Why are some people embarrassed by their fears?

[SoVerySorry]

I was never embarrassed haha. I'm sorry if this came off as rude to the people here who are afraid of telling about the fear, but I really am curious.

[Hannah A.]

Because they're scared someone will judge them and insult them because they think emetophobia is silly. And no one likes to be judged. I think that's why.

[KaydeeJayde]

Because sometimes people see fears as a sign of weakness, and weakness is always a bad thing, according to society. No one wants to admit a weakness.

[Felle]

Because sometimes people see fears as a sign of weakness, and weakness is always a bad thing, according to society. No one wants to admit a weakness.

This. Also, I don't tell people cos people here are so rude, and start making v noices and stuff. While I'm somewhat ok with that, it's still slightly annoying.

[psalm139]

For me I am afraid that people will think I am crazy or weird. People just don't seem to understand why I freak out so bad over it. My husband STILL even after 16 years of marriage still doesn't seem to understand. He has come to at least try to accept it. I use to really put my family through alot with Emet but over the years I have learned to control it better. Not many people in my life know I struggle with it.

[wanted]

I agree with psalm 139, if I admit I have this phobia, people would think I'm weird and crazy and that something is wrong with me, especially in my town (it's really small) and people are rude here. And I don't know, we are not so used here to phobias and something like that so it would be emarrassed.

[butterfly91]

Everytime I tell someone about my phobia I get scared they will judge me and think I'm weird or they will laugh about it. I will admit I am embarrassed that I have this phobia. My best friend knows I have it and she's really supportive but everytime someone around us mentions sick. She has a go at them and says 'don't say that Infront of her, she doesn't like it!' And i know she means well but it is slightly embarrassing, and I'm not too fussed when people mention the word. I don't want people to feel like they can't talk about it just because I'm around.

[Goingmonkeys]

I'm not embarrassed at all. Friends, previous dates, ex-boyfriends, etc all know about my phobia. I never hesitate to tell anybody who's planning on being in my life that, "Hey, I have Emetophobia, fear of v* that I've had since I was a little girl. Haven't v* in 10 years!" No one has ever judged me, and if they ever did, they would be excluded from my life because that ignorance reflects just the kinda person they are. Only question I've gotten is, "How have you not v* in 10 years?!" It's more awe than anything, lol.

[crd08]

I was always ashamed of it. I felt it was such a stupid thing to be afraid of, so I felt stupid and didn't want to be seen as stupid. Kids/teenagers are mean.
I don't go around advertising it now, but a lot of people in my life know that I "dont like it". Nobody will ever really grasp to what extent though.

[mrsjacks]

Back when my anxiety started getting really bad, around the age of 25, I remember being written up at work for "excessive tardiness". I explained to my boss that I had panic attacks many mornings in traffic and would have to pull over and regain my composure. They accused me of being untruthful, because I didn't have an official diagnosis. They said I was just trying to get out of being written up. After I quit that job I had friends who still worked there. I heard through the gossip grapevine that the upper management had a blast talking smack about me and my "fake illness". That really hurt. Once I was accused of "faking anxiety to sit on my lazy butt and collect disability". Um, I've never even applied for it, and even if I was on disability, I'm far from lazy. During those times, I was very much ashamed of my anxiety.

I think the hardest part for me was that I was a very independent, self-sufficient woman. Suddenly I *needed* people. I hated it. It felt like a massive weakness. And sometimes my dad makes fun of me. I don't think he does it to be mean, he's just a jokester. Always picking on people thinking it's funny. Tonight I was cleaning a spot off the stove top of something that spilled. I muttered under my breath, "gosh, what is this?!" and he said, "probably something that will give you fp*!" I said, "that wasn't funny" and he said, "sure it was." *sigh*

[AoD]

Because it is an irrational and illogical fear, and me being a very no-nonsense extremely logical person, I don't like to admit to this flaw in my cold reasoning. Also, it is a weakness, any phobia is a weakness and I've had very bad experiences with people exploiting weaknesses. So I learned never to reveal what truly gets to me, so that no one can exploit it. Because some people are mean and will pretend to be friends just so they can better humiliate and hurt you.

[Cynna]

Well some emets fear that people will secretly try to get them to puke to "cure" their fear or someone will deliberately puke in front of a person to be a dbag.

I tell people who see my odd behavior as a way of explaining it. I have told my friends too. I was so excited when I call my dad and told him my phobia has a name and there are others like me.

You got to admit it is an odd phobia. Many have never heard of it or met someone who had it.