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Sufferers Stories Steve: Brontophobia ( Fear of thunder)
I have been a sufferer of Brontophobia or the phobia of Thunder
for over 30 years. I was 2 years old when I saw my gran put her
fingers in her ears due to a storm, I copied her but at that age
I didn't know why. My mother was in the room at the time but
didn't think anything of it, I partly blame her for it as she
should have picked me up took my fingers out of my ears and
taken me out of the room.
I was badly bullied through school... very close to the point of
suicide more than once, all because of this phobia. I used to
watch the weather on TV a lot, keep my eye on what was happening
outside every few minutes or so. I still do that but not quite
as bad as I was in my teens/early twenties. I joined a weather
forecasting site on here 3 years ago, they have all sorts of
radars showing rain and the likeliest places for storms, they
also have a forum page where people discuss everything to do
with weather. I find the site very helpful to know what the
weather is doing and going to do for my area... so I don't go
checking the weather elsewhere.
The past few years I have started seeing the man in me take over
from the little boy, everyone has that little kid in them, that
kid in me is the one who has the phobia but its him I turn to
each time there is a threat of a storm instead of standing my
ground and telling myself to ignore it and think like the man
that I am. Yesterday the sky to the west of me went very dark
and I saw on the rain radar that it was a storm, I didn't clam
up like normal but I stayed on my pc instead of sitting on the
bed with my headphones on waiting for the first flash of
lightning (which never came). I told myself that if it happens
it happens, nothing I can do about it.
I find the worst part of my phobia is the waiting for it to
happen, once I know one is on the way I get agitated, a tight
feeling in my chest, feel sick etc and I have to lie on the bed
TV on and headphones on and listen to music. As long as I don't
hear any thunder I am ok, and once the storm is underway then I
relax quite a lot and do a crossword or read a book. If the
storm is bad then I will go to the window and watch (I love to
watch Lightning... strange eh?).
I have had various treatments from hypnosis to psychiatrists but
no one can seem to help me, I have been told that Brontophobia
is one of the more difficult ones to conquer.
It has stopped me from doing things in my life, I wanted to join
the Army or RAF when I left school, it seems I have to plan my
whole life around this phobia. People keep telling me Thunder
cannot hurt you which I know already, I even had my mother try
and pull my fingers out during a storm more than once, forcing a
kid who was obviously scared witless is not the best way to deal
with it.
I hate the summer months like now, my phobia becomes a
day-to-day thing, knowing that several days of hot weather
99% the time results in a storm. I have tried a CD
of thunderstorms to try and desensitise my ears to the
sound, an I have also tried listening to the odd rumble.
2 years ago I was on my way back from work (a group of us
worked in the same factory 30 miles away so all used the
same car) stopped off at a pub for 1 drink, I was just about
to take a sip of my beer when there was a bright flash of
lightning followed by instant thunder... so less than 50ft
away, I dropped my glass and put my fingers in my ears... no
one took any notice. As I didn't want my workmates to see
this I took them out and I actually listened to 2 more very
close cracks, I was shaking violently but I was determined
to listen even if it was just to show that nothing was wrong
with me.
I rushed back to the car and got my headphones out and I
began to relax. Those headphones and CD player go just about
everywhere with me, and a real life saver.
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