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Other Phobias

Decidophobia – Fear of Making Decisions

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The Fear of Making Decisions

Does the very thought of making a decision cause you anxiety? Are you terrified by the very prospect of having to make a decision? Do you ever wonder, Why do I fear making decisions?

Making decisions is something we do most every day, often multiple times a day. But if the idea of making a choice and possibly making a mistake sends you into full-blown panic mode, it may be a symptom of decidophobia.

This irrational fear of decision-making is one of the rare forms of phobias. Let’s explore this in further detail.

Decidophobia Meaning

Decidophobia is defined as the irrational fear of making the wrong decision. Those who have this phobia exhibit strong anxiety when faced with having to make decisions.

These decisions can be about the smallest things, such as what to wear or where to eat. Not being able to make swift decisions about simple matters can lead to blurred thinking, loss of clarity, and the feeling of being lost.

As you might expect, this phobia results in a state of inaction. And this can seriously thwart a person’s ability to function in society. People with long-term untreated decidophobia have been found to develop obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) later in life. That’s why it’s necessary to address this lack of decision-making as soon as you recognize the problem.

Decidophobia Causes

To understand decidophobia, you need to understand what phobias are. By definition, phobias are irrational fears that come with intense symptoms. Fear is a natural part of life, but if you’re experiencing intense anxiety on a regular basis that prevents you from functioning normally, you may have a phobia.

There can be a number of reasons why you may fear having to make choices. Some of them are:

  • Social anxiety
  • Being afraid of change
  • History of making poor decisions
  • Low self-confidence
  • Tendency to overthink

At first glance, these fears appear to be normal. Everyone goes through these feelings when it comes to making major decisions, such as getting married or putting down money on a house. So you may be wondering, what makes this fear bad?

What makes it bad is, during the limited time we all have on earth, there are many important things we need to do, some for ourselves and some for others. You need to become well-educated, improve and maintain your health, have a meaningful and sustainable career, form relationships, etc. And it’s impossible to go about doing these things with a debilitating fear of having to make decisions. Especially when the decisions involved are mundane, like choosing which brand of milk to buy at the grocery store.

So what causes one to fear having to make decisions? So far, experts are yet to find a singular cause, but there is speculation that it stems from traumatic experiences.

What Are the Symptoms of Decidophobia?

Decidophobia is incredibly complex to diagnose because, as mentioned earlier, some decisions are perfectly natural to worry about.

According to many psychologists, a good way to distinguish between regular fear and a phobia is that the fear being experienced is disproportionate to the actual danger posed by the subject of the fear—in this case, decisions.

Here are some possible signs you may be suffering from decidophobia:

  • You deliberately avoid situations where you will be required to make a choice.
  • You often let other people make your decisions for you and feel dependent on them.
  • You place a great deal of importance on psychic or mystical guidance.
  • You often experience stress.
  • You feel like you’re far from functioning at the best you can.

Like most phobias, decidophobia takes its toll on both a person’s mind and body. Here are the most common symptoms of decidophobia:

Physical Symptoms

  • Sweating
  • Panic attacks
  • Muscle tension
  • Breathlessness
  • Elevated heart rate
  • Hold/cold flashes
  • Butterflies in the stomach

Mental/Emotional Symptoms

  • Anxiety
  • Stress
  • Delusions
  • Excessive trust in others
  • Fear of an impending doom

How Can You Deal with Decidophobia?

None of these signs and symptoms mean you are weak or unintelligent in any way. It’s quite the opposite. Intelligent people are more likely to face anxiety when making decisions, because they know how complicated the world is.

But decidophobia is not the kind of phobia you can find a way to live with. After all, there’s no way to get through life without having to make decisions. The only way to deal with decidophobia is to overcome it either through guided self-help or professional treatment.

Self-Help

The world of self-help literature and videos for people who fear making decisions is endless. Chances are you might be able to pick up a good book at your local library. Knowledge is the most powerful tool you have, because it helps us push through fears and set accomplishments.

Reading and talking to people can make an enormous difference in dealing with decidophobia. You’re likely to find many people who understand your struggle and may have found their own unique ways to overcome the fear of certain decisions.

One of the fastest ways to solve problems is to open your mind to new ways of thinking about them or conceptualizing them. Having a conversation about it can help you achieve this. It can also help you find a new sense of solidarity among people once you realize you’re not the only one who struggles with decisions, which will alleviate your anxiety.

Professional Decidophobia Treatment

Psychologists or therapists will first work with you to understand the reasons for your fears from your perspective, the extent to which it interferes with your life, and a little bit about your history. They then determine the mode of treatment that is the most appropriate in your case.

There are three commonly known treatments for decidophobia:

#1. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Also known as “talk therapy,” this form of therapy simply involves an open dialogue with a professional. The objective is typically to get to the bottom of your phobia and help you reason your way out of it. Therapists are familiar with a number of methods that can help you overcome your phobia and will probably recommend a few over the course of your treatment.

#2. Hypnotherapy

This involves using hypnosis to help you achieve a calm and focused state of mind to increase your awareness and attention span. Having increased focus allows you to work to change the behaviors and habits that are causing you grief.

#3. Exposure Therapy

Exposure helps people desensitize towards the things that strike fear into them. This involves making you face your fear gradually. It’s a common practice and has been known to work for many kinds of phobias, including decidophobia.

Coping with Decidophobia in the Long-Term

There are many ways for you to help yourself overcome decidophobia, but the most important is that you need to make the decision that you will somehow overcome this. Decidophobia is a tricky one, because it gets directly in the way of the things you need to do to overcome it—that is, make decisions.

You may have trouble deciding whom to talk to, what to share and what not to share, what to read, and how to approach situations differently. It’s not an easy road, which is why the sooner you begin to face your fears head-on and get the necessary help, the faster you can be on your way to a more proactive life.

Final Thoughts

Decidophobia can be harmful to your long-term health and well-being. You need to understand what motivates your fear of decisions and seek guidance or treatment accordingly. There’s no shame in not being able to make decisions; it’s something all people struggle with to varying degrees, especially during their younger years. But that doesn’t mean you choose to live a life avoiding any major decisions.

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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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