I guess recently I'm being kinda paranoid about the economy, terrorrism, the gas prices, and the world food problem but who isn't? It's on the news like every day it might be all hype too.

Are paranoia and irrational fears considered to be the same thing? If so, then I have plenty of those! Probably my stupidest is my fear of going down an escalator, especially if I have luggage, bags etc. I have psyched myself out so many times and had to go find a set of stairs.

I'm scared of mentally ill people...
Just never know when they'll snap!

dropping caps- like water bottle caps, or lids, especially if it is metal or a hard plastic that would make a noise on a hard surface.

...cool i know... not.

I have a fear of my car breaking down on the side of the road in a worst case scenario manner. Flat tire...engine over-heating.... Cell phone dead...out in the middle of nowhere....at night....All at the same time.

Or my car just blowing up.

My paranoia is that every stranger I see on the sidewalk late at night is going to be a rapist. I go through scenes in my head of what I could do if he was before we even pass by each other.

I'm probably a little over the top with my paranoid thoughts. One that really freaks me out is showering in the house by myself. I can't hear what's happening outside of the bathroom. It would be the ideal time for someone to break in.

Most of my irrational fears stem from personal experiences. Pretty much one in particular. Late last year, we had an attempted break in at our house and I was home with our six month old daughter. My paranoias are easing, but it's definitely affected me big time.

And SyndeyC, going down the escalator freaks me out too.

Oh and just wait until you have kids! SIDS freaked me out for the longest time. I still worry about it occasionally.

I'm paranoid about several things, basically my safety, like when I go for late night jogs.

Miriah, I know exactly what you mean. I feel the same way.

I get paranoid that the brakes on my car won't work, even when I know they're in tip-top shape and I've nothing rationally to worry about. I'll just sit at a stoplight sweating, afraid that I'll roll forward into traffic.

I'm weird, I know.

I get paranoid about my future...finding a job, falling in love, making sure I accomplish everything I want to, etc

Ahh....lesley Me too!
Am I going to really marry the right man and will we ever move to Cali?

OMG citizenkane, sometimes I have this paralyzing fear that my car is going to blow up, like literally explode while I'm driving down the highway.

I'm also paranoid about driving too close to semi trucks. I think maybe they'll tip over onto me, or my car will be forced under it and I'll lose my head, or something will fly off the back of one and come crashing through my windshield... The list goes on and on.

Good to know I'm not the only one with irrational fears

I'm paranoid about terrorism. It's worse because I live in NYC (for now) and I want to get out of here asap. I get scared especially when I ride the trains. I'm also scared of standing too close to the edge while I'm waiting for the trains because I think someone might accidentally push me into the tracks. Also, I'm really paranoid about flying because I always think that my plane is going to crash.

Sometimes I feel anxiety for no aparent reason. It's like I sense something bad is about to happen, and there's nothing I could do about it. I think I'm this way because my parents were like that, and I picked up that habit from them.

I think it's a bad habit -- being afraid of imagined, unknown fears. It's a form of insanity because I momentarily disconnect with reality.

Nowadays, I'm much better at handling it. I talk myself out of it.

I'm one of those people who if I walk by a group of people and they start laughing, I think they're laughing at me. It's gotten better now that I got rid of a bad ex boyfriend and my self esteem has risen quite a bit. I'm a lot less paranoid

Oh, I, too, think semi trucks are going to tip over on my car! I get so paranoid when I drive next to them!!

I'm always paranoid that the car behind me is following me. And I'm scared of the semi-trucks tipping too!! Especially when I'm in a lane between two of them...it scares me to death!

about my kids. every time one of them is on a field trip i'm a wreck until i see them again. i won't let them fly w/o me and my dh has to have his cell on at all times if he has them away from me so that i can call (about once an hour) to talk to them and make sure everything is okay.

i have always been like this, even before the things that have happened to make a person expect that i would be kind of paranoid. then my dad and my dh lost my younget at the auto show in san diego when she was 5. she was gone over an hour and they had to call the police. i called on the phone and couldn't reach my dh so i was trying to have him paged when he called to tell me. i was frantic. they found her about 5 minutes later. it was awhile after that until i let them out of my sight again.

lord help them (and me) when it's time to date.

I get paranoid when near alot of people. My father is an ex-cop so I was always taught to be aware of my surroundings & the people near me. So I tend to notice people that seem "off" and any odd movements. I tend to get paranoid about the idea that someone near me (on a bus, in a store, etc..) could be a rapist or very mentally ill; that is my usually worry.

Also I'm also freaked out when I'm on a highway, I'm always afraid that a truck is either going to crash into or flip on to my car. I also hate being in an elevator with a stranger(s); I'm scared that the elevator will stop and the person I'm trapt with is insane.

I have this weird thing about the alarm. Every night without fail, as soon as I've set the alarm and lain down to go to sleep, I'll become completely convinced that I didn't set the alarm right and that it won't go off in the morning. So I'll roll over and check to make sure that it's on and set to the right time. Then, a few minutes later, I'll feel the compulsion to have to check it again. I usually end up checking it at least 5 times a night before falling asleep, and then if something wakes me in the middle of the night, the whole cycle starts again

I am always really scared that I forget about a test and go to school completely unprepared. I have nightmares about that at least twice a month
And I'm really really scared of the dark, whether I'm alone or with someone else, I always imagine people lurking behind houses, trees, bushes, e.t.c. who'll jump out and kill/torture/rape me. When I'm at home alone I always lock my bedrooms door and stay in there because I start hearing noises and think someone is in our house. It's really horrible...

Greentea, I get that too! I always have this fear that people laughing at me or whispering about me.

I'm pretty much home alone most of the time, so once in a while (like tonight) I get paranoid about someone breaking in and I get jumpy over every little sound and shadow.
Or I let my imagination get the best of me and I get paranoid over something silly like ghosts.
Or I get paranoid after I see one spider in the house, I'll constantly be scanning the walls and ceiling afterwards.

i have social anxiety, i get nervous when im in walmart or any other place where people can be idle and looking around....im completely convinced they are looking at me.

Whenever I walk by someone, I'm convinced that they're going to look at me and think I'm fat, which I know is stupid because everyone tells me I'm thin. It doesn't matter what weight I am either, every couple of months or so I get obsessive about dieting and lose 15 pounds (I'm 5'1" so this is a lot on me) and still freak out.

I'm home alone most of the time, too, and I swear I hear footsteps in my attic! My friend was even over the other day and swear she heard someone walking upstairs! I never go in my attic as it's really creepy. There's even an old child's rocking chair up there! I really am paranoid that my house is haunted (It is over 100 years old...) or there's somebody hiding up there.

I have bipolar, so my anxiety list is pretty through the roof, but the main one is actually driving. I can only drive to one place that I've driven to hundreds of times before (my best friends house) and everywhere else I go by bus or get others to take me, because I just can't get over the fear I'll have an accident and hurt someone else or that it'll all be my fault if I did have an accident, I also worry that I'll run over someone, or leave my handbrake off. Its all in my head though, I'm a perfectly competent driver.

I have bipolar, so my anxiety list is pretty through the roof, but the main one is actually driving. I can only drive to one place that I've driven to hundreds of times before (my best friends house) and everywhere else I go by bus or get others to take me, because I just can't get over the fear I'll have an accident and hurt someone else or that it'll all be my fault if I did have an accident, I also worry that I'll run over someone, or leave my handbrake off. Its all in my head though, I'm a perfectly competent driver.

I'm with Greentea on this, I am always thinking that people are talking about me or laughing at me, whether it be about what I am wearing or my hair or if I look fat or whatnot. My self esteem is not all that high so I am always self conscious around other people. But it makes going anywhere harder.

I find myself paranoid at times.
Usually about stupid things.
I'm paranoid that someone is going to break into my house, so if my BF is not home, I leave a few lights on to make it look like someone is awake. I have to check the front and back doors MYSELF before I can rest. I also have to check and make sure the oven and stove are off (this comes from my dad who used to do it every night)

I am an architect who loved structural engineering & I am riduculously parnanoid of bridges. I know how they are designed & I HATE THEM.

The list goes on. I hate driving, I'm paranoid that someone is going to run into me. I don't like to run the dryer when I'm not home, cause I think it will start a fire. There are other things, I'm sure I will think of them.

I get paranoid with people walking behind me. I am always alert about who is around me at all times.

When driving, I'm paranoid about getting pulled over and arrested (even though I'm never doing anything wrong). I hate driving.

This probably sounds dumb... Every time I use my slow cooker, I'm afraid of burning my house down. (I'm using it today so it's fresh in my mind!) And to top that off, I have pets so if I start thinking about them being trapped in a burning house I get super freaked out. AAACK!

Sittingonawall, I thought I was the only one. I'm deathly affraid of the dark. Everyone thinks its so funny, except ME. My younger daughter thinks I'm nuts(thankfully she's not like me). We used to live in an apartment where you had to actually go inside and walk across the dark room to turn on the light. She was 4 and she would leave me at the door opening and turn the light on when we came home at night. I just couldn't bring myself to go inside and turn it on. My entire family makes fun of me.

Oh, man--I can be afraid of the dark as well! If I'm by myself at night or something, and can't sleep, every little noise will terrify me.

For some reason when I'm in that state, mirrors make me really nervous as well. I think because I watched Candyman when I was little--maybe I acquired some small phobia from that

Just like ella1978 I'm paranoid about thinking people are going to break into my house at night. I swear I look out the window like a gazillion times at night, especially since I have insomnia and I'm always up late. And like someone else said...I hate showering at night, I live in a big house and most of the time I'm home alone or the other person is asleep at the other end of the house and my bathroom light doesn't work so if I shower at night I always think someone is going to be hiding behind the curtain with a knife lol.
I'm paranoid about death, I always dream up the weirdest scenarios...I think this is part of my dealing with my mother's death.
I'm paranoid about sickness, as in I always think I might end up with cancer because my aunt and both grandparents died of cancer.
I'm paranoid thinking everyone is out to kill me or rape me too, miriah. And when I'm in very crowded places I tend to check if I have my cellphone and other valuables about 30 times.
I'm also paranoid about people thinking I'm stupid.

I'm paranoid about my future, having enough money to have a great future, dying to early, having my loved ones die. Pretty much the things I'm sure most people are scared of.

My weirdest fear is being videotaped without me knowing it or being spied on.