To the devs - will there be spiders?

The OP reminds me of this

 

Not hating on you, but some phobias are harder to get rid of than others.
I'm Acrophobic. That means that I am afraid of heights, by the way.
Now, you wouldn't catch me dead on the slightest of height changes. I won't go near them. I get shaky and paranoid when I go near the roof of a building, or (for some odd reason) elevators. (Probably due to the fact that they aren't actually a floor, more a up / down movement machine, anyways...)
So basically, I cannot live my life without being afraid of heights. I cannot go near them, thus, I cannot get rid of one of my 2 phobias.
Also, about the "fears being passed down" part, not all Phobias come from genes. 2 people can have a child without any of the parents phobias. It's just chance.
As I said at the beginning, I'm not hating your post.
Apologies in advance if it sounds like I am.
EDIT: Forgot to say, It doesn't affect me in games, just real-life.

 

The reproductive materials of a gay man and a lesbian woman can be activated via IVF and result in a heterosexual child, but homosexuality still has a powerful genetic component that is probably linked to the prenatal environment that it develops in as a fetus (in fact, the parent's sexual orientation has no significant correlation to that of the child). Not much is known about how this works exactly, but scientists have narrowed it down quite a bit. It's the same for studies about phobias. We don't know exactly how it works, but there is an inherited likelihood of having a phobia that comes from the parents. Also, some studies suggest that even for someone with a susceptibility to a phobia, it has to be triggered by the environment much like most mental disorders or diseases with genetic factors (like how a person with a family history of depression or heart problems is more susceptible to them). I'm not an Evolutionary Psychologist or a Genetic Biologist, but I've read a few articles about it, so I'm fuzzy on the technical details.

It does explain why there are more people with one phobia than another.

 

Many thanks for developing this subject further, but I did state that there was a chance to get it.
Also, none of my family are Arachnophobia except me. Any ideas why, 'cause I don't.
You're very informative, you are.

 

Daddy longlegs/harvestmen aren't spiders actually. They are in the order Opiliones, whereas spiders are under Araneae - both of which fall directly under the class Arachnida. There are many, many things that separate them, but especially that they lack silk glands and do not build webs therefore, and they lack venom glands as well. They are not dangerous to humans. In fact, their chelicerae (fangs) are used for grasping and are not hollow, and are small and too weak to break skin.

TL;DR: They're not spiders. They can't bite you, they're harmless.

 

That's right, not every phobia is easy to get rid of, but then again, no phobia is actually easy to get rid of.


I suggest trying to get a Adrenaline Rush once in while to improve your perception of heights. I myself am afraid of heights, but to me it has to be high enough that it could break my legs or even kill me if I fell down. Try bicycling at extreme speeds, I'm assuming that since you are afraid of heights that it should be fine to get the adrenaline rush from other ways than jumping from rooftops as an example. The idea though is to improve your senses and understanding surrounding heights and situations around heights in general.

Like you may think there is a chance that the elevator will stop functioning, and then for some reason the wires snap and the elevator falls down. It's very unlikely to happen though, that's what you should keep in mind when overcoming this phobia. Specifically about elevators, it should help to think about how unlikely it is that the elevator will actually fall down.

I'm not a doctor or anything like that, just trying to help.

 

Ah, a detail I forgot to put in my original post, and thank-you for replying to it.
I'm a Pessimist, and always see the worst things that could go wrong in a situation. I think that solves why I don't like elevators...

 

You're welcome.

Haha, I can relate to that... I'm a pessimistic optimist. If something bad happens, which is a probability, I am mostly prepared for it. Although being prepared mentally is in many situations not enough to avoid serious accidents, like a plane crash for example. You are not given parachutes on a plane just in case the engines fail completely and there is a high possibility that the plane is going to crash instead of being able to make the landing. That's a good reason to fear travelling by plane, because you would have no control over the situation. And the pilots would most likely not tell you "Okay guys, there is a 80% chance that we will crash when we are trying to land, and once we hit the surface the plane might snap in half, but no worries, hold onto your seat belts please."

Although, a plane crash actually happening now days is very unlikely. So because I know that and I can trust in that fact, I don't fear travelling by plane. The same way I don't fear stepping into an elevator that is going to the 10th floor and higher. Every elevator can handle a lot of weight before the wires will actually snap, and that is the safety you have basically.

To be on the safe side, knowing that the planes are being maintained properly means that the chance of a plane crash is close to zero. It's kinda the same with elevators, the wires should be checked once in a while to be sure that they won't snap anytime soon.

I guess what I'm getting at here is that you have to be willing to take chances in order to overcome phobias. If you are afraid of snakes then you should try holding one in real life, and have a experienced professional close by so you know that the snake won't be able to hurt you, and knowing that it's not poisonous. There are different ways to overcome different phobias, that's what I believe. And I do believe that if you truly want to overcome your phobia then you should be willing to try everything you possibly can to overcome it.

Another thing to keep in mind is that fear comes from what is mentally unknown (not sure what to call it). Like in the dark, you can't see if there is something there, so you start thinking that there could be something there to scare you or hurt you. It's the same for elevators, the unknown mentality of the elevator being able to fall down, and you not being in control of this situation, having no power over it, no control. Also same for travelling by plane. So the connection is fear. You fear something because it can harm you, maybe even kill you, or because it is impossible for the brain to comprehend, like thinking about how big the universe is. Because the universe is so huge that we can't know if it even has an end, it might disturb the brain and cause fear, it has for me many times.

Whoops, wasn't supposed to write this much, got a little carried away there. Thanks for reading.

 

There should be a giant spider boss.