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Weird Phobia

dukebound85

dukebound85

macrumors Core
Original poster
Jul 17, 2005
19,234
4,374
5045 feet above sea level
So I was out with some friends the other night and was taken aback a bit. We were eating and my friend's gf (apparently playing a prank on my friend) asked me to pass mustard over to my friend. Evidently he is scared of mustard. He kinda jolted when he saw it in front of him. Doesn't want anything to do with it and had to use his sleeves around his hands to move the mustard bottle. I asked if he was allergic to it and he said no, just is scared of mustard.

Is anyone else scared of mustard? I can understand being scared of spiders/snakes/tigh spaces/heights but mustard? How??? I just can't comprehend but thought it was interesting as I had never come across that before.

Anyways thought I would get your reaction lol
 
probably the only person in the world afraid of mustard ... if he was my friend ... i'd be slipping those little mustard packs in his pocket every time we met ... and leaving them in his bathroom cupboards etc. etc.
 
My brother was just like that when he was ~5 through ~10 years old. Now he seems to enjoy it on his food.
 
I've got a friend who is afraid of any kind of sauce. He proper freaks out if he sees any and wretches if you get too near him with any. Really odd.
 
I am sometimes legitimately (not joking!) scared of looking at myself in a mirror. I have a phobia that I will see somethiing in the mirror that isn't there, and turn around and it won't be there....
 
DoFoT9 said:
I am sometimes legitimately (not joking!) scared of looking at myself in a mirror. I have a phobia that I will see somethiing in the mirror that isn't there, and turn around and it won't be there....
Click to expand...

Hold up...that means you could theoretically be afraid of glossy displays.
 
From a cognitive point of view, all phobias have, for the sufferer, an unspoken, often an unaware, catastrophic consequence attached to exposure to the fear object or situation.

In working with phobics, one explores what the individual is afraid will happen if, as in this case, they touch mustard. A person might not realize what the catastrophic consequence is until that is pointed out and worked on. Also, the person, realizing the the catastrophic consequence is irrational, be reluctant to talk about it for fear of seeming totally nuts (a technical term), and just says "I don't know". It may take a lot of reassurance for the individual to understand that the irrational cognitive element is not nuts.

All of the above is part of the cognitive/behavioral approach to phobias. One would then work on a program of graded exposure to the fear object or situation. Clearly enormously more effective (loads of imperial evidence) than the older, psychodynamic approach.

Having said all that, I have not clue why your friend is afraid of mustard. Only he knows the feared catastrophic consequence - it is always idiosyncratic to the individual. Also I am not suggesting you pursue this with your friend, as it will not doubt embarrass him terribly.
 
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DoFoT9 said:
I am sometimes legitimately (not joking!) scared of looking at myself in a mirror. I have a phobia that I will see somethiing in the mirror that isn't there, and turn around and it won't be there....
Click to expand...
Sounds like you must have been near a horror movie when it exploded and a flying piece of cliché got embedded in your brain. ;)
 
I used to be scared to look in the mirror too. But only at weekends when I was trippin' :D

Possible to be phobic of anything - I wonder why some phobias are more common that others. The most interesting phobia I know of is Trypophobia.

I won't post pictures, but do check it out and see if you feel weird.
 
Thomas Veil said:
Sounds like you must have been near a horror movie when it exploded and a flying piece of cliché got embedded in your brain. ;)
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Smartarse ;)

I actually have a hard time watching most horror films - my brain has a massive imagination and I freak out.

niuniu said:
I used to be scared to look in the mirror too. But only at weekends when I was trippin' :D
Click to expand...
Haha - no this is just a general hatred of one's appearance, and the other thing I mentioned up there ^^

Possible to be phobic of anything - I wonder why some phobias are more common that others. The most interesting phobia I know of is Trypophobia.

I won't post pictures, but do check it out and see if you feel weird.
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That did make my skin crawl! But I don't feel too bothered by it..
 
Is it just American mustard? Or French and English mustard too?

You should experiment. I bet he eats mustard without knowing it (e.g. cheese burger from McDogcrap).
 
"Do you have any .... ......?"
 

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Shrink said:
I'm sure that you meant no harm, but phobias are not too hilarious to the phobic person.

Again, no offense to you...:D
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If I personally knew the guy I probably wouldn't have made that comment. Not my intent to illegitimize the phobia.

However, the connection we both have to this individual is he is a friend of an anonymous person posting on an internet forum. It's no different than finding humor at peoples misfortunes on failblog or laughing at the conversations on DamnYouAutoCorrect. Wouldn't be laughing if it was me, or someone I knew, but because there's no connection there, makes it easier to find humor in it.
 
DoFoT9 said:
Smartarse ;)

I actually have a hard time watching most horror films - my brain has a massive imagination and I freak out.
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Glad you took that in the spirit it was intended. :D

But in all seriousness, I think there might be some legitimacy to that idea. If you think you are more sensitive to horror movie stuff than the norm, then that particular idea -- and it is a cliché -- of seeing something over your shoulder in the mirror is probably an idea that stuck in your head. That one concept may have affected you deeply at some point when you were younger, and stayed with you.
 
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