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Rare Phobias

Fear of Paper – Papyrophobia

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Shredding Papyrophobia or the Fear of Paper

A rare phobia, yes, but papyrophobia is as real as any. And as a rare phobia, we don’t wish to overstate or understate the issues this excessive fear may cause those who suffer with it.

Do you fear writing on or even touching paper? Does the thought of getting a sheet of paper cause high anxiety? Are you terrified you may get a paper cut?

Does an encounter with paper leave you itchy, dizzy, and sweaty? Do you stay away from your workplace or any place that might house office supplies? Does the sound or sight of paper cause your heart to beat fast and make you want to flee? Is it shredded paper that causes your fear?

If yes, you are probably experiencing papyrophobia, a fear of paper. Only a very small number of people worldwide have a fear of paper, making it certainly an uncommon condition.

This phobia may sound like one found on an irrational fears list. Because of this, you probably fear being mocked and ridiculed. You may hesitate to discuss with anyone what you’re going through.

However, you can overcome papyrophobia with awareness and proper guidance. Although you can find successful treatment in self-help, you don’t have to battle the phobia alone. Talking to a family member or someone close to you is the first step in your battle against papyrophobia.

Papyrophobia Meaning

Papyrophobia is an illogical, excessive, and unjustified fear of paper. The term comes from the Greek or Egyptian words papyrus meaning paper and phobia meaning fear.

Papyrophobia Causes

Most rare specific phobias do not have a particular cause or reason—or at least one that you can pinpoint.

However, papyrophobia may have developed due to a childhood incident involving paper or a painful event when you could not complete a writing task. Or it may be due to some legal document or a piece of paper that relayed drastic news.

Papyrophobia may also have a genetic or hereditary cause, as many phobias run in families.

Seeing a loved one go through papyrophobia or hearing their vivid description of it may have also triggered the onset of the phobia.

Papyrophobia often has a direct connection to another phobia. For example:

  • Mysophobia or germophobia (fear of germs)
  • Cogombophobia (fear of cardboard boxes)
  • Dendrophobia (fear of trees)
  • Hemophobia (fear of blood, which a paper cut can cause)
  • Chrometophobia (fear of money), especially paper money

Some Things You Need to Know about Papyrophobia

Papyrophobia is a specific phobia triggered by papers. However, as mentioned earlier, you may also suffer from other related phobias.

If you don’t need to deal with paper, you might live a relatively normal life without panic attacks and anxiety issues. However, this can be hard, as paper is a part of day-to-day life. With newspapers, currency notes, and bills, paper is a part of almost every person’s life and is unavoidable.

Those with mild phobia symptoms can go on with daily life with little anxiety. However, for someone who has a severe phobia, it can lead to complete social isolation.

Papyrophobia Symptoms

People with papyrophobia may realize their fear is irrational; however,  that won’t stop them from experiencing physical and psychological symptoms.

Individuals with severe papyrophobia commonly experience panic attacks at school or work, because they fear if they approach paper, something terrible might happen to them.

Depending on the severity of the fear, papyrophobia symptoms vary from one individual to the next.

A clinician is likely to make a papyrophobia diagnosis if you experience some of these symptoms:

Physical Symptoms

  • Trembling
  • Increased heart rate
  • Dizziness
  • Vomiting
  • Rapid breathing
  • Diarrhea
  • Dry mouth
  • Nausea
  • Sweating
  • Stammering

Psychological Symptoms

  • Feeling of dread
  • Urge to run, scream, and cry
  • Panic attack
  • Fear of dying

The intensity of the symptoms experienced will determine the severity of the phobia.

Papyrophobia Treatment

Like most specific phobias, papyrophobia doesn’t have a particular treatment plan. But with proper counseling, therapy, and medication, papyrophobia is treatable.

During the early stages of the development of the fear, you can learn to manage the phobia with minimal efforts, self-help, and meditation. However, as the phobia advances, the person is increasingly imprisoned by their thoughts. In these cases, they will require professional therapy. Medication may also be prescribed  to help deal with the physiological symptoms.

Self-Help

Self-help is the most easily accessible treatment for any phobia. Knowing that your fear is irrational and diverting the mind can help.

Recognizing your phobia of paper is the first step. Next, make changes in your lifestyle—healthy eating, exercise, and a regular sleep routine can help. You can also join support groups where you can voice your fear in a supportive environment.

Try relaxation techniques like deep breathing and counting numbers, and gradually expose yourself to paper to overcome the fear.

Professional Treatment

If self-help fails, you may feel frustrated and wonder how to cope with papyrophobia. But don’t dismay. Professional help can help you learn to manage your phobia of paper.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

CBT is one of the most widely used therapies. It helps treat anxiety, panic attacks, depression, eating disorders, anger, and phobias.

It is a type of psychotherapy (talk therapy) that helps individuals identify the cause of their phobia and change their perceptions. According to CBT, your fear results from your thoughts and perception of the feared object.

The therapy targets your fear of paper and replaces the negative thoughts with more positive and realistic ones.

Exposure Therapy

Exposure therapy is another widely used form of therapy for phobias. It involves gradual exposure to paper in the presence of a professional health expert in a controlled environment. With regular exposure, you will realize that your fear of paper is irrational and that paper itself is essentially harmless.

Hypnotherapy

During hypnotherapy, trained professionals help you reach a subconscious, trance-like state to help you uncover the root cause of your phobia. Patients are often unable to pinpoint the cause and onset of their fear. Hypnotherapy helps them identify the cause and marks the first step in their recovery.

The hypnosis-induced subconscious mind is more open to suggestions. The therapist offers gentle guidance to effect changes in thought and behavioral patterns.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) for Papyrophobia

Through DBT you will learn relaxation techniques and coping skills to help you manage papyrophobia. It is a talk therapy where you can freely express your fear. You will work with a professional to target the cause and learn skills to relax in extreme conditions of fear and anxiety.

Medications

Doctors may recommend anti-anxiety and antidepressant drugs in a few cases to calm patients experiencing severe panic attacks or anxiety and depression. They taper the usage of drugs when the patient starts showing noticeable results with therapy.

Learning to Cope with Papyrophobia

We all use paper. Most everyone comes into contact with it at least once a day. For a person with papyrophobia, avoiding paper can be next to impossible. This may cause them to lead an isolated and limited life.

If your attempt at self-help fails, a combination of therapy and medication may help you overcome your fear of paper.

In Conclusion
Your phobia of paper may grip you with anxiety and fear, affecting your daily life and forcing you into isolation. However, there is hope. With proper guidance and support, you can overcome papyrophobia.

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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