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Environmental Phobias

Agateophobia – Fear of Insanity

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The Fear of Insanity: Agateophobia

Does learning, reading, or watching movies about insanity in others trigger extreme fear for you? Do you feel sick to your stomach, dizzy or apprehensive when you see insanity in a person or even portrayed on screen?

Does even discussing insanity make your palms sweat, your mouth dry, your head spin?

If you have any of these symptoms, you may suffer from agateopohbia, also known as maniphobia or dementophobia , or the fear of insanity.

The first step toward limiting this fear or phobia is to understand why you have it. Where does this fear come from, and what can be done to limit or alleviate the problem?

Usually FearAZ limits time spent explaining the origins of phobia names.

After all, it’s not really essential to the end goal of helping you overcome your fear. But since the fear of insanity has three known technical names, let’s start there.

Agatephobia, maniaphobia, and dementophobia are all names for the same basic condition: the excessive fear of going insane.

Why three names for the same condition?

Each technical name has its own roots, depending on if you label the condition as insanity, mania, or demented: agateophobia, from the Greek word agate meaning “insanity;” maniaphobia from the Greek word mania, meaning “madness;” and dementophobia which takes its origin in Latin terms with de meaning “away from,” and ment meaning “mind.”

In any language, the fear of insanity can create serious issues in your quality of life.

What Causes or Triggers Agateophobia?

Some people have the constant feeling they will go or are going insane. Those suffering from phobias have elevated fear levels much stronger than average—far and above a simply scary thought.

Compounding factors can bring on bouts of agateophobia, such as genetics or environmental triggers.

If someone in your family has unnatural fears or phobias, there is a chance it can be passed on to you from simple exposure. A family history of insanity could cause an unnatural fear of “becoming mad.”

Some of the antiquated treatments used on the insane have also frightened people for decades. Electric shock therapy, lobotomies, bloodletting, and of course, isolation or incarceration. These alone could be enough to cause extreme fear of going insane, which, over time , can manifest into a full phobia.

Personal experiences can also have impacts on your mental health, such as bad encounters involving insanity or an insane person. Seeing the effects of insanity could instill a deep fear of developing insanity yourself.

Your upbringing can also have an impact. Witnessing a relative with extreme mental health issues could have a deep impact on you. This experience may develop into a phobia that may need treatment to uproot.

Symptoms of Agateophobia, Maniaphobia, or Dementophobia

Physical symptoms for the fear of insanity can vary from person to person. As with most phobias or extreme fears, the standard list of symptoms do apply:

  • Sweating
  • Rapid heart rate
  • Dizziness
  • Lightheadedness
  • Dry mouth
  • Hyperventilation
  • Confusion
  • High blood pressure
  • Nausea

There are probably other physical symptoms associated with dementophobia which are not listed.

Psychological Symptoms:

  • Panic attacks
  • Anger or extreme agitation
  • Feeling dread
  • Feeling isolated
  • Confusion
  • Lack of concentration
  • Loss of control
  • Actual fear of death
  • Moodiness

Treatments for Agateophobia, Maniaphobia, or Dementophobia

The fear of insanity can place the sufferer in a dilemma treatment wise. For some, seeking treatment for the phobia can be justification for the belief in and of itself. Why am I taking medication? Am I going insane?

First, educate yourself. Learn about your specific fear, its roots, and why it affects you. Then, research treatment methods. Find one which best suits your needs and one you feel most comfortable with.

One treatment you’re sure to come across is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT is a relatively short-term treatment that teaches you to change your thought processes. It has been shown effective in reducing agateophobia, maniaphobia, or dementophobia.

Hypnotherapy is another possible method to research. A hypnotist may be able to help limit the fearful thoughts, which will reduce your anxiety. You may also need a mixture of medication and therapy.

The key is to find the treatment that works for you. The first step towards treating dementophobia is yours alone to take.

Stories Submitted by Our Readers

Fear of Insanity

I have this fear and thought that if I researched mental illness it would help. Well, that is not true. The song by Muse Psycho brought on a huge panic attack. All my research did not help stop this panic attack. I do not have a panic attack every time I hear, read, or see something about mental disorders or insanity. I am sometimes very anxious when I see sayings about insanity or restraints used for mental patients. When I do have a panic attack, I may have some feelings for quite a while later including heart rate and shaking.
Harvey

SUBMIT YOUR STORY

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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