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Botanophobia – The Fear of Plants
Animal Phobias

Botanophobia – The Fear of Plants

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Excessive Fear of Plants

Do you hate going to parks or gardens? Have you ever refused to enter a room that had plants in it? Does the thought of being in the countryside or forest, surrounded by looming trees, give you the jitters?

Do you go out of your way to avoid stepping on grass or touching leaves? Are you a devoted carnivore because you can’t stand the idea of touching a vegetable, much less eating it?

If you check yes to all of the above, you might test positive for botanophobia, or the phobia of plants.

You might feel confused about this phobia and how it affects you. After all, why would anyone be afraid of a harmless houseplant? But just because it is in your head doesn’t make it any less real.

What Is Botanophobia?

Botanophobia is the phobia of plants. It comes in the form of extreme anxiety in the presence of shrubs, trees, and other greenery. This phobia is complex compared to others because people are afraid of plants for various reasons.

Botanophobia may arise from superstitions. Ancient tales about the existence of demons, witches, or any form of evil in the form of plants and trees is widely showcased in movies. Some may have heard of carnivorous plants like the Venus flytrap and imagine getting hurt by them. These stories strike fear in the minds of many.

Plant phobias could be associated with a variety of issues, the first and most obvious being trauma from a past event. There could be feelings of loss of someone from a plant-caused injury or condition. Others develop this phobia because of allergic reactions to poison ivy or plant-based food. Some experts believe it’s a result of genetics or brain chemistry.

Symptoms of Botanophobia

The symptoms of botanophobia differ from person to person. This phobia may cause several physical and mental or emotional effects. Here are some of the visible signs that a person has an irrational fear of plants.

Physical Symptoms

  • Hot flashes or chills
  • Elevated heart rate
  • Fainting
  • Dizziness
  • Nausea
  • Dry mouth
  • Hyperventilation
  • High blood pressure

Mental/Emotional Symptoms

  • Panic attacks
  • Shame or self-blame
  • Depression
  • Mood swings
  • Anxiety
  • Fear of illness
  • Obsessive thoughts

For many, this phobia can be triggered by a single glimpse of greenery. The thought of entering the woods or walking across a grassy field may cause a full-blown panic attack. If left untreated, it could cause strains in personal relationships and interactions.

Some refuse to eat vegetables because they’re afraid they will fall sick. This last symptom is especially harmful, since it could affect your health. You need to eat plants to prevent vitamin and mineral deficiencies.

Seeking Help for Botanophobia

There is no universal treatment for phobias. However, there are quite a few tried and tested methods that can help you overcome and learn to cope with fear, including botanophobia.

Self-Help Methods to Cope with Botanophobia

Change starts with the self. Before consulting a professional, why not first try to help yourself face your fears? Botanophobia, like all other phobias, is mental. The brain can alter its thoughts and beliefs when faced with a new train of thought. For this change in the train of thought to occur, you must first tell yourself that change is possible and that you are going to be just fine.

Positive Visualization

This method makes use of tools available to you to communicate and reinforce subconscious messages. It involves three techniques:

1. Emotional Intensity
Any emotional reaction is a sensory response. Cognitive therapy dictates that every emotion is accompanied by a certain level of belief. This is why everything you believe in affects your emotions. Playing music can help emotional intensity during positive visualization.

2. Picture and Description
Imagery is a strong means of retaining information. For example, if you think about how much you crave ice cream for dessert, and if you start to imagine the flavor you’d pick, your urge to order some ice cream would increase. Creating detailed images of what you want to achieve helps push you to work towards it.

3. Exposure
To overcome your phobia, it helps to create an accurate visual simulation of the situation you wish to overcome. This involves exposing yourself to the situation you fear and then altering your response. This technique makes you aware of what works for you and what doesn’t and helps to power through your fear.

Deep Breathing and Meditation

Do these in the comfort of your home to calm your senses. About 10 minutes of meditation each morning can help start your day right. A set of fixed routine breathing exercises also come in handy in times of stress, anxiety, and other phobia-inducing situations.

Getting Professional Help

People with botanophobia tend to avoid getting treatment because they believe by avoiding the phobia, it will just go away. Also, they don’t want to face the object of their fears.

However, self-coping mechanisms may not work for everyone. If that’s the case, it’s time to call in the experts. Mental health professionals will recommend the appropriate treatment tailored to you.

Therapy is generally the first course of action advised in the treatment of phobias. Treatments like hypnotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, general desensitization, dialectical behavior therapy, mindfulness-based stress reduction, and neurolinguistic programming are all popular therapy options. Antidepressant, anti-anxiety, and beta-blocker drugs taken under the guidance of a physician may also be recommended. These medications focus on suppressing symptoms and providing temporary relief.

Each of these treatments focus on tracking the root of the phobia. They aim to reduce or erase anxiety and fear. In particular, gradual desensitization is a technique that focuses on exposure to your fear trigger. You might be introduced to plants a little at a time while using coping skills to overcome your fear reaction.

How to Cope with Botanophobia

Despite the many methods of treatment, there is still no guarantee of success. Treatment will meet you halfway by helping you control your thoughts and reactions, but the other half is up to you. One of the best ways of overcoming any situation in life is to prioritize and take care of yourself.

Everyone is scared of something, from serious threats to seemingly ordinary things. Avoiding your fears and putting them off won’t help you. Don’t let your fears control you. You can and will get through your phobia.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Reach out when you need to. Your friends or family will be there to support you.

In Conclusion

Even Sigmund Freud, the father of psychiatry, suffered from a form of botanophobia. He had a terror of ferns. It may take some time, but practice these tips to overcome your fear of plants. Before you know it, you’ll be out and about in the depths of nature. And you may be shocked to discover that you have a green thumb.

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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