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Environmental Phobias

Theatrophobia – Fear of Theaters

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The Fear of Theaters is Rare but Real

Are you always canceling plans for a fun night out of movie watching?

Do you avoid the theater like the plague? Do you find yourself unable to cope with the onslaught of fearful thoughts that arise when somebody mentions going to the movies?

You might have theatrophobia—the irrational fear of movie theaters. Not only can it ruin your weekend, but it also isolates you from friends and loved ones you’d enjoy hanging out with.

While avoiding theaters isn’t all that difficult, you’d like to enjoy it like the rest of your friends do.

If so, treatment is within your reach, just as it is for many different kinds of phobias.

Keep reading to figure out the cause behind your phobia and learn how to overcome your fears.

What Causes the Fear of Theaters?

Have you been asking yourself, “Why do movie theaters give me anxiety?”

Theatrophobia, like all phobias, has a root cause, which is often a combination of genetics, environment, and past trauma.

Genetics

While your genes don’t decide if you will develop theatrophobia, they can put you at a higher risk of developing an irrational fear. If you have a family history of mental illness, you’re more likely to develop phobias, mental illnesses, or anxiety disorders.

A mildly traumatic event associated with a theater could be all that is necessary to trigger theatrophobia.

Environment or Learning

Theatrophobia may sometimes develop as a result of more common fears, such as claustrophobia (fear of confined spaces) or nyctophobia (fear of the dark).

You may have also learned to fear theaters if you’ve seen a close relative suffer from a similar irrational fear or watched news reports of mass shootings in theaters.

A famous example of this is the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in the 1800s.

Traumatic Experiences

Regular moviegoers may also develop theatrophobia after going through a traumatic experience at the theater.

Everything You Need to Know about Theatrophobia

Theatrophobia is a fear of theaters, but it may also overlap with the fear of going to the cinema or the fear of watching movies. It may cause the person to also develop a fear of large projectors, TVs, or theater-like spaces.

For someone with a fear of theaters, just the thought of being in a large, dark room with dozens of people is enough to cause hyperventilation. Add to that the limited number of exits, and it’s enough to give them a panic attack.

Most theatrophobes don’t realize they have an irrational fear of theaters, because avoiding theaters is easy.

Symptoms of Theatrophobia

You may know the answer to the question, “What is the phobia of movie theaters?”

But the more important question is: how do you identify the phobia of movie theaters?

Here are some common symptoms of theatrophobia to help with that:

Physical Symptoms

  • Perspiration
  • Increased rate of breathing
  • Irregular heart rate
  • Muscle tension
  • Shakiness or trembling
  • Nausea
  • Headaches and dizziness
  • Hot flushes or chills
  • Dry mouth
  • High blood pressure

Psychological Symptoms

  • Anxiety when thinking of theaters or when inside one
  • Feeling vulnerable or unsafe inside theaters
  • Unable to cope with fear
  • Avoid going near or inside a theater
  • Panic attacks
  • Feeling disconnected
  • Anger, irritability, and mood swings
  • Difficulty concentrating

A person may experience only one or more of these symptoms, depending on the severity of their theatrophobia.

How Do You Deal with Theatrophobia?

While there’s no specifically designed treatment plan for theatrophobia, that doesn’t mean avoidance is a good strategy.

The best way to deal with any fear is to address it. And self-help, along with professional treatment, shows the most promising results.

Self-Help

Self-help is one of the easier steps to take as part of your theatrophobia treatment. It involves strategies like:

Exercise

Aerobic exercises help your brain release feel-good chemicals like endorphins. These chemicals help you feel calm and positive and enhance your sense of well-being.

Meditation

Meditation can be of great help for patients who find it challenging to focus on things other than their fear.

Yoga

Certain yoga poses are known to help patients with anxiety and phobias calm their minds. It helps put the mind in a meditative state while also improving physical flexibility and strength.

Limiting Caffeine Intake

Consuming caffeinated beverages and food items can make one more anxious than usual. It may also worsen your theatrophobia symptoms.

If you’re finding it harder to manage your symptoms, try giving up caffeinated foods and beverages. While tea and coffee are the most common culprits, some chocolates also contain caffeine, so check all product labels.

Professional Help

Professional help typically involves, but isn’t limited to,

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

CBT is a type of psychotherapy. It is one of the most common treatments for people who have anxiety disorders and mental illnesses.

CBT involves working on negative patterns of thought around the fear and replacing them with constructive ones. It helps patients change the way they think about their anxieties and develop better coping mechanisms for situations that may cause them to panic.

Exposure Therapy

Exposure therapy involves gradually exposing a person to the subject of their fear. This type of gradual exposure helps the patient become desensitized to those triggers.

Although effective, exposure therapy is not as popular a treatment due to the amount of expertise required from the therapist. A session of exposure therapy gone wrong can turn out to be counterproductive and may risk making the symptoms worse instead of better.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

DBT is a type of talk therapy. It takes place in groups of two or more people and is most useful for people with emotional dysregulation.

DBT helps patients get a better grip on their emotions by examining how they deal with conflicting and negative feelings. It also teaches patients coping strategies to manage their emotions in the face of their fears.

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)

MBSR is a type of intensive meditation therapy. It helps patients relieve intense anxiety and stress involving their fears. It involves simple yoga postures, mindfulness meditation, and body scanning techniques.

Medication

Anti-anxiety medications are sometimes prescribed in combination with other treatments when the patient’s anxiety is obstructing their recovery.

Learning to Cope with Theatrophobia

Learning to cope with theatrophobia is another aspect of your journey to recovery, which can be a long and complex one.

While therapy will help give you a direction to keep working in, self-help will prevent anxiety from getting the best of you. However, equally important is confiding in loved ones or support groups. The people around you can help you deal with difficult days and cope when your anxiety does get the best of you.

Over time, you’ll become fully adept at coping with your fears, their triggers, and their symptoms.

To Conclude

Figuring out theatrophobia causes, looking out for symptoms, and seeking help are necessary steps to take in your journey toward freedom from your fears.

We hope what you’ve read here will help you find your way to a normal life free of anxiety and fear. One day, you’ll immerse yourself in the movie you’re watching in a theater rather than be focused on your anxiety.

FearAZ.com is looking for personal stories of any 'fear of' or phobia. If you have an interesting story you'd like to share, we welcome your submission. If the story fits with our content and guidelines, we'll add it to our site.
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Your Fear Goes Up and Down

Are you someone who would rather climb the stairs than take the elevator? You call it squeezing in a workout after being sedentary the whole morning. Or perhaps you claim it's a faster route. These are both typical, normal, and acceptable reasons. But what if you need to be in the conference room on the eleventh floor in five minutes, and you're wearing your business suit and wingtips? Would you still prefer to take the stairs? If your answer is yes, then maybe it's time to take a closer look at your reasons for avoiding elevators. Elevators stir all sorts of emotions in passengers. From the discomfort of closeness to strangers to the sensations in our gut, elevators can be a source of the heebie-jeebies for many, but for some, they can also be a source of terror. Let's dig a little deeper into the latter, and see what this terror is all about and what can be done to manage it. To begin with, does being inside an elevator give you chills or the sweats? Or does it trigger an unpleasant memory? Perhaps you remember movies you've watched where something terrible happens inside an elevator. From Silence of the Lambs, The Shining, Final Destination 2, or the king of all elevator horror films, 2010’s Devil, the elevator becomes witness to something sinister and horrible. And you want nothing to do with any of it. You know that you're not claustrophobic. You can deal with heights just fine, too. And you know that you're not going to be trapped inside. All of these contribute to a fear of elevators—but they don't apply to you. Yet being inside one does something to you. It's hard to explain.

What is the Fear of Elevators Called?

What you have is a fear of elevators, which is called elevatophobia. It is most commonly triggered by an experience of getting stuck inside either due to a power outage or technical maintenance. Hearing about other people's experiences or watching a movie about similar circumstances can prompt a fear of elevators getting stuck with you inside. Usually, claustrophobics and agoraphobics may also develop elevatophobia because the triggers and objects of these fears are related. Claustrophobia is the fear of closed and cramped spaces, while agoraphobia is the fear of being trapped without any means of escape. Put the two together, and the elevator becomes the perfect combination of both phobias. The space is limited and closed, with only one means of entry and exit. You can add another point of access if you consider climbing the cables like they do in the movies, but that certainly isn't ideal.

Symptoms of Elevatophobia

If for some reason an elevator stops due to an outage or some technical difficulty, passengers with elevatophobia may go into full panic mode. Even if the maintenance team advises that it will just be a matter of minutes, by then, the person's mind has become irrational with the fear of the elevator falling, being stuck for hours, or other unpleasant thoughts. You would expect a person to exhibit the following physical symptoms: Additionally, you would be filled with that overwhelming anxiety where you feel that you have zero control over the situation. You start fearing the unknown and are filled with negative thoughts about death and imminent doom. You become irrational and unresponsive.

Possible Complications of Elevatophobia

When the panic sets in, the possibility of emergencies related to pre-existing conditions may make themselves known. This might include serious health crises like heart attacks or asthma attacks. When this happens, fear becomes a medical emergency. Elevator rides do not last long; it's just a matter of minutes or even less. But the fact that a person can escalate from panic to a near fatal medical situation classifies the fear of elevators as a 'hard phobia.'

Trying Some Self-Help Methods

Your fear of elevators can likely interfere with your social and work life and relationships. Not everyone understands that elevatophobia, like most phobias, can be crippling. But don't be disheartened. Depending on the level of your fear and level of control, you can gradually face and manage your phobia. Here are some recommendations you can try:
  1. Make a List of Everything that Entails Riding in an Elevator This is a systematic approach to getting over your anxiety. By following a step-by-step process, you can identify where the fear kicks in at its strongest. You can write a list of steps like pressing the topmost button and waiting to arrive on that floor, watching as the door closes and opens, being alone inside the elevator, or having delays with the doors opening. Now try doing the opposite. For example, face away from the door or occupy yourself with your phone so that you are distracted.
  2. Create Your Fear Ladder Although the name says fear of elevators, it is not the whole process that scares you. There are just phases and parts of the elevator riding experience that cause you to panic. So go back to the list you initially created and label the fear level you feel. You can do it numerically, too, like ten being 'really scary,' six, 'manageable scary,' and one, 'not scary at all.' You can put the corresponding fear levels so you can focus more time and effort into activities that are more scary to you.
  3. Face Your Fear By now, you have identified what scares you the most. You can try repetitive action to minimize your fear and increase your sense of ‘normalcy’. Remember that the longer you expose yourself to your fear, the better you get at handling your emotions. If you are feeling overwhelmed, stop. Pushing yourself too fast and too soon can backfire. Modify your pace and go slower instead.
  4. Talk About Your Fear People by nature, unfortunately, are not quick to offer understanding and support. You need to tell them what's wrong before they can empathize. Talk to someone who you trust and ask for their support, especially in the initial phase of overcoming your fear. If you are too afraid to ride the elevator alone, you can ask them to go with you, and before you realize it, you are on your floor, and there was no indication of panic.
  5. Learn To Be Patient Be patient with yourself and your predicament. This is, after all, your fight against fear. It might take hundreds of elevator ride practices before the fear gets under control. Even then, there might be some hesitations and episodes of nervousness. These are acceptable and expected, so cut yourself some slack and congratulate yourself for every progress.

Seeking Professional Help

Along with self-help, you can always enlist a medical professional's aid to support you with your elevatophobia. Talking to someone who has experience with similar cases can be comforting, because you know that you are not alone, and this situation can get better. Talk to your doctor about the severity of your fears and the symptoms that you experience. Explain how you deal with it in an attempt to control it. An exam and a health history are made to ensure that there are no unrelated or underlying problems that your symptoms might mask. Usually, phobias like this are approached with a combination of psychotherapy and medication. Your doctor will talk about these options with you, and it's entirely up to you, with your doctor's recommendation, what you want to pursue. For psychotherapy, the most common type is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which aims to help you find different ways of behaving, thinking, and reacting when about to step inside an elevator or when already inside it. With medications, there are beta blockers and benzodiazepines, but note that these can have side effects. Whatever these side effects are, you should promptly share it with your doctor.

Simple Tips to Overcome Elevatophobia

Elevators are not perfect, but their likelihood to malfunction, fall, or get stuck is very low. If you are not fully confident with this information, you can help overcome your elevatophobia by learning common elevator safety tips and basic elevator operations. These should help curb your mild fear until you become more self-assured. In addition to that, here are some of the things that you can do to gradually overcome your fear of elevators—both in getting on and riding one.

Conclusion

Yes, elevatophobia can be a challenge in today's world, but don't allow the elevator to win. Don't let it stop you from taking a job on the top floor or attending a social gathering on the rooftop. Sure, you can take the stairs if you insist and arrive winded and sweaty, with the party about to wrap up. But is this the quality of life you seek? Elevators are designed to make life easier. There are guaranteed ways to help you overcome elevatophobia. Take the first step and seek help. Soon, you’ll see yourself breezing through the floors with those arduous stair climbs little more than a memory.
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