I forgot to clarify what I meant regarding Fascism in my comment. People tend to throw the word around, accusing people they don’t like of being somehow Fascist and wishing violence on people who disagree with their views and opinions (which ironically is a form of Fascism in itself).

I could not agree with you more. Xenophobia seems to be a broad phobia that includes several things, but if you look it up, it has been isolated to immigrants in almost every media outlet (I say almost because I hope there is someone who has a more accurate and unbiased take on it, but I have yet to find that).

What I understand of the definition of Xenophobia is that it is the fear of change or the fear of the unknown. I do not fear change. But I have a horrible fear of the unknown. To give an example, I cannot walk into an unfamiliar dark room without feeling nearly suffocating fear because I am afraid of what horrors I might find in that room. I am not afraid of the dark, however, because I can stand in a pitch black room and feel no fear at all (as long as I know beforehand what is in that room). Is this Xenophobia?

I am not afraid of immigrants or foreigners (unless the fear of being taken advantage of in a foreign country counts). I am not afraid of life changes (unless they involve the loss of a loved one). So do I have Xenophobia or not? Unfortunately, when I look it up, every article I have read on it is littered with white-people-hate-immigrants. Xenophobia and Fascism are the two most out-of-context words I have ever heard as of late. In fact, I don’t think half the people who use them know what they actually mean. It’s sad to me that people can socially transition the definition of a simple word and use it as a slur to stir up hate.

I agree with John. He is right. If you love them, you won’t hurt them.

College is scary, but you will get through it, I promise.

You are not going to die. Try breathing exercises.

I myself have a few race-related phobias combined with phobias of being seen as a bad person, being banned, isolation, false accusations, accidentally saying something offensive, and being discriminated against due to my race, which is not a good combination to have. I also have a fear of losing control and impulsively typing a slur while being in an altered mental state where I can’t explain that it was an accident (which has happened to me *twice*, making me wonder if I have OSDD or something). The reason I say that is I don’t like not being able to look up a phobia. Searching for xenophobia or negrophobia/pocphobia/fear of black people or something and only seeing results that say, “this so-called phobia is a bad thing that only evil hateful white nazis experience” does NOT help with the phobias I have. There are a few results for race-related OCD, but I don’t have OCD, so I can’t find a lot of resources for what I experience, and I can’t look them up without having every article tell me I’m an evil white supremacist or something. “Oh, you say you’re afraid of black people? Here’s a bunch of articles from black women, just like the ones who traumatized you, saying that you are faking it and are actually just a horrible person!” (I don’t hate black people, but I do really hate journalists, and this is part of the reason why.)

The same thing goes for queerphobias such as homophobia and transphobia. Many people have genuine phobias, and we shouldn’t hate them for having them. I remember seeing some people online saying homomisia and transmisia, using the misia suffix instead of phobia, and I like that a lot better. I just wish it was more commonly said and that there was more room for people with controversial phobias.

Hi, I’m glad I stumbled onto your page. I have the worst irrational fears that have all but consumed my entire life. It’s hard to explain to other people what it feels like.

Religion is not always the answer, using religion as a way to face a fear can work but its blind faith, personally I don’t do blind faith. If I fear something unknown, I make it known, I don’t pray for it to go away, that doesn’t always happen. I find the unknown and make it known, that’s how I deal with my fear, though some fears aren’t like that. Fear of death.. you cant find death, you come to peace with the fact that nothing last forever including yourself. Fear of spiders, something I have, well you learn to live with them, think of the benefits of having them around: less bugs. But in my experience the only way to beat your fear of the unknown is to make it known, that’s why at least in my case religion is not always the answer, blind faith isn’t a concrete way of getting rid of your fear.

I ™m a 53 year old man with the fear of when everything ends. I feel your pain brother. Stay strong and take care of yourself.