is there a word for what my 13-year-old's phobia??

[Maci65]

my 13-year-old daughter has had the same couple of phobias her whole life. i know most kids have weird fears but come on, shes THIRTEEN and still has the strangest phobias around. examples:
1. she cannot stand anything that dangles or swings from a ceiling. this includes the pull-strings on a ceiling fan or even a punching bag that is hung on a ceiling. even at malls, where they have huge banners that dangle from the high roof, she freaks out.

2. when large bodies of water are WAVY.  whenever a motor boat crosses a lake creating multiple waves, she can't stand it. the weird thing is that whenever we visit an ocean, which has the biggest waves ever, she doesn't mind it. even in our pool she needs the water to be as still as glass!

im wondering if there is a word for my daughter's phobias and if anyone has had similar situations. and why might my teenager have such fears and at such an age?

[margypops]

Doubt if there is a word for it other than 'Normal', nor a label ,I have had similar foibles.all my life , Perhaps Focus on her positive side and not worry your self about it.

[deeeens]

i don't know much about it, but you might want to look into sensory integration disorders. it sounds like the fears your child has are related to motion - which in sensory language is called vestibular activities. usually it's when a child herself is moving, but maybe it could also be connected to her observing it from the outside.

good luck!

[RockRose]

I think the phobia of things hanging from the ceiling isn't all that rare.  I know of two children (older children) who had that.  One had a real fear of ceiling fans, and one on a trip to NASA space center sleepover in Houston couldn't sleep in the room with the rocketship suspended from the ceiling.  It was a VERY cool thing - and he wasn't sleeping anywhere near under it,  so it wasn't like it was a fear of it falling and crushing him.  It was the mere fact that it was suspended in that room.  

Google "phobias things suspended from the ceiling" and you'll get lots of hits.  I don't know about the waves.