Weird phobia - Need advice
 

Ok, so before I begin, I must point out that this is not a joke, and that I am seeking helpful advice not jokes or sarcasm. I'm not sure what started this, and I seem very much like the last person to develop something like this due to my great love of hardware and skills with it, but just the last couple of days, though I know there is no reason to be afraid at all, (3.3, 5, 12 volts, no danger to me) I feel great fear when looking at a mainboard! I can work on them, touch them, move them, look at them, but oftentimes when I do look at them or think about them (not all the times), I feel a horrible fear. This is driving me nuts and messing up my life. Very VERY disconcerting. Any thoughts? A counselor or psych is not an option at this point. Hoping the community has something helpful to say. I'm at a loss. :^(

errrm.
a mainboard can do nothing to you.
todays technologies are very advanced and there is no place for fear anymore.
a motherboard can only do bad to you if you touch the cables that come from the PS while running. really. they can not hurt you.

please, think that underlying the keyboard is kind of the same conecpt as of a motherboard. but you are not scared of they keyboard, now are you??

Can you simply avoid the stressful situation, e.g. by having other people work with the mainboard? Or is that not an option either?

The goal is to try and overcome this phobia, not avoid dealing with it. I have a machine that's frame is a wood slab that I use. A micro-ATX I have no fitting case for (too cheap to buy one either) The board is taped by the corners to an antistatic bag, which is taped to the slab. It's got a 250W power supply and a 500Mhz chip, but it's a decent backup server. Built it myself through blood, sweat, tears, and vomit. I love working with hardware. More than I do software. I know there is nothing for me to be afraid of, but for some reason I am afraid nonetheless.

Protip: Facing your fears generally does nothing to alleviate phobias. You need to uncover why you have the phobia, and go from there.

Can you pinpoint what kind of fear it is? Is it a fear like you're gonna hurt yourself? A fear of making a mistake? I'm no psychologist, but it seems to me that if you can figure out what kind of fear it is you're experiencing, that'd be a first step toward alleviating it.

Forgive me if this sounds dumb/silly, but do you feel afraid when looking at other computer hardware, or just motherboards? I'm seriously asking you; it's not meant to be sarcastic/silly/whatever.

Usually psychological therapy for phobias involves facing your fear in a controlled environment and realizing that there is nothing to fear. I'm not sure how that would work here, because this already seems to be the case. I think it will go away if you just keep interacting with mobos and realize that there is nothing to fear.

What kind of fear? Do you have this irrational idea that it can somehow hurt you, or is it because it seems intimidatingly complex, or maybe that you might get an electric shock from it, or what?

Are you afraid of motherboard, are you afraid of getting shocked, or are are you afraid of accidentally damaging the board?

Why not? Especially if you say that it is "messing up your life".

Brain doesn't work the same way as computer (and this is mostly tech forum), so I think that the best idea would be to consult specialist - such problems are easier to understand face to face (your facial expression, body language would tell a lot), and honestly, it is hard to imagine what the heck could trigger fear like this. On other hand, fears like Anatidaephobia exist, so...

If you really don't want to see specialist, at least try some psychology/psychiatry-related community.

In traditional psychology the method used for phobia's is systematic desensitization.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systematic_desensitization

Same here.

Your problem, in my opnion, is a stress reaction.

I've never felt 'fear' for hardware as such, but sickened/drained/general apprehension, yeah, been there, done that. I wouldnt be suprised if you have had a similar feeling, just are describing it differently. Or by defining what you felt as fear, you have reinforced it.

The logic behind that is logic- why feel fear when you know there is nothing to fear? So you stress out over the 'fear', making the stress reaction stronger, then you are in a feeback loop.

I could be totally wrong, I'm not a pysch. Though I could ask one about my theory, I'll try that tomorrow.

2 bits of advice-
1- try to cover up the the naked hardware. Even a box will get it out of sight.

2- break a some parts, preferably a motherboard. I'd try to find something dead, or at least very sick, and then just go nuts on it. Do whatever you feel you want to do, use your hands, screwdrivers, hammers, even drive over it with a steamroller. Show that hardware who is boos, and drop some stress while you are at it.