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Fear of Bananas — Bananaphobia
Food Phobias

Fear of Bananas Phobia — Bananaphobia

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The Fear of Bananas: The Perfect Food or Your Worst Nightmare?

Do you feel squeamish when you walk past a display full of bananas in the grocery store?

Does the smell of bananas nauseate you? Does the thought of over-ripe bananas make you want to gag?

Are you completely disgusted by everything about this yellow fruit?

If so, you may suffer from bananaphobia. This fear involves intense stress and anxiety in an individual when they see, eat, or even think about bananas. The fear can get so intense that it can hamper your day-to-day activities.

Understanding your fear may be difficult. And explaining the fear to others might sound of the question. After all, many don’t even consider this a phobia. But for you, it’s real and all-consuming.

Are you ready to finally get a handle on your fear of bananas? Let’s take a look at the causes, symptoms, and methods you can use to overcome this irrational fear.

Fear of Bananas — Bananaphobia

What Is Bananaphobia?

The fear of bananas is a rare phobia. It is an irrational fear where one suffers extreme bouts of anxiety by looking at, eating, or even thinking about bananas. Banana phobia falls under the category of fructophobia, the fear of fruits.

Those who suffer from the phobia of bananas often think that eating this fruit is life-threatening. They may go to great lengths to try and avoid them.

What Causes Bananaphobia?

Few suffer from this phobia, but that doesn’t make it any less of a problem. Most cases of banana phobia begin in children when they are at the most impressionable age. For example, a child may have been forced to eat bananas against their will which lead to vomiting or stomach upset. Children can remember this intense feeling of distress as they age, and therefore may develop bananaphobia.

Some children can develop this fear after slipping and falling over a banana peel. This could have resulted in the child being laughed at by its peers.

The appearance of bananas can also be a problem. Over-ripe bananas are known for their slimy texture and odor, and not many enjoy eating them in that state. One woman suffering from bananaphobia said she developed the fear after her brother snuck a banana in her bed while she was sleeping. She remembered the cold and slimy texture of the banana after crushing it and thought she was touching an eel or a snake.

Over-ripe bananas aren’t the only offenders. Even perfectly ripe bananas can cause anxiety for some. Sometimes, a person can experience intense phases of anxiety by simply looking at someone who’s eating a banana.

Symptoms of Bananaphobia

There are many possible symptoms of bananaphobia. Which symptoms you experience may depend on your individual circumstance. For instance, say you’re a cook or a chef in a restaurant who deals with bananas daily. In such cases, you may begin experiencing obsessive behaviors, such as frequently washing your hands to rid the smell of banana. Other possible symptoms are listed below.

Mental/Emotional Symptoms

  • Feeling squeamish or dizzy
  • Intense fear after looking or even thinking about bananas
  • Feeling helpless
  • Obsessive thoughts about avoiding bananas

Physical Symptoms

  • Migraines
  • Profuse sweating
  • Chills
  • Experiencing gag reflexes after looking at a banana
  • Panic attacks
  • Trembling or shaking
  • Accelerated heartbeat
  • Fleeing after seeing a banana

How to Overcome Bananaphobia

If you suspect you may have bananaphobia, don’t panic. There are various self-help and professional strategies you can utilize to deal with this irrational fear. Remember, these steps require continuous practice and determination. You won’t see results overnight.

Self-Help Methods for Bananaphobia

Sometimes the best way to solve a problem is to do to it yourself. In the case of bananaphobia, try one or more of these self-help methods to overcome or learn to better manage your fear of bananas.

Educate Yourself

The first step in the process is to acknowledge your fear of bananas. After doing so, educate yourself on various self-help strategies. There are many books and websites out there that can help you acquire the information you need. Use what you learn to create a well-structured plan on how to best deal with bananaphobia.

Surround Yourself with People You Trust

At first, you may not understand how surrounding yourself with supportive people can affect your journey to overcoming your fear. But it does. Having a strong and reliable support system is important in dealing with any kind of fear.

Based on past experiences of those who have overcome their fears, this is a journey you don’t want to take alone. People who love and support you also motivate you. Their encouragement boosts your self-confidence and urges you to keep moving forward.

However, it’s possible you’re not comfortable confiding your thoughts with friends or family. And that’s okay. Try joining discussion groups on phobias. These groups can help you realize you aren’t alone on your journey to overcome your fears.

Express Yourself

People who suffer from phobias often experience severe bouts of stress and overthinking. It can end up consuming you. The easiest method to curb this is to express yourself.

Expressing yourself helps release negative and unwanted thoughts from the mind and releases stress. If you’re not comfortable with talking to someone, you can always write down your thoughts.

Remember, overthinking can stress your mind enough to reinforce your fears. This will affect the progress you’ve made, and you don’t want that to happen.

Exercise

Regular exercise is known to reduce stress and anxiety. One of the most beneficial forms of exercise is cardiovascular training. Cardio is reputed for releasing endorphins, commonly known as happy chemicals. This releases stress and calms the mind and body.

The best part about cardio? You don’t need any special or expensive equipment. All you need is a little open space and you’re good to go. Cycling, running, swimming, and skipping are commonly practiced forms of cardio.

 

Seeking Professional Help

It’s possible that self-help strategies aren’t enough to help release your fears. The next best step is to consult a trained professional about bananaphobia treatment.

Mindfulness Therapy

Mindfulness-based stress reduction therapy or MBSR is an eight-week long therapy used for patients who suffer from extreme anxiety, stress, depression, and low self-confidence. The goal is to lessen the distractions around you and make you more focused on your thoughts. This helps increase self-awareness. Being self-aware enables you to understand your thoughts and behavior patterns, allowing you to work on them. This helps reduce the effects of your fears.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

The goal of this therapy is to alter your state of mind to achieve the desired results. This is an extremely effective method of treatment and usually has lasting effects on the patient. CBT does not address or resolve past trauma. Rather, it focuses more on present events and tries to resolve those.

Exposure Therapy

This form of therapy can work wonders. Here, the patient is gradually and directly exposed to their fear until they overcome it or are no longer affected by it. Exposure therapy is a slow process. At first, the therapist will simply ask you to think about bananas. Once you’re able to do that without excessive reactions, you’ll progress to coming face-to-face with a banana. Remember, therapy will only move forward with your consent.

In Conclusion

It may be difficult to overcome your bananaphobia, but it’s not hopeless.

First, acknowledge your fear. Then work to understand why you have this phobia. Only then will you be able to move forward. Remember, it takes practice and determination to overcome a phobia. Try meditating, exercising, or journaling. These activities help to calm the mind.

Even though it may feel like you’ll never get over this fear, it doesn’t have to be that way forever. Have faith in yourself and keep taking small steps toward recovery. Soon you’ll be able to enjoy a banana split at the ice-cream shop.

Try some humor therapy:

Thanks to Beano.com

 

Stories Submitted by Our Readers

Fear of Bananas

I may be an adult, but I hate everything about bananas. I cannot stand to see one or I have an overwhelming feeling of dread. All my friends think that my fear is not real, or I am just joking. But I truly am afraid of bananas.

Greg

I just thought that maybe I was the only one that was scared to death of bananas. Then I found this website and learned that others have my fear. I cannot stand looking at them, the taste of one, or the way they feel. Even the smell of imitation bananas is revolting to me. My family understands the fear now, but my friends just believe I hate bananas and will order things like banana pudding at a restaurant. I cannot get them to understand that it is a true phobia.

Angie

My fear began as a kid. I cannot stand to see the peel of a banana and when it starts getting those brown spots, the fear increases. I cannot breathe when a banana is close to me. I won’t let anyone touch me after they touch a banana until they thoroughly wash their hands. If someone drops a piece of the peel, I will avoid that area for days. If anyone walks close to me holding the banana peel, I honestly scream and run.

Patty B.

 

 

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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