Sponsored post - Do you have an unusual fear?

Most people are scared of something, and most fears are pretty common. But according to a new poll by Benenden, 61% of the population admit to having some sort of uncommon phobia, with only 2% of them feeling unaffected by their fear.

People taking part in the survey admitted to all sorts of strange fears. Some of them are fairly logical, for example I can relate to a fear of scaffolding as I'm often nervous when walking underneath, and I think many people are wary around some types of insect or moths. But it must be difficult to live with a fear of one of your body parts, like wrists, ankles or collar bones! It's also quite a sad sign of modern times that 8% admitted to being afraid of losing their phone coverage, although I've become so reliant on my phone that I do worry about finding myself without a phone in an emergency situation, or when needing to be contacted by someone looking after the children.

89% of those polled have never sought treatment for their fear, although there are various treatments available. Perhaps because they don't think they will be taken seriously, or don't feel that it has a great impact upon their everyday life.

I don't really have any serious phobias, but I must admit that as quite an anxious person there are probably many things that I'm scared of that seem pretty silly to others! For example, I'm terrified of putting petrol in the car, and so I always leave it to my husband. (I'm one of the 57% of people taking part in the survey that avoids situations where they could be faced with their fear!)

We have a digital display in the car that tells us roughly how many miles worth are left in the tank, and as it was running low last week I arranged that I'd put some more petrol in. But I'm embarrassed to say that when I got to the petrol station I panicked, stalled the car, and ended up driving quickly away! Meaning that a few days later I had another very stressful drive to the petrol station watching the miles remaining counter ticking down faster and faster, before reaching the petrol station with just 4 miles left on the display.

Of course I managed to put the petrol in just fine, and now I'm more confident to do it next time, so perhaps the answer is to simply face these strange fears head on!

Do you have an unusual fear?

This is a sponsored post in associated with Benenden. The unusual fears poll ran for two weeks, and 771 people took part.