why am i afraid of clowns?
401960
Different theories of psychology would answer your question differently.  Freud's psychoanalytic theory would say that you had an experience when you were an infant with a clown and it stuck in your unconscious.  The more common theory would go with the behaviorist theory (watson, skinner) who would say that you were either classically or operantly conditioned to fear clowns.  If you were classically conditioned to fear clowns you saw one, and associated it with fear instead of happiness and that is how it became encoded in your brain.  If you were operantly conditioned to fear them, you were reinforced repeatedly when you saw them.  I.E. you saw one, cried, and were given attention for being scared, this process would lead you to fear clowns.  More likely it is classically conditioned. \nA fourth option is the social learning theory.  If your parents or friends are afraid of clowns it is very possible that you picked it up from them subconsciously.  This happens a lot with spiders and snakes too. \nIf you think your fear of clowns is taking a toll on your life, a behavioral therapist would be best to help with the problem and they will walk you through a process called systematic desensitization. or you can just avoid clowns :-)
372131
To stop you identifying them as they usually have several different roles in the circus.   It also gives them unique facial expressions.\n\nMost of the famous clowns in history had their own distinctive facial make-up which other clowns did not use until the original had died.  Joe (Joseph) Grimaldi was one of the most famous - search the web.
674450
this may sound crazy but I'm afraid of the tank in the toilet i don't know theirs something about it that gives me the willys
565889
No, it is not normal, Sorry, I don't mean to disrespect you.\n\nIf you are scared of what may happen to you, you will be scared of what happen to others, not necessarily by you, but also, under the hands of others.\nNow, you may say I am not scared of this, that or the other thing, yet, you may not worry or take a second look at your own neighbor, and say things happens.  \n\nYou don't have to live in fear, and you shouldn't, but those who would see your un-fearable side, may take advantage of you, and show you how to be scared!!!  It is not stupid, it is only human nature, to worry about what we don't know, or understand.\n\nPeace
380166
Honey, to answer this q we need to know what you are so scared of.
383271
What scares you about it? It isn't normal but you're not weird either!\nThere are phobias for everything else so why not!? There's probably a scientific name for this one too!
977785
"Ew, chia clowns can (c)e really, really scary! U wouldn't want to approach them."
741172
There is nothing weird about being afraid of anything in particular, and no matter what you might be afraid of, its unlikely that you are the only person.\n\nI've just googoed 'phobia belly button' and found out that your fear is named omphalophobia, and that it is apparently 'very rare' - biut not so rare that it dfoesant have a name!\n\nI'm sure you can find out more if you google omphalophobia......\n\nhttp://encycl.opentopia.com/term/Omphalophobia
288364
Yes.  I have an irrational fear of snakes.  They terrify me.  I was in high school and in my science class, they had people from the zoo bring in animals.  They brought these snakes that are called worm snakes because they are no bigger than an earthworm.  Well, when they brought them out of their cage, I started to get a little uneasy.  My teacher noticed this and thought he would be helping me by seeing that there was nothing to be afraid of.  He went to put it in my hand and as soon as I touched it, I freaked out and ran out of the classroom.  I wound up having a panic attack because of it.  I highly doubt that I will ever get over fearing snakes.  There is just something about them that scares the living daylights out of me.
765470
i have a big fear of SPIDERS....
750551
In my work, I do meet people with all sorts of phobias - and they can be extremely phobic. Buttons was a recent one - they were OK if they were on clothing but one on the floor would send them into a total panic - screaming, the lot. Also met fear of ice cubes, fear of vomiting, fear of bouquets, fear of balloons, fear of parsnips to name a few. Having said that, not sure what name each of these has! The trouble with phobias is that they don't make much sense - perhaps we all have irrational bits from time to time.
1160314
Anatidaephobia is the fear that a duck is watching you. I'm serious. This phobia is a fake one, made up by cartoonist Gary Larson (author of the comic strips The Far Side).
1163129
Its ok.  Why dont you try watching the previews at three in the morning on Comedy Central and force yourself to look at the few seconds of midgets in the comercials.  Trust me, they only show up in the background for a second at a time on the comericials, so you can handle that.  I BELIEVE in you!\n\nAfter that, buy a movie and whenever one of the midgets comes on, pause it right away.  Sit down, and write the good things about midgets.  Take that paper, listen to within you without you by the Beatles and read your list thirteen times over while you are listening to that song.  Once you finished that, you will be prepared to watch more.  Keep watching the movie until you start to feel your anxiety about midgets come back.  Whenever this happens, do the within you without you song with the reading 13 times\n\nThis is only temporary help.  Midgiphobia is a serious problem lots of people have, and they have medicine that attachs the midget cells in your brain to help you get over this problem.  Please, get help.  You deserve to do this for yourself.
804915
Since my childhood i`m afraid of fireworks :(.\n\nThey are so dangerous, i dont like them
522448
omg i hate clowns they scare the crap out of me
333594
Lots of people are afraid of clowns  the phobia is called Coulrophobia- there are a lot of sites that advertise treatments for this fear so it may be fairly common.\n Some years back there was a convention of clowns  near where I lived and there were 100s of them running around  the local mall shopping during a break in the  convention and even though I'm not afraid of clowns it was pretty freaky.
924704
I am in absolutely no danger of coming down with that phobia! (Unfortunately.)\n\nWe always check the kids halloween candies very carefully before allowing the kids to get into them. We throw out everything that doesn't have an intact wrapper. And all wrappers are checked for air leaks by squeezing. If the wrapper puffs up like a squeezed balloon when squeezed, it means it's still air tight. If it's not it goes in the garbage. You can't poison candy without first gaining access to it.