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Scopophobia – Fear of Attention

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Some Fear Any Attention—Excessively

Are you plagued by paranoia that someone may be staring at you? Do you get anxious merely thinking about being the center of attention? Have you always held back from sharing your thoughts or opinions to avoid being in the limelight?

Everyone experiences some level of uneasiness when someone watches or stares at them. After all, not everyone likes to be the center of attention.

But, if your uneasiness goes beyond the regular level and reaches a point of fear, you may be suffering from scopophobia, which is the fear of being stared at or fear of getting attention.

Scopophobia, also called scoptophobia, is a social anxiety disorder where a person is afraid of being watched or scrutinized. It’s a difficult condition that causes an individual to feel paranoid and avoid socializing at all costs. They may even feel afraid of speaking of their condition for fear of being scrutinized further.

The phobia belongs in the irrational fears list, since the object of the fear — being stared at — is entirely harmless.

Fortunately, there are ways to address this phobia so that it no longer negatively affects your life. With proper care and treatment, you will be able to overcome your fears and live a healthy, happy, and sociable life.

 

What Is Scopophobia?

Scopophobia comes under both specific phobias and social anxiety disorders.

Specific phobias are phobias wherein a person is afraid of a specific thing or situation. And social anxiety disorders are when a person grows highly anxious when put in a social situation.

Scopophobia arises from the fear of being judged or scrutinized. An individual suffering from this phobia wants to do nothing that will attract attention or scrutiny. It starts with a feeling of embarrassment, which when left unchecked develops into a phobia where one cannot stand a negative response and wishes to not perform any action in front of an audience.

While there is always going to be judgment in what you do, this phobia causes one to feel fear that is out of proportion to the situation. Often, the person feels the attention in an exaggerated manner that’s much more than what they may actually be attracting.

So, a person may feel they are being watched, but they are not.

Additionally, people with scopophobia also tend to suffer from other disorders, such as autism, epilepsy, panic disorders, body dysmorphia, eating disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, mood disorders, generalized anxiety disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and more.

Scopophobia interferes with the person’s daily life as they will often avoid being in situations where they may be stared at. So, they may procrastinate running errands and avoid social gatherings, eventually avoiding being around people at all.

This not only impacts their work life but personal relationships as well. They may become isolated and lonely, attracting additional anxieties that only worsen with time.

Scopophobia Causes

Like most phobias, the causes of scopophobia or the fear of attention are undetermined. However, we can generally categorize the causes into two major factors: genetic predisposition and environmental factors.

Childhood trauma or people laughing at a mistake or being heavily criticized for doing something wrong may lead to a person developing the phobia.

If a person has a history of mental illness in the family, that also increases their risk of developing a phobia. In such cases, a very small event can onset the phobia.

 

Scopophobia Symptoms

People with scopophobia experience social anxiety disorder symptoms along with general anxiety symptoms. Here are some of the most common symptoms of scopophobia.

Physical Symptoms

  • Sweating
  • Trembling
  • Dizziness
  • Nausea
  • Light-headedness
  • Chest pain or discomfort
  • Abdominal discomfort
  • Blushing
  • Racing heartbeat

Mental/Emotional Symptoms

  • A strong feeling of wanting to escape
  • Feeling of dread
  • Feeling of doom
  • Panic attack
  • Anxiety
  • Paranoid thoughts
  • Overly concerned or worried before a social event

 

Treatment of Scopophobia

There is no one treatment for the fear of being watched, but there are several treatment options that are personalized according to the symptoms and the advancement of the phobia.

Most treatments focus on helping the patient realize that the fear is irrational. They work on making the patient feel calm and composed and change their thought patterns. These treatment options can teach a person to reevaluate the situation and see things from a different perspective.

Self-Help

There are many self-coping techniques that can be very helpful during an anxiety or panic attack.

Relaxation techniques like yoga, deep breathing, counting numbers forward and backward, meditation, muscle relaxation, and visualization are all known to be highly effective at helping with anxiety.

Regularly practicing such self-help techniques can also help a person overcome their fears and develop and maintain positive relationships with people around them.

Reassess your negative thoughts surrounding being scrutinized, judged, and disliked, and replace them with thoughts of acceptance, love, and support. Instead of focusing on your flaws, focus on what you are best at. Journaling can be a great tool to help you do this. It can help you record and assess your thought patterns, giving you a better insight into your mind and helping you address your fear effectively.

Professional Help

Seeking professional help is often recommended to address scopophobia. Mental health professionals are trained in understanding the human mind and dealing with mental issues like phobias.

They will typically use one or more therapy techniques to help the patient learn different tools to deal with their fear.

The most common therapies used for treating people with scopophobia are exposure therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).

Medication

In rare cases, if a person is experiencing repeated panic attacks, the doctor may prescribe anti-anxiety medications like beta blockers, benzodiazepines, selective serotonin uptake receptors, or monoamine oxidase inhibitors.

These medicines are given only for a short period until the patient becomes stabilized.

 

Learning to Cope with Scopophobia

Social anxiety disorders like scopophobia can be debilitating and affect various aspects of a person’s life. It can disconnect them from their loved ones, which makes reaching for help that much more difficult.

Before things become worse, it’s important to seek professional help and practice self-help techniques. You should also talk to friends or loved ones or join a support group, so you’ll have a support system in place to help you through your healing.

 

In Conclusion

Scopophobia can be difficult to deal with, but it’s not impossible. Acknowledging you have a phobia is the first step to your healing. So, make sure you reach out for help, and with some time, patience, and effort, you’ll be well on your way to dealing with and even overcoming your phobia.

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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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