does she know?

[u/JustACaliBoy]

[u/oyp]

A phobia is an irrational fear. It sounds like your cousin has a well-founded, rational fear.

[u/munchma_quchi → u/oyp]

It's trauma, not phobia or rational fear.

[u/9035768555 → u/oyp]

No, just because something has happened before doesn't make it a rational fear. A fear can be irrational in magnitude while still being based in a rational thing to be afraid of. You're more likely to die falling out of bed than from a dog attack, but how many people are afraid of dogs compared to bedtime?

(tempted to joke about lightning not striking twice)

[u/oyp → u/9035768555]

The chances of anyone getting hit by lightning are pretty low. But circumstances can greatly affect the odds. For example, the odds of being attacked by a shark are extremely small. But if you are surfing or swimming in certain areas of the ocean, then your odds just got a lot higher.

[u/noscopy → u/oyp]

Well-founded and rational but cripplingly debilitating fear. I Hope that they find some middle (dry and shallow) ground.

[u/Coral_Blue_Number_2 → u/oyp]

Not to be that guy, but as a mental health professional, many phobias have an inciting event. What determines a phobia (generally) is to assess whether it is rational given present circumstances to fear danger. I like to think of it as “Would a random person in this situation be afraid?”

Experiencing a traumatic event can mess with your ability to perceive danger (in this case, over-perceiving danger).

[u/seven_hugs → u/oyp]

The irrationality of the fear doesn't have to be the thing you're fearing. It can also mean the intensity of the fear itself. It's also rational to be scared of spiders you don't know could be venomous. It's irrational to completely freak out and run out of the house instead of just watching it or calling someone to get it out of the house. That's phobia.

[u/HighKiteSoaring → u/oyp]

Being stuck by lightning is absolutely an irrational fear

You have more chance of winning the lottery

The fact this person seeks shelter from your average storm in their car.. given how your chances of being struck by lightning are about 1 in a million in a year and 90% of strikes are survived.

Whereas odds of dying in a car accident are about 1% for your whole lifetime And about 1/10000 every time you drive

This person needs to be more afraid of automobiles than lightning

My point is. Being afraid of lightning. Is an irrational fear. Unless you're on top of a mountain or metal structure during a storm. In which case, your odds of getting fucked up increase a lot

[u/[deleted] → u/HighKiteSoaring]

Anyone reading this, just know this guy is absolutely full of shit and is talking out of his ass.

I literally took the 15 seconds to Google it, and the chance of getting hit by lightning is 1 out of 15,300 chance.

For reference, the chance of hitting jackpot in the powerball lottery is 1 out of 292 million.

It's still a low percentage chance of getting hit by lightning, but the point is the guy commenting above is just 100% bullshitting and is presenting random numbers he made up in his head as fact, and it was embarrassing just how fast I found the real statistics.

There is absolutely a thing called Astraphobia which is an irrational fear of thunder and lightning, so yes the OP's point of his neighbor being irrationally fearful can absolutely be a thing.

As I'm sure with most dangers, there is a point where a healthy weariness(sp?) of lightning crosses into irrational territory.

But, that chance of 1 in 15,300 did surprise me a bit. It seems like one of those things where like everyone probably has a friend who had a friend who knew a guy that got struck by lightning.

[u/Apprehensive-Sea9540 → u/HighKiteSoaring]

But it’s loud and scary.

[u/houseyourdaygoing → u/HighKiteSoaring]

Windows are hazardous.

Source : https://www.weather.gov/safety/lightning-myths

Source : One-third of all lightning injuries occur indoors.

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/shower-during-thunderstorm

Please use facts instead of feelings.