Hello - I joined yesterday as I have a health anxiety problem, but I also have a thunderstorm phobia. I don't know where it came from, I was never scared as a child, I think it developed in my teens and has got steadily worse (I'm 44). I hate summer and the thunderstorms that come with it, especially at night. I sit at the bottom of the stairs where there are no windows and put my headphones on. I don't feel like I can go on like this tho, it's beginning to take over my life. Does anyone else have this fear, or has got over it? The thing with this phobia is that no-one can tell you that lightning can't hurt you. It doesn't help when the newspapers show photos of houses which have been struck by lightning. It's not fair on people like us. I am always checking the weather forecast and won't go out if there are any dark clouds around. A few weeks ago the weather looked fine and I thought I was safe so I took the dog out to my local fields when there was a sudden flash of lightning and huge clap of thunder. I had to somehow get back across the field even tho my legs had turned to jelly. That's made me a lot worse now.