Destigmatizing Fears Through Art

Abigail Lambert, Artist and Cartoonist

Trypanophobia- fear of needles and/or blood

Am I scared of needles or just the thought that something bad will happen? Whenever I see a needle I can’t help but to cry and get shaky. I can’t even think about anything. All I can focus on is the needle. I cant use the butterfly needle because that also looks scary, yet I can’t just look away because I can still feel the pain.

Note: Thank you to the person who helped me! If you’re even reading this, you know who you are, but for newspaper reasons I’m keeping you anonymous.


Lilapsophobia- Fear of Storms and Hurricanes

They destroy everything I love and more. What if they get me? Am I prepared? What if something worse happens? They’re so big and…who knows what will happen? I’ve experienced some times where I had to sleep in the kitchen or in the basement because the news said so, and I hated it all. The power outages, the winds, the damage. All of it.


Arachnophobia- Fear of Spiders

It’s hard even when you know it’s harmless. The eyes can be infinite and the legs are abnormal. What if it crawls on me? What if it’s a black widow? Or a huge one, like the goliath bird-eater? There are too many eggs. I recently found out there’s a thing called a “wasp spider” which I can only guess flies. Wasps were mean enough, but now flying spiders?