Harpaxophobia is the abnormal and irrational fear of being robbed. This phobia can be caused by being robbed or knowing someone that was.
Robberies can be traumatic experiences and any traumatic experience can put you at a high risk of developing a phobia. The number one cause of this phobia is a traumatic experience that involves robbery, but what causes Harpaxophobia in those who have never been victims of robbery?
The news is filled every day with stories about robberies. It makes people more aware that it could happen to them and this can trigger the phobia in certain people.
Do you suffer from Harpaxophobia? Please share your story. How does it affect you? What happened to trigger the phobia?
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22 comments:
I'm 17, and my house was robbed. Me and my mom were leaving, we saw the kids pass by us, I still remeber the way he stared at me and hung one arm out the window, punk. I got an emergency call while in horn ark at the highschool warming up for a night or stand tunes and the mid quarter show. My mom was crying telling me " they broke in and stole my jewlery " I started to run and callopsed out of anger, I was crying and wanted them to pay. Pay good. They caught them, time to time I see them, I see there face and they stare me down. Every night I jump out of bed because I hear " someone breaking in ". Turn out to be no one. I fear if I let my gaurd down, that's when it'll happen. I can't sleep, I'm constantly in fear, this is not a joke. I don't belive I'll rid of this phobia until we re locate and secure the new house with thousands of dollars I'm security. Something that'll rid of my fear, but also will never happen due to the money and insanity of securing a house with a $20,000 security system.
One night when I was a teenager, I was getting out of the shower in our upstairs bathroom. I heard an unidentifiable noise outside the open window (it was warm). I went over and looked out into our large, pitch black yard, listening. Suddenly I heard what sounded like a chain being dragged around one of the poles of the swing set, but it was so dark I couldn't see a thing. The dogs didn't bark, but my mother and I spent a long time looking outside with the flood light on, trying to see or hear if we could figure out what it was. We never saw or heard anything else and it was really weird that the dogs didn't bark. We left the outside lights on that night but I had a hard time sleeping. That event launched a year of extreme paranoia for me. If I didn't fall asleep while everyone else was still awake, I would not be able to fall asleep. Almost every night I would wake up in terror that someone was breaking into the house. I would stand stock still in the dark, staring out the window, straining my ears, my heart pounding, absolutely convinced that someone was prowling around in the yard, looking for a way to sneak into the house. Every unexpected noise would nearly send me into a panic. I would stay that way until dawn when I would finally be able to fall back asleep. Depending on when I would wake up it could be three or four hours of my vigil per night. A lot of the times, I would wake up out of a nightmare of someone getting into the house and that severely exacerbated my state of mind. After about a year it finally wore off. I think I just spent a lot of time talking myself out of being afraid, forcing myself to stay in bed with my eyes closed, to think of other things. So maybe it wasn't actually the phobia but it was as close as I want to get.
This is what's happening to me now. Well I hope it's something that is just a present concern, although it's being going on for about almost a year. Ever since my car was broken into when it was parked right in front of the house. The stealing of my car radio didn't really bother me as much as the fact that they broke right into my car right in front of the house while the whole family was awake. The fear of not knowing who it was is threating too. I feel vulnerable and violated. And that's what is causing me to completely reverse my time clock. I had to quit this internship because I couldn't get enough sleep. Like the person who commented above, I wouldn't feel safe enough to close my eyes until 5:00 or 6:00 am when I knew a family member was awake. I have constant paranoiac moments and like above, insisting there is someone in my yard. If I oversleep I feela panic and the first thing I do is check the locks. This has recently become worse because the other day I let my guard down and fell asleep before anyone woke up and someone went into our yard and stole my mother's lawn mower. I feel so upset, vulnerable and humiliated in a way. I understand the blogger who posted above. I don't think this is going to change until I move out of this hood and or get a security system. Which won't happen either because we do not have the money for it.I'm going to try and do what anon march 31 did and force it but we'll see.
I'm only 15 but when I was little my friend's house got broken into whilst they were on holiday. This lead to me believing my house was going to be burgled or broken into, However, i shook the constant fear around when i was 13. A year later the shed we have was broken into and this brought back my fear. I lay awake at night listening and hearing creeks and banging believing someone is in the house robbing us. I'm hoping this fear will go away soon as it did a couple of years ago but at this time it still remains.
Every time I hear a noise I freak out. Both of my parents houses have alarms but I hate it when tey don't set them. Every time I hear a creek or wind I get really scared. I have a hard time sleeping, lots of time ill just stay awake and listen. I have never had anything happen to trigger the way I feel but I really hope that I can overcome this phobia.
I'm 11 and I have these kinds of Phobias like everytime I go to bed I "hear" a door open and I always look for the nearest lamp or like weapon to protect myself with. So when I go in a room I look for things to try and attack them with if there is one. I've never been robbed before but I fear it deeply like I fear being stabbed deeply. I have many other fears but this is my main one. It may seem like I'm a pussy but like you know, I don't give a shit what people think.
I too, am like the other people who have posted this. It is something that I'm losing sleep over. I often turn on my tv and watch whatever is on tv just to block our the noise I hear. My parents do tell me it's all in my head (currently I'm 16), but I feel as if I need to talk to someone about this.
It is a really disturbing thing to deal with. I've never had an expirence of being robbed, but I do see it happen on the news. Although it has happened to my brother and that may be a trigger, as he had something of my parents that was stolen. It may also be that the house a few doors up had been robbed a few times. It all really does scare me. I do need help with this.
I am 25, just moved out on my own & Im not scared of being robbed! I don't care if they take my stuff I'm scared of being hurt by the person! I have guns, my door is locked with a chair under it, my windows shut & locked but I can't get this fear out of my head! Every noise I hear I freak out, I sometimes cry myself to sleep in fear, I work a very demanding job that requires my full attention. Other peoples lives are in my hands & I can't get enough sleep to preform my job well because of this fear! People have reccommend medications to help me sleep but I'm scared to take them incase someone does break in, I don't want to be passed out & killed in my sleep!
What can I do?
I am currently going through the same thing. As I lie in bed at night, I hear all kinds of noises. It scares me. I have to constantly check on my kids to make sure that they are not the ones making the noises. I am currently armed with 4 different guns that I know how to effectively shoot and a softball bat that I know how to use well. I moved out of my parent's house when I was 20 and had this fear ever since then. My husband works the over night shift so he's not here to check the noises out. I am constantly looking out the back bedroom window to make sure my neighbor's motion light isn't on. I think I need to talk to my doctor about this. As for anything leading me to have this fear, my parent'a house was broken into while I was still living there, by the neighbors, and shortly after I moved into my own place, someone tried to get in my back door while I was in my kitchen. My fear has gotten so bad that we actually went out and got a dog. But of course, she doesn't bark at anything. No noises, New people, or anything.
im 14 ive never been robbed but when i was 5 i remeber my mom had us lay down on the car seats cuz we lived in maryland and there was a sniper ever since then ive been scared of guns and break ins i cant be the last one to fall asleep or ill stay up all night frecking out the the doors opening and someones gunna come up here and shoot me especailly since my room is the first door when you walk up the stairs
Hi im 17 and got robbed 5 years ago. not in my house but my holiday home. Ever since then i have been paranoid that it is going to happen again. i cant sleep and i cant be alone. I have moved houses and for a while started to finally feel safe. I could fall asleep but slowly my fear got in the way again. i now cant sleep etc.
One thing i would love to say to the burglers is that its not what u took - u ould of had all of that anyway. Its what you have done to me emotionally and how i cant move on from that.
I have never been robbed or know someone who has but i can't sleep even with my husband next to me. We live in a nice neighbor hood were there is little crime and my parents live in the country. It dost matter where im at i always think i hear things. I have my house locked with at least three locks on each door. My gates are pad locked my windows are screwed shut and have two big boy dogs in my house. I also have about 23 guns and i still don't feel safe. Every time i hear a noise i grab the gun on my night stand and go check every door. I do this at least eight times a night. I never get a full nights sleep without waking up. Oh yeah i also take all kitchen knives into the bedroom with me at night so intruders don't have a chance to grab them. All the guns are beside my bed and all fully loaded. Is there anything i can do to relieve this. I went to the doctor and he put me on sleep med but i refuse to take anything that would hinder me from being able to protect myself.
well i developed this phobia about two months ago i left the house at 8 with my brand new Beats By Dr.dre headphones, and walking deeper into the ghetto like city i must cross to leave home or come home. so two guys on a motorcycle ask to see my headphones, i refuse and walk away thinking nothing of the incident. a minute later he charges after me on the motorcycle and snatches them off my neck while yelling GIVE THEM TO ME, breaking them into two pieces, he never got them and i was lucky for them to have just targeted my headphones and not my wallet or cellphone, so after wards i hid in a coffee shop until my friends came and picked me up to go home. Ever since this incident i have been afraid of the sound of motorcycles coming towards me from behind and the front, and being alone on a street especially if its dark, and afraid of interaction of any kind with me. the only exception to all of these is if im with a friend at those moments. if anyone could help me? cause i really don't know what to do and im always in predicaments as mentioned because i come home late from college most of the time.
Im 17 and i fear being robbed although i never have been, you may think thats silly but its terifying. I may not seem to have it as bad as others but it definatley feels bad. Since i was about 6 ive had nightmares every single night up till about being 10 or 11, they would usually always be about being burgled and they were the ones i feared most, if someone mentioned anything to do with being robbed, i would definatley dream about it,most of my fear would act in the night and for four years it caused me to wake up terified, i would make it so that i was hardly breathing because somehow i thought if someone one was there they would leave me & my things alone if they thought i was dead and it would take me about 20 minuits to pluck up the courage to turn all the lights on and jump in my mums bed, this was every night for those four years, it was terible, it slightly calmed down for a while after i saw a homeopath but it started acting up again last year but they have become more violent and cause me to want to sell all my things so there is nothing to be taken. Unfortunately i dont think it will end. I didnt know this untill after my mum passed away when i was 12 but she was skizophrenic and so that caused her to be paranoid about everything and she was scared me and my sister would be taken from her and so i think i may have taken those fears on. I know i dont have skizophrenia but i used to spend pretty much every second with her and so i think i subconsiously picked up the fears it caused her to have. I doubt anyone would have a experience like this but please comment if you know of anything at all to help because it dose ruin my life, im forever paranoid and scared.
A few years ago, two days after Christmas when I was 17, I fell asleep on the sofa while watching telly and was awoken by a smashing sound. At first I couldn't work out what it was but because it was coming from the kitchen and I assumed that someone was actually in the house at the time, smashing plates and stuff. I ran into my lodgers bedroom, which was downstairs, next to the kitchen and was surprised it hadn't woke him up, even me shaking him for and saying "Steve, wake up! Someone is in the house!", took forever to do, but I finally managed to wake him and he went straight into the kitchen and was confronted by someone smashing the back door through with a brick and their leg halfway through the door. All he did was say, "Oi! What the f**k do you think you are doing?!", and they legged it, I tried to have a brave moment and thought I'd run out the front door to try and catch them as they came from the back garden, but I was pushed straight over and just burst into tears, then my mum came downstairs and was wondering what the hell was going on, I still can't believe the smashing never woke these two up! Fast forward 8 years and I cannot remember the last time I had a good nights sleep! I am constantly waking up every few hours, just to flush the toilet and go round the house turning lights on and off, incase someone is out there and so they can see that there is someone in the house who is awake. Countless times I have woken up my mum over the years, saying someone is in the back garden, I have made her go out there with a torch to check places just to put my mind at ease, or if I am home alone, I will just stand there if I actually hear a noise and not move a muscle, my heart beats faster and my palms start to go all sweaty, yet I'm just stood in the same spot for ages, craning to hear that same noise again. It's not just when I am at home that I worry though, if I am staying at a friends house or away at a gig or festival for the night, I can't think of anything else apart from going home to a ransacked house, personal belongings gone, the house in a mess, open to anyone coming in. I constantly check windows and doors to make sure they are locked before I go out. As the years have gone on, my phobia has got worse. I used to go out every weekend with my friends, now I only ever go out for work, (I'm a music journalist, so gigs and festivals is all I do with time these days). I stayed at my sisters house at the weekend as I was babysitting for her, and she noticed that something was up when I was constantly worried about someone being in her back garden, so that is when I decided to Google it, to see if I was just being stupid or not, but judging by other peoples stories, I can tell I'm not alone.
I'm 15 and my house was robbed about 2 months ago. My family and I went away for christmas and when we got back, we found the house had been robbed. My whole house was trashed and many valuables were missing, including my laptop. I spent the rest of the holidays depressed and spend all my days worrying about who had my laptop, what the had done with it and all the personal information that was stored on it. I couldn't even clean my own room, my mum had to do it for me because I was so distressed. I had some really important mock exams just after the holidays and was planning to revise all that week, but I couldn't, and this really affected my grades.
Now two months on (even though its still a short time afterwards), I'm still terrified. Every time I hear a noise I immediately believe someones trying to break in. With two working parents I'm often home alone and I literally sit there with my phone ready to call the police, believing someone is always about to break in. I don't know what to do about this fear and I have to get over it as I have exams this year which are really important, and I can't study unless someone is at home, which is very rare. All I can think about is 'what is the best way to escape my room if someone breaks in'. My parents have noticed my fear and have bought a better alarm for the house and even considered moving house, but it still hasn't helped. I can't do the things I used to love such as being home alone, blasting the music really loud and going downstairs. I constantly fear that someone shall be waiting in the garden to come in a attack. Some nights when I'm less tired and can't get to sleep I just think about someone ready to break in and I hear noises which freak me out. One night I got so worked up about it that I had to text my mum and she had to sleep in my room. And I'm 15! It's kind of embarrassing but it's all that I can do to avoid being up all night.
I also act differently when out in public. I've become extremely suspicious of people when out shopping with my friends, walking through the street, etc. I always think, 'could that be the person that robbed my house?'. It's horrible. The worst part is my family and friends think I'm being stupid. They don't understand how I feel and always question me whey I feel the way I do. I know its highly unlikely that someone is hiding in the garden and waiting to break in, but I can't stop thinking about it.
I hope I can get over this fear, for my exams and for me. I thought I was the only one with this much fear but now that I've come on here and seen others stories, I'm relived to know Im not the only one.
I'm 13 and have had a fear of being robbed since I was about 7. Just after my dad and my brothers left I started to hear noises in the house at night I couldnt sleep and slept most nights in my mums bed. My mum would put the alarm on in the house but I would still be terrified at night, my mum became strict with me and forced me to sleep in my own bed (which is closest to the stairs). I couldn't sleep and always had a gut feeling that someone was in my house. I would make myself sick with crying before I would go to sleep to the point were I got shingles, which isn't the best thing for a 12 year old to have. My fear is taking over my life I haven't slept for years, so my school work is lacking and my friends call me a baby. I can't go on sleep overs because I worry about my mum being on her own in the house
I'm 13, and I am afraid of being robbed. My teacher told the class about how one time her friend named "Martha" kept the window open one night, and a man crawled through the window. She woke up and he was over her bed. He escaped. That triggered me to be terrified of getting robbed. Now I'm really scared. But I tell myself "God will take care of me!" and He will. Just pray.
This is getting out of hand! Talk to your mum about possibly getting counseling! You are depressed and you NEED to get help! Robberies can leave scars that last a long time!
But talk to a teacher guidance counselor or a parent about this and serious it is. You need help! Don't suffer alone.
Every single night I stay up until like 1 am until I get tired. I keep the lights on the whole time so if anyone comes they will see that someone is at home and awake. Then I sleep for like an hour, wake up again and keep the lights on until about 4:30 or 5 am until I know its safe and the rest of the neighborhood starts to wake up. I have never been robbed, but I have heard so many stories and facts about robbery (like every 14.5 seconds a robbery takes place in the U.S.) that when I wake up in the middle of the night I continue to think about that and can't sleep. The only time I can sleep is when I have guests sleeping over so then I know if they sleep in the living room that they can fight the robber.
my name is carrie and we were robbed a few years ago. my sister and came home and found the house a mess. i kept telling myself this is not real that its a dream. oh it was very real. it was traumatising. i felt like we were raped as they go through your stuff. it was hard to get over but we managed. now staying with my fiance not even a block from our old house that was robbed. we recently had our windows redone and took the burglar bars off for them to get the new windows in and get a new paint job. i did have warning bells because it was so open. i recently would go and download stuff everyday at a nearby supermarket. and my batt for my laptop died and i was thinking i wish i had a charger for the car. i am so grateful i didnt because as i was turning into our street. i saw a strange car infront of our house and thought why is it there and wot are they doing. i came closer and the guy says hi mam how are you. i pull into the yard and he screams for his accomplice. they leave and im thinking omg this is not happening to me. i called my fiance and ppl that heard came to check that i was ok and got police. to my astonishment i had just caught them and all they took was a computer monitor and laptop fan. i was grateful but felt so guilty. the worse was i found out they hurt the two dogs. not bad. but they are traumatised too. my little sausage dog pissed and shat herself in fear. any little thing spooks her. i tried to leave the house for just 30min and i ended up in tears and worrying if everything is ok. if i cant leave the house for 30min. how am i ever going to be able to do groceries. it has affected me more this time because they hurt my pets. wot am i going to do. you can email me too help me with advice and if anyone has advice for me about my pets. please share. email me on carrieannsharp0@gmail.com.
When I was a little girl, maybe about 9 or 19, my uncle's house was robbed. Although it may not seem like such a big deal, it was to me since my dad was living there and I was staying the night. In the middle of the night, I heard glass breaking downstairs. I thought it was just my uncle dropping something, but I was still scared enough to go to my dad's room and sleep there. It wasn't until morning that we found out that someone broke in and took whatever they could find. I didn't realize how bad it was until I started having nightmares about it. I dreamt about what the robber looked like or what would have happened if they would've heard me moving upstairs. As I got older, the dreams changed. They got violent and even changed to being at my mom's house and my apartment. I still have these nightmares and I get so paranoid that I check to see if all of my doors or windows are locked twice before going to bed. I remember one night after waking up from one of these nightmares and thinking that I heard glass breaking outside my bedroom door. I called my boyfriend who lived in an apartment a few doors down, telling him what happened. When he burst into my apartment, he found no trace of a break in and me locked in my bedroom having a panic attack.
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