Skip to content Skip to sidebar Skip to footer
3K
3K
740
3K
Menu
Menu
static-img
Situational Phobias

Fear of Confrontation – Conflict Phobia

Share This Article
Share Post

Fear of Confrontation

When you find yourself in situations where you need to tell someone off, do you end up retreating?

When you need to speak up, do you find your mind going blank, your knees stiffening, and your palms growing sweaty? Do you often cave in and let others have their way in arguments?

The reason behind all of this may be a fear of confrontation.

Being wary or scared of conflicts is natural. But in your case, the fear is excessive, persistent, out of proportion to the risk. You feel helpless or not in control of your reactions to anxiety. You may be suffering from conflict phobia, an anxiety disorder.

Let’s get to know more about this medical condition.

What Is the Fear of Confrontation?

People who suffer from a conflict phobia have a morbid terror of either engaging in or witnessing a confrontation. Even the mere thought of a possibility of conflict causes distress.

If you have fear of confrontation phobia, your ideal world is one that is calm and serene, where everyone “gets along.” You tend to be overly cautious around other people. You worry too much about saying or doing things that other people might disagree with. You might do whatever it takes to prevent a confrontation, even to the point of lying. At the first sign of a conflict, you panic, run, and hide.

What Causes this Fear?

The fear could arise from thoughts such as “confrontation is bad” or “disagreeing is not a good habit.”

Environmental factors could cause phobia. For instance, growing up in a troubled home or having been subjected in the past to neglect, abuse, or violence could also be a probable cause. Having been exposed to an environment where adults fight in an unhealthy manner may also contribute to the development of phobia. You might also have seen the bad effects of a fallout. Simply put, the bad experience could have led the phobia sufferer to be oversensitive to conflicts and view all forms of confrontation as hazardous.

In a few cases, an individual brought up in a family where conflict, rejection or dislike was almost nonexistent could also develop the phobia. Because a confrontation might be something unfamiliar, this individual might feel overwhelmed.

Distressing events could also cause phobia. For instance, those with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have an increased risk to develop conflict phobia.

Some people also tend to be more vulnerable than others to developing phobia, such as those who have close relatives suffering from an anxiety disorder.

Symptoms of Conflict Phobia

Similar to other cases of phobia, people with conflict phobia are convinced that a confrontation could blow out of proportion and cause great and lasting harm.

Physical Symptoms

  • Stammering
  • Insomnia
  • Diarrhea
  • Nausea
  • Accelerated breathing
  • Headache or lightheadedness

Psychological Symptoms

When the phobia is triggered, a sufferer could display several different mental and physiological symptoms. These could include:

  • Anxiety
  • Sweating
  • Panic attack
  • Hyperventilating
  • Shock
  • Social anxiety
  • Depression
  • Nervous breakdown
  • Inferiority complex
  • Passive-aggressive behaviors

Overcoming Your Fear of Confrontation

First, work toward understanding why you believe confrontation is a bad thing. Did you have a trauma from childhood that made you think this way? Are you struggling with confidence in the place you are at now? Ask yourself questions that could help shed light on your condition.

Create a list of all the things you have lost out on as a result of not being able to speak for yourself. Letting people walk all over you must have had consequences. The condition could also take a toll on your confidence and quality of life. The list you make could help you understand your condition and then compel you to seek solutions.

Enroll in a class or read fear of confrontation books that teach personal boundaries. Learning how to set personal boundaries is a key ingredient in building healthy relationships.

Take small steps. Try speaking up for yourself, one scenario at a time. You might stammer or your voice might tremble in your initial attempts, and that’s okay. What’s important is you keep trying until you gradually get used to the practice.

Remove abusive people from your circle. Abusers and narcissists thrive among people pleasers who are scared of asserting boundaries. Be kind to yourself by kicking them out of your life!

Try yoga. Yoga poses are a great way to relieve stress and bring your body and mind together.

Visualize yourself confronting someone over something. Picture yourself as a person who is not afraid of articulating and explaining your viewpoints to others. In the image that you form in your head, you are calm and confident as you present your case.

Read up on healthy methods of confrontation. Know when it is ideal to engage in it, and when to avoid it.

Exercise to stay fit. Exercise also helps reduce anxiety and stress.

Cut down on caffeine, which can worsen anxiety symptoms.

Professional Help

When symptoms become extreme and the phobia starts to interfere with your life, getting treatment can help. Treatment could involve therapies or medication, or a combination of both.

Available fear of confrontation treatment methods include:

Exposure Therapy

In this treatment method, your medical provider will gradually expose you to the object of your fear: conflict. For instance, you and your medical provider might simulate a confrontation. Later on, your therapist will encourage you to apply in real-life scenarios the things you learn during your therapy sessions.

Hypnosis

This is an alternative form of medical therapy that involves the use of guided relaxation and focused attention, so patients can tap into their subconscious thoughts. The aim is to uncover the root of the phobia, and then use suggestions to direct the patients to healthy behaviors and thought patterns.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

CBT is a popular treatment for phobic sufferers to help them address their harmful thought patterns and behavior. The aim is to replace these counterproductive thought patterns and behavior with new healthy ones. Modern CBT techniques even use virtual reality technology as a tool to expose patients to their object of fear, but in a safe and stable environment.

Tips for Coping with Conflict Phobia

It might be difficult, but somehow learn to step out of your comfort zone. Being timid could expose you to manipulation and abuse. You are your number one advocate: learn to step into your power and use it. You are a person with rights, which include speaking up whenever you see something questionable.

Overcoming your fear of conflict will not be for your benefit alone. It would also help people around you. You might have loved ones you need to defend or back up. By coping with your fear of confrontation, you’ll be able to give them appropriate support.

If you’ve decided to take a step forward to battle your phobia, remember to enlist the support of people you trust the most.

Don’t worry if your pace is slow. What’s important is your decision to continue.

As you cope with your phobia, you’ll notice an upgrade in your quality of life. Your relationships will also take a turn for the better when you learn to shun passive-aggressive tendencies and face issues head-on.

Recovery

Recovery is a long and hard journey. You can only finish it with commitment. You might struggle and falter at times, however, with commitment and the appropriate support, you will overcome conflict 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.
0LikesShare Post

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.
This Pop-up Is Included in the Theme
Best Choice for Creatives
Purchase Now