exposure therapy and subnautica

tyler111762tyler111762 Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada Join Date: 2015-05-17 Member: 204558Members
hey everyone, i thought i would come here to talk about this seeing as how this game is very relevant to the subject.

submechanophobia. the fear of submerged man made objects.

when the aurora exploration update rolled around, i could not convince myself to go near it. i am terrified of underwater objects like jagged or broken metal, propeller blades on cargo class ships, and underwater chains. this is a phobia that is not well documented. (apparently) so between here and reddit i was hoping to see if there is anyone who feels similarly or knows more about this topic.

and for those thinking this is just a "creepy feeling" and not real. i have woken up in cold sweats from nightmares about being in a dry dock with a submarine as the dock was filled with water.



the following images are nightmare fuel for me and people like me, you have been warned.







w3BljN4.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B_x4rsCVAAIQEaT.jpg
icebreaker-scuba_13688_600x450.jpg


UUUUUUGGGGGHHHH thats hard to look at.


so you would assume this game would be a horrible buy for me, right? NO! why?

because masochism is fun :)


and to get to my point. i wanted to thank UWE's face for making a game that is helping me make great leaps and bounds with this fear. being in a world like sub nautica where your fears are forced on you like this is strangely helpful.



Comments

  • 04Leonhardt04Leonhardt I came here to laugh at you Join Date: 2015-08-01 Member: 206618Members
    that's cool.

    I got the Thalassophobia pretty hard.

    I stay very close to the seafloor

    And way the hell away from the Aurora or the Dunes.
  • RaffleBaffleRaffleBaffle New York Join Date: 2015-08-19 Member: 207279Members
    lol, not sure what to think of this but hey whatever floats your boat...or sinks it or whatever
  • sayerulzsayerulz oregon Join Date: 2015-04-15 Member: 203493Members
    I do kind of get this. I also get VERY freaked out when I am just in an empty open space. Especially when I suddenly hear a reefback. Yeesh
  • HughHugh Cameraman San Francisco, CA Join Date: 2010-04-18 Member: 71444NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Onos, WC 2013 - Shadow, Subnautica Developer, Pistachionauts
    Damn those prop's gave me the chills!
  • NaaliNaali U.S. Join Date: 2015-08-23 Member: 207397Members
    I've felt uneasy my first time on an ocean about what's deep below, but that passed (once I got my sea legs). Those dark green "spooky" ocean pictures are a little unnerving, but also I find them somewhat interesting (but then again I like pictures of dilapidated things like Chernobyl).

    I've got Spheksophobia bad. I don't know if it's "real" phobia but my fear of wasps definitely is. As a forester I couldn't really have that, so I tried just hanging out with wasps a lot, but it never helped. I still jump and run every time I see one (which is weird, because I have no trouble acting big to scare away a bear). I can suppress my immediate run screaming reaction when I'm working, but it usually results in me sweating up a storm (if I wasn't already)
  • SkyninSkynin Russia Join Date: 2015-08-08 Member: 206915Members
    I have Shrekophobia. I'm afraid that Shrek will come to me at night. The one that is love, the one that is life.
  • PajamaJamsPajamaJams Boulder, CO Join Date: 2015-08-14 Member: 207121Members
    I met someone on the steam forum page for this game that said "His girlfriend bought him this game to conquer his fear of the ocean", and now he's living with no fear of oceans.
  • DC_DarklingDC_Darkling Join Date: 2003-07-10 Member: 18068Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver
    I have seen many posts already of this game helping with phobia's.
    As I have no phobia so far I know, I never imaged it would help.. but it apparently does.

    Good to see it helps for yet one more. :)
  • Duff_McDugginDuff_McDuggin Join Date: 2015-07-02 Member: 205964Members
    This game seems to attract folks with ocean based phobias.

    WIKI:
    Thalassophobia can include fear of being in large bodies of water, fear of the vast emptiness of the sea, and fear of distance from land.[3] Thalassophobes may also be afraid of encountering sea creatures rather than the sea itself.

    Me to a T. It gets easier but I still cant play stranded deep. Cant do sharks.
  • aeroripperaeroripper Join Date: 2005-02-25 Member: 42471NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, Constellation
    The only way to get over a phobia is to immerse yourself in it ;D
  • 04Leonhardt04Leonhardt I came here to laugh at you Join Date: 2015-08-01 Member: 206618Members
    edited August 2015
    PajamaJams wrote: »
    I met someone on the steam forum page for this game that said "His girlfriend bought him this game to conquer his fear of the ocean", and now he's living with no fear of oceans.

    Yeah that would be me.
    Hi.

  • StetilleStetille Join Date: 2012-07-13 Member: 154099Members, Reinforced - Silver
    Glad to see you're using the flooding technique to get over your fears and phobias! It really helps to completely dive in and embrace it. :wink:
  • The_SharkThe_Shark USA Join Date: 2015-08-24 Member: 207433Members
    I don't really have a diagnosed "phobia" of the ocean, but it creeps me out, to put it mildly. Looking down and knowing there is nothing but the cold, crushing embrace of water for who knows how far, maybe a few yards, maybe miles. Knowing that the shadows below can hide anything from a few plankton to a shark to who-the-hell-knows-what (we've only explored an estimated 1% of our oceans). Every person has their own thoughts on the worst death imaginable. Some people it's burning, others it's having their throat cut. Me, drowning. I love the ocean, but the thought of drowning terrifies me.
  • tyler111762tyler111762 Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada Join Date: 2015-05-17 Member: 204558Members
    The_Shark wrote: »
    I don't really have a diagnosed "phobia" of the ocean, but it creeps me out, to put it mildly. Looking down and knowing there is nothing but the cold, crushing embrace of water for who knows how far, maybe a few yards, maybe miles. Knowing that the shadows below can hide anything from a few plankton to a shark to who-the-hell-knows-what (we've only explored an estimated 1% of our oceans). Every person has their own thoughts on the worst death imaginable. Some people it's burning, others it's having their throat cut. Me, drowning. I love the ocean, but the thought of drowning terrifies me.

    im not sure if this will help you. but as a lifeguard (summer job) i have heard stories of people dragging someone up onto the beach who is for all intents and purposes dead, after a few minutes of cpr the person's vitals return, and they regain consciousness (sometimes, other times they wake up in the hospital after the ambulance gets them) and from what i have heard the victims always describe it as very calm. that apparently they just kinda sink, and slowly their vision fades. no pain or panic or fear.


    now im not sure of this, since i personally have never experienced it, but that's how it's been told to me. if that helps at all :/
  • The_SharkThe_Shark USA Join Date: 2015-08-24 Member: 207433Members
    im not sure if this will help you. but as a lifeguard (summer job) i have heard stories of people dragging someone up onto the beach who is for all intents and purposes dead, after a few minutes of cpr the person's vitals return, and they regain consciousness (sometimes, other times they wake up in the hospital after the ambulance gets them) and from what i have heard the victims always describe it as very calm. that apparently they just kinda sink, and slowly their vision fades. no pain or panic or fear.

    now im not sure of this, since i personally have never experienced it, but that's how it's been told to me. if that helps at all :/

    I'm fully aware that it's a calm experience, just kinda drifting out. That fact actually deepens my dread for it. I guess my fear of drowning has a story behind it. When I was... five, I think, I went to a wave pool at a water park. I didn't realize that waves pull you in more than they push you out, so I just thought if I went too far they'd just push me back to the shore. I was wrong. I can't think of any time I've been more terrified in my life. The fact that after you've hit a certain point, you just kinda slowly pass out, sinking into oblivion... That, plus the fact that I hate water in my lungs, as any air-breathing animal should.
  • BugzapperBugzapper Australia Join Date: 2015-03-06 Member: 201744Members
    Subnautica works well for me, too.

    I'm not thalassaphobic. Far from it, in fact. Since I can't SCUBA dive any more (for various reasons), this game is the next-best thing to actually getting wet.

    Wouldn't mind an occasional dip in the briny deep IRL, though. :(
  • tarektarek lebanon Join Date: 2015-04-10 Member: 203241Members
    its normal to fear the unknown espicaelly when you know 100% that death is their waiting patiently

    sunken ships do give people the chills cause they are the future of man kind .. decay and oblivion
  • ZourinZourin White Castle Join Date: 2015-02-27 Member: 201577Members
    now all we need is alien spaceship wreckage in the deeps :) Subnautica becomes the haunting Bermuda Triangle of the universe!
  • HeadHunterHeadHunter The Pitt Join Date: 2015-08-27 Member: 207530Members
    Remember that a phobia is an irrational fear of something. Fear of a radioactive shipwreck that was crashed under mysterious circumstances, surrounded by reapers and swarming with cave crawlers... that's not an irrational fear, it's a perfectly reasonable emotional response to the situation. :)
  • The_SharkThe_Shark USA Join Date: 2015-08-24 Member: 207433Members
    HeadHunter wrote: »
    Remember that a phobia is an irrational fear of something. Fear of a radioactive shipwreck that was crashed under mysterious circumstances, surrounded by reapers and swarming with cave crawlers... that's not an irrational fear, it's a perfectly reasonable emotional response to the situation. :)

    True, true. That's why I call my fear of drowning a fear, rather than a phobia.
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