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Rare Phobias

Cathedraphobia – Fear of Chairs

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Cathedraphobia, A Rare but Real Phobia

Are you afraid of sitting in a rocking chair? Do you get nervous at the sight of an office chair?

Do you prefer standing for hours rather than sitting comfortably in a chair?

Does the sight of a chair make your heart race and your body tremble?

Does your issue come from the fear of falling from a chair or something similar? Why do you have this rare phobia? Let’s try to uncover the underlying issues.

This may seem like an illogical fear, but if your answers to the above questions were yes, then you might have cathedraphobia, the fear of chairs. Cathedraphobia is very limiting because you are bound to find chairs wherever you go.

Explaining why you avoid going out with friends and family must be difficult for you. But don’t worry, there are many different kinds of phobias, and people are increasingly aware of mental health issues.

Also, fortunately, there is hope for people with chair phobia, and it is treatable. With dedication and consistency, you can learn to overcome your phobia by using self-help techniques. Additionally, there are professionals ready to help you on your route to a phobia-free life.

 

What Is Cathedraphobia

Cathedra is a Latin word meaning chair or seat, and phobia is a Greek word meaning fear. Cathedraphobia is a chair or seat fear.

Because of  today’s stressful and competitive lifestyle, many people have mental health issues, and newer cases of phobias are being recognized.

Cathederaphobia is one such phobia. It is less common, but people with the phobia suffer from chair aversion or chair anxiety.

Chair anxiety is a specific phobia and is considered a branch of epiplaphobia, the fear of furniture.

One may be averse to all types of chairs or only particular ones. For example, some may avoid office chairs because they worry they’ll be impaled by the spindle or post. Others may fear rocking chairs, afraid that it will flip over.

Some may even be afraid of antique chairs—something once used by dead people. Those with the phobia often restrict themselves to chairless homes altogether.

Whatever the case, the person suffering from the phobia avoids the object of their fear, leaving the room if they spot a chair. This drastically affects their personal life, education, and professional life. The person may find it difficult to sit in a class facing the teacher’s chair or even in the office. They may discontinue their education and take jobs where they do not have to worry about spotting a chair.

Causes of Cathedraphobia

The exact cause of any phobia cannot be determined. However, it’s often a combination of factors that results in a person developing chair-related panic.

It could be a traumatic childhood experience when a child tipped over and fell, or perhaps an abusive parent used to throw chairs during a fight. It could also be that, as a child, the person experienced chairs crashing around the room during a storm.

The phobia could also stem from something imprinted in memory, where one has associated chairs with the bad omen of a fierce storm.

People with a familial history of mental health issues or who have a mental health condition can also develop phobia. For such people, triggers such as seeing someone else exhibit fear of the chair can lead to the development of phobia.

Being in an abusive family or having a stressful life can also put a person at risk of developing a phobia.

 

Symptoms of Cathedraphobia

Cathedraphobia is a specific phobia that shares symptoms with other specific phobias and anxiety disorders. In this phobia, the most prevalent symptom is avoidance behavior. The person avoids places where they can spot a chair, which ultimately results in them restricting themselves to the four walls of their homes.

Other symptoms may include:

Physical Symptoms

  • Sweating
  • Palpitations
  • Increased heartbeat
  • Trembling
  • Nausea
  • Headache or dizziness
  • Sweaty palms
  • Shortness of breath
  • Gastric distress
  • Tightness of chest

Mental/Emotional Symptoms

  • Anxiety
  • Panic attack
  • Strong desire to flee
  • Irrational thoughts swirling in the mind
  • Irritability
  • Anger
  • Feeling of hopelessness
  • Sadness
  • Guilt
  • Shame

 

Treatment of Cathedraphobia

There is no defined treatment for many specific phobias, however, treatment is mostly generalized and works for all specific phobias. Treatment options include therapies that help the patient clear their mind, develop more accurate beliefs, and achieve tranquility.

It is thought that mental health issues often result from inner turmoil. Treatment based on this approach has good results. Additionally, you can use this approach as a self-care technique.

The most common treatment approaches for cathedraphobia are:

Self-Help

Self-help starts with recognizing the issue and accepting it. Many patients resort to avoidance behaviors and do not accept the fact that something is amiss and needs to be fixed. This is partly due to the taboo surrounding mental health, and partly due to personal choices.

If you feel you don’t want to share your phobia with anyone, that’s fine. However, you can try these self-help techniques, which will help calm your mind and help you cope with your anxiety.

  • Yoga
  • Meditation
  • Exercise
  • Breathing techniques
  • Relaxation techniques

You must practice these techniques regularly and with the right mindset. Additionally, if you find yourself in the middle of a panic attack, you can try to divert your attention by trying to:

  • Count numbers
  • Spot objects
  • Practice deep breathing

You can also start journaling, as it is found to be useful for patients with mental health as well as other medical issues.

Professional Help

In most cases, self-help is sufficient. However, if you find your symptoms to be persistent or increasing, you can reach out to a health professional.

A psychiatrist or therapist is an expert in the field with the necessary knowledge and experience to recommend the best treatment plan for you.

For specific phobias like cathedrophobia, most doctors use therapies such as:

  • Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
  • Systematic desensitization
  • Exposure therapy

In rare cases when the symptoms are severe, your doctor may prescribe medication. These are often beta-blockers or antidepressants. They are only meant to reduce the symptoms temporarily and do not have any role in overcoming the phobia.

 

Coping with Cathederophobia

Living with cathederophobia is no laughing matter. Even the thought of going out and spotting a chair terrifies people with the phobia. They may avoid the outdoors at all costs, even if it means sabotaging their relationships.

However, there is hope. A positive approach, active work, and seeking treatment will help you recover quickly.

 

Conclusion

Cathederophobia is a phobia of chairs. A trigger such as a chair—something that is found everywhere—is hard to avoid. However, taking initiative and keeping your mind open to treating it will help you overcome your phobia.

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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