Feeling dumb and misunderstood (not censoring the word v*)

Okay, so last night in my psychology class, we were going over psychological disorders and treatments. We started talking about people with phobias and I was all excited because I love talking about mine. Well, my teacher(who is a professional psychologist) asked the class if anyone had any specific phobias. I was the only one to raise my hand(this was the first time i've ever talked in class by the way) and he called on me and asked what it was. I said I'm scared of vomit. He looked at my soo weird and said "Really?? I've never heard of that before.." I felt dumb cuz he of all people didn't really get it. Then he was asking if I ran out of the room if there is vomit but he asked it in a way that was kind of making fun of me. I said yeah. Then he asked if it was just when I vomit or if someone else. I said mostly when other people vomit. Then he got in this whole discussion of how he was in preschool and this kid vomited so the whole class started to vomit like a chain reaction. He was acting like that was the same thing and then other people were saying how they don't like vomit either.
I felt really dumb since I put myself out there and no one really understood. They just kept going on about how vomit is gross to everyone. They didn't get that it was serious. PLUS my teacher kind of acted like this kind of phobia didn't exist and isn't legit. I was hurt and embarrassed and I'm usually never embarrassed talking about my phobia. THIS IS WHY I'M SHY. People don't listen to me, i felt so ignored..

Oh well.

The guy sounds a bit of a prick, belittling one of his students like that. And as a psychologist he should certainly know better than to start turning a persons serious phobia in to some kind of joke. A psychologist who has never heard of a vomit phobia, that's also weird. Surely someone in his field of work should at least have heard of it, even if they haven't directly had any experience of working with it.
Don't feel dumb, I think you're really brave speaking up in front of your class like that and telling them about your phobia. It's him who's the idiot.

good for you for speaking up! haha i'd never be that brave lol. i'm not suprised that no one understood; they rarely do, and usually act all annoying about it. that's why i normally don't tell people.
i agree with elski; that teacher sounds like a jerk. haha tell him to put a sock in it and to stop asking personal questions like that! he shouldn't do that!

I'm actually glad he was asking questions since I love expressing myself and teaching people about the phobia and how serious it is. It sucks since he's my favorite teacher and since that was the only time I've ever talked with him, and he made me feel dumb... I'm probably exaggerating about how he said the things he did, but still. It's not just not liking puke or that puking causes a chain reaction(I'm always scared of that happening...) I just wish the class understood more. It doesn't help that I didn't really elaborate haha..
But it did make me feel better because the funny guy in the class admitted that he has a phobia of zoo's right after my discussion. The whole class focused on him and it turned out to be a relief. I'm kind of glad he took the spot light. :)

Uggg! This is probably why this guy is a teacher and not a practicing psychologist :) I just studied the same thing in my psychology class too! I take my classes online, though, so no chance of being made fun of, really. It's weird, but when people say they have a phobia of bugs, clowns or even something like sponges or zoos, nobody thinks twice about it, but vomit? Nobody can fathom that one? My boyfriend, who knows about my phobia, still does insensitive stuff, like telling me at a restaurant while we were eating a heavy Italian meal about the guy in college who was dared to eat as many eggs as he could in one minute and v* all over the table...AND he was graphically using his hands to show me how powerful it was. I was almost crying telling him to stop, but he kept on going, laughing...jerk! I truly feel misunderstood, too, so you're not alone!

My boyfriend does that stuff too. But talking about it doesn't bother me. But if I saw it, that's a different story.. haha Boys will be boys.

yeah, talking about it doesn't usually bother me either, but we were in a restaurant, and he is a very good story teller..lol...boys are dumb ;)

That would bother me too. haha

I'm sorry he acted like that, but I really think it is great you were able to speak up and explain.