Ticklephobia

[herotickle]

I know one girl who is afraid of tickling, quite literally. Apparently she had a couple nightmares of her getting tied down and tickled mercilessly. I remember that when we were little, she didn't mind getting tickled, but now she absolutely hates and fears it. Is that normal?

 

[ChosenofMystra]

As normal as any other phobia I would say.

Compared to the people that have phobias regarding things like peanut butter (and yes I have heard of such cases) her fear of tickling seems quite normal.

 

[luvgirlsfeet]

it could be normal i cant say for sure. I know plenty of girls who hate being tickled but i cant sat that they are afraid of it.

 

[baby]

I would guess, she must have had some very bad experience including tickling, since she liked didn't mind it as a child and is now really afraid of it. Did you ask her about it?

 

[Mastertank1]

I would wager a lot

that she either had a very bad experience that included tickling or witnessed something very bad which included tickling.
In fact, I would give 9 to 1 odds on it.
That kind of change does NOT happen out of nowhere.
Depending on how old she was when the change in attitude happened, there's a VERY strong chance that it was an incest or molestation experience that she either suffered or witnessed, and she may even have suppressed concious memory of it.
Molestation/incest hurts a person for life, which is one reason I wish we would all stop posting stories or art involving anime characters who are clearly WAY underage.

 

[Bugman]

When i was a kid,the sob next door would tickle his daughter untill she would scream cry and beg him to stop,and still he kept it up.And the mother did nothing about it damn her.I ran into her years later and she had all kinds of problems with trusting people,and men in paticular.I dont doubt there might have been other kinds of abuse going on either.And this guy was the head football coach at the high school,a big shot at his church and a respected member of the community.Sorry if this is a bit off track,but i still fume every time i think about that bastard.

 

[Helena]

Ticklephobia suggests fear of being tickled.
Buggy,
You have described something you witnessed that would certainly make someone ticklephobic.
Mastertank,
You also illustrated horrible conditions that could possibly bring on this condition.
What tragedies!

 

[herotickle]

Well, those could happen...

However, she says that she just can't stand being tickled and absolutely fears it... I had asked her, and she never gives a clean response... I'm worried about her.

 

[cloudgazer2k]

i don't think you should be too worried, hero. some fears develop over time, some of them can be a bit irrational or born of something happening in the past that she's still trying to repress, but has manifested as a phobia. there are pople out there that fear sharp corners, the number 13, and the dark...all mostly harmless fears that these particular people will go out of their way to avoid. however, when the time comes, just be sure to be there and help if she ever needs it.

 

[KoocheeKoo]

Well, those could happen...

However, she says that she just can't stand being tickled and absolutely fears it... I had asked her, and she never gives a clean response... I'm worried about her.

It's obviously something which is quite upsetting to her (being tickled), and could be from a variety of reasons. I have a couple good (female) friends (as well as my younger sister) who feel the same way, and because of it I've always been very (extra) respectful of their feelings; I love them and treasure their friendship.....would never do anything to them which caused fear, distrust, and emotional distress.

I look at it this way: if a friend has a fear of spiders, would you toss a spider on her? If she fears clowns (and yes, one good friend of mine has a terrible phobia of them), would you put on a clown mask and scare her half to death? Not unless you are a complete jerk. It's the same way with a lady who fears being tickled......always respecting her personal space and understanding her feelings.

 

[elfriend]

thats not as bad as the people who are afraid I mean really afraid to have their picture taken! I knew a girl like that once if you got a camera around her she would flip out scream and run away it was weird.

 

[David.s]

It looks like it's mostly girls who hate tickling to this sort of extent - or at least they're more likely to end up having to admit it - but I had one male friend who was absolutely terrified by tickling. He started off with what seemed like a mild distaste for it, but eventually even mentioning it seemed to scare the crap out of him. Not fun for him. No idea what caused it though, and I wouldn't really like to speculate. I mean, sure, random bad stuff happening in a person's early life can influence their personality enormously - personally I have a ridiculously huge baggage of random psychological issues and can pinpoint many early experiences that either caused or greatly exacerbated them - but I don't think it's always that helpful to start looking for a very obvious cause of everything bad that goes on in the mind. We shouldn't pretend every fear is a neurosis and then try to hunt down some non-existent traumatising childhood experience that caused it anyway.

 

[shadow365]

A complete loss of control can be a rather terrifying experience. It is quite possible that someone could equate tickling with other losses of control they have experienced, rape, molestation etc....

Also, pteronophobia is apparently the fear of being tickled by feathers.

 

[crydun]

that she either had a very bad experience that included tickling or witnessed something very bad which included tickling.
In fact, I would give 9 to 1 odds on it.
That kind of change does NOT happen out of nowhere.
Depending on how old she was when the change in attitude happened, there's a VERY strong chance that it was an incest or molestation experience that she either suffered or witnessed, and she may even have suppressed concious memory of it.
Molestation/incest hurts a person for life, which is one reason I wish we would all stop posting stories or art involving anime characters who are clearly WAY underage.

I totally agree with you on this. With time and patience, victims of bad tickling experiences Can overcome then and yes, even learn to enjoy it. However, the key is to replace bad memories with good ones. This takes time and trust. Don't expect results overnight. The hurt and pain didn't happen overnight, the healing won't either.

 

[herotickle]

Well, I talked to her again... She's mainly afraid of being tied up and tickled or something like that. If it's a friendly one, she doesn't really mind... she still dislikes being tickled though.

 

[mart]

I would imagine that a tickle phobia is hardly much of a problem to the person who has it. It is more likely to be a problem to a potential tickler who has to scratch one more possible tickle victim off his Christmas card list.

 

[ScienceGirl]

I have a friend with the same problem

One of my close friend's is absolutely terrified of being tickled, because of an issue in his past. I would give an educated guess that the same thing happened to the girl you know.

PS: It cant be that odd, Pteronophobia is the fear of being tickled with feathers, which is even more specific. Ironically, Pteronophobia is in my signature too, though I dont really have it...

 

[Skullduggery]

A friend of mine once said the following about an old girlfriend of his:

"The woman has this deadly fear of being tickled to death!"

 

[artemis3120]

I actually find it a bit strange after reading all this, but I would consider myself to be dreadfully scared of being tied down and tickled for an undisclosed amount of time. I'm hypersensitive to touch, which I'm sure a few of you are as well. To be honest, I'm terrified of the idea ^-^;;

And yet, I find myself morbidly fascinated by the idea. Not only do I want to try out this little scenario, but I also want to try tickling others to that same extent. So you might say that this strange phobia of mine has actually *lead* to the tickling fetish I have nowadays.