone who really knows me knows I get squimish in certain situations involving knives or images of cuts/gashes and I'm looking for the specific phobia that identifies it. If anyone knows or can find out, let me know. I've looked all over the internet but have had no luck.
If you're interested in helping, here's a more detailed description and what I've found searching the internet so far:

I'm pretty sure the phobia stemmed from me cutting myself while working several years ago. Its not the knife or sharp object that makes me feel sick, its the thought of the person using it slipping and cutting themselves. When I see images of mutilation or bad cuts, I also get sick. Its not the blood and guts that bothers me, its more the thought of how they got there. So basically, I have a phobia of mutilation, and although images of all sharp objects will make me squirm (I blacked out when the guy in Saw pulled out the hacksaw) it seems that it's the small razors that make me squirm the most. Here's what I've found on the internet that most closely resembles what I have, although none of them hit it exactly.

Aichmophobia- Fear of needles or pointed objects
Hemophobia or Hemaphobia or Hematophobia- Fear of blood
Traumatophobia- Fear of injury
Xyrophobia-Fear of razors

I think I will make up my own term if one doesn't already exist. How about "xyrotraumatophobia"? Yeah, I kinda like that.

About Me

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I grew up in the country with my nearest neighbor being almost a mile away. I was also the youngest in the family and the only boy. Growing up, I didn't have a lot of "playmates" so I found ways of entertaining myself. I could go outside on a nice fall Saturday (or frigid Iowa winter) and not come in until dark. My childhood is what cultivated my active imagination, or "specialness" as my mom always called it.