why am a Globophobic (person who is afraid of balloons?)?!


Question: Why am a Globophobic (person who is afraid of balloons?)?
Before I was four I loved balloons. I don't remember anything that happened. Now whenever I'm around balloons I may have panic attacks, I usually rock in a corner covering my ears. This one door in the hall had them on it, and I screamed and ran away from them! Do you know what may have caused it? Could it be Asperger Syndrome?

Answers:

Asperger's syndrome does not directly cause someone to fear balloons. The only possible connection is that many people with Asperger's are sensitive to sound, and the sound of a balloon popping is very loud and often sudden. This could be the explanation if you do in fact have Asperger's. If you don't (and if this is your only possible sign of Asperger's, you don't have it), then your aversion to balloons is probably the result of conditioning. That means at some point, something happened that made you associate balloons with something unpleasant. Maybe you were frightened by a balloon popping. Maybe something upsetting happened when you were around balloons. You should see a psychologist about this phobia - exposure therapy would probably be helpful for you.

I have Asperger's



You have an irrational fear, which is what a phobia is. There is really no reason to be afraid of those silly balloons. The worst part about the fear of balloons is when they get too close to the face and if popped there, balloons shards can snap against delicate facial tissue such as the eyes, lips, cheeks, and hurt the ears due to the loud popping sound in close proximity of the eardrum. This is normal. But you cite examples of why there is no reason to be afraid of balloons. They cannot reach out and grab you. You are the one to reach out and grab THEM! Then you can pop them, and once you overcome your fear, popping balloons can turn out to be quite fun. To overcome this fear, it is a gradual process. There are a number of ways to approach this. For example, start out with uninflated balloons in the same room. Then feel them. Then blow one up and let the air out. Then blow one up, tie it, and leave it alone. Then blow up a few, tie them, and leave them there. Then kick one or two around, and so on until you are comfortable with having them around. Next comes popping them, and you can do this in a number of ways. You can put one in a large bag and stick it with a pin so you know exactly when it will pop. Eventually you can hold it when you pop it. Hopefully soon you will discover how fun it is to sit on them, and by that time you will have overcome your fear. This process can take weeks.



I doubt it's any Syndrome.
Just because you don't remember something doesn't mean it never happened.
In the '20's they took a baby named Little Albert and conditioned him to fear a number of different animals. If he grew up with a fear of nearly every furry creature he'd never remember why he fears them.

Some people are just naturally afraid. For example- my grandma cannot stand the sight of fish (dead, swimming, anything). Nothing ever happened, it's just how she is.




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