Re: Thunderstorm phobia
Originally Posted by
saloongirl
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.
Not sure if I will be much of a help. But I am a big believer in statistics. Because more times than not understanding odds can reduce anxiety concerns. Medical/health and what you are concerned about. First as a small child you may not have realized that you did get a fear of T storms. A parent could have been overly scared etc .....
You can get rid of the thunder fear right now, TODAY. It's JUST sound waves. Nothing more then that. Can't hurt you and never will. Just a sound wave cutting through the atmosphere.
Ok Lightning. Lightning is a danger and can hurt a human. No doubt, but try and learn how it works. It needs conduction from a ground source. Or it can be cloud to cloud which hurts no one. In an enclosed building it rarely strike through into a building extremely rare. Maybe the roof area, maybe the electrical box but rare. In all my years in the FD, I went to about 3 fires that were Lighting related. Staying in the center of a room are house is fine. During a real active storm, staying away from windows is a good idea. But again the odds are VERY small. You just have to somehow believe. Read all about it online, the more knowledge you have the better. You literally will have a better chance of winning millions of dollars.
Hope this helps. Mike
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