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You Might Not Know It, But It's Extremely Likely That You Have Thalassophobia

And maybe even a little bathophobia, just for good measure.

1. Are you afraid of deep water?

Josh York

2. Afraid of the uncertainty of what might lurk in the depths?

3. Right below you...

4. All those unknown things living in the ocean...

5. Whether it's the hulking creatures just below the surface...

6. ...or those haunting man-made creations lost to the depths.

7. Do you ever wonder what's beneath you when you're swimming in the ocean, or even just a deep lake?

8. Are you afraid of all those nasty things you didn't even know existed in the deepest, darkest recesses of the sea?

9. Have you ever found yourself worrying about being endlessly far away from the mainland?

10. Have you ever had that totally helpless feeling that you could lose what little control you have at any moment?

11. Are you ever awed by the sheer enormity of the ocean, and all the life teeming below its surface?

12. Well, then have I got some news for you...

13. YOU HAVE THALASSOPHOBIA!

14. Which is a persistent fear of large bodies of water, and everything that might be lurking within.

15. Maybe you didn't even know you had this fear.

16. Well, we're here to explain why, in fact, you do. Take a seat.

17. Let's dive in.

18. We'll go slow. We don't want to overwhelm you.

19. If images like these make you feel uncomfortable...

20. ...and kind of make you all tingly in an unpleasant way...

21. ...and make you feel like you're going to have a panic attack...

22. ...or like you're losing your grip, you're thalassophobic.

23. Be honest, would you swim here?

24. The second you jump into any body of water, do you start to worry about what you're going to step on?

25. Are you a strong enough swimmer to navigate this?

26. How nervous does this situation make you?

27. Could you repair oil rigs for a living?

28. Not that you'd ever go diving, but if you did, what would you do to avoid being run down by a submarine?

29. Or something even more menacing?

30. Would you have the nerve to do something like this?

31. Or is even just looking at photos almost too much to handle?

32. If you had a hard time making it this far into the post, you definitely suffer from thalassophobia. Sorry.

This post was translated from German.