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Beliefs

Euphobia – Fear of Good News

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No Need to Fear Good News

Do you find it strange that, unlike everyone else you know, you’re averse to receiving good news?

Does it make you uneasy? Are people starting to notice and maybe calling you a party pooper? Perhaps you think, I’m just being me. Maybe you’ve always accepted good news with a grimace, while everyone else jumps up and down with excitement.

By now you’ve probably seen that when others receive positive news, it’s a source of joy for them. While you, on the other hand, get all sweaty, nervous, and awkward.

Ever thought of why this might be? It must be exhausting going through life absent of the glee good news can bring.

You may be suffering from a condition known as euphobia, or the fear of good news. As you may already know, it’s an unhealthy psychological disorder, but it can be remedied. Learning about and understanding this unusual concept of being afraid of good news is the first step towards a solution.

What Is the Fear of Good News?

Euphobia is an intense and abnormal dread of good news. It’s usually a result of an earlier pattern of receiving good news but then being let down. As a defense mechanism, the sufferer builds an aversion toward hearing anything positive or hopeful in order to avoid being disappointed.

Victims of euphobia become anxious and apprehensive at the sound of good news. They’re also uncomfortable with positive feedback. Believe it or not, they’d rather hear bad news than good. That way, they can tell themselves I knew it! They don’t have to feel like imposters or spend the time waiting for the bad news they feel is sure to follow.

Those with euphobia often worry about ‘jinxing’ good news. They don’t want to show excitement or pleasure in case the news changes. Yes, it sounds odd, because how can a person be afraid of good news? Shouldn’t the fact that it is good mean it should be welcomed? But euphobia, albeit rare, is a valid psychiatric condition, and euphobics exhibit many telling signs and distressing symptoms.

Those prone to anxiety disorders, pessimistic temperaments, cynics, and those who see positive events as always accompanied by pain and suffering are very likely to fall victim to euphobic behaviors and symptoms.

 

Symptoms of Euphobia

The mind is capable of translating thoughts and feelings, no matter how illogical, into real-time physical consequences within our bodies. Euphobia is a very real and valid fear.

Physical Symptoms:

Physical symptoms of euphobia include:

  • Panic attacks
  • Heart racing
  • Melancholy
  • Nausea
  • Diarrhea
  • Sweating
  • Migraines
  • Body aches
  • Shortage of breath
  • Chest pain

Psychological Symptoms:

  • Anxiety
  • Depression

 

Overcoming Your Fear

Living in constant dread of prospective good news is no way to live your life. It’s unhealthy to believe that because you have been disappointed in the past, the only thing that comes your way is bad news. The truth is that when you expect to hear only bad news, you start working towards it. This translates into all areas of life from career aspirations to school, and even your social life. It all becomes a frustrating cycle of closed doors, plunging you further into depression.

But don’t throw in the towel just yet. You can lift yourself out of this perpetual angst and give yourself a little more faith in the good things again. Here’s how:

Yoga and Meditation

This offers you the opportunity to calm your nerves, relax, and allow yourself to think positive thoughts. None of that alarming uneasiness and panic, just you meditating on happiness and positivity. You’ll discover that as much as things can go wrong, they can go right as well. It’s a 50/50 chance.

Positive Visualization

Deliberately set out time to think about good news or receiving it. Reset your mind to receiving good news as a good thing rather than a cause for anxiety. That examination result you’re expecting? Think about how proud you’re going to be when you receive it. How it’s going to be a step forward in your education. How you’ll treat yourself to a little something new afterward.

That application you sent in last week? Visualize that acceptance email, how you’ll be dancing around the house screaming that you did it. You may even call your mom to tell her the great news. It’ll make her happy, too. Practice these scenarios in your mind, and you’ll experience gradual change in your thinking and feeling.

Exercise

There are only a few ailments that physical exercise can’t help improve, including psychological disorders. Schedule a regular visit to the gym, or join an aerobics class, and watch your stress levels drop gradually.

Share

When you receive good news, instead of wallowing in self-pity and apprehension, share the news with friends and family. Just seeing how they receive the news will help you begin to see it in a more appropriate light.

Self-Help Books

Some books focus on positive reinforcement and can serve as good cognitive therapy if followed studiously. To learn to overcome your fears, read a book or two on the subject, and watch yourself gradually go from Debbie Downer to over-the-moon optimist.

Getting Professional Help

Many psychologists, counselors, and therapists agree on three methodologies of dealing with euphobia:

Hypnotherapy

This is a method of alternative medicine in which patients are put in a trance-like state of mind or subconscious plane. In this process, they can come up with positive behavioral changes or confront their minds and find answers to their problems. It is a long term procedure with positive results when done properly.

Psychotherapy

This is a treatment for mental health disorder patients that helps to mitigate problematic behaviors. It also provides tools and correctional skills to reset behavioral patterns and enforce new habits and attitudes.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

This is also a popular therapy for mental health and anxiety sufferers. It challenges the mind to come up with new ways of thinking that would produce positive results physiologically and reverse unhealthy symptoms.

 

Helpful Tips

Work toward developing a realistic understanding of life as being both good and bad. Disappointments are a part of life, and so is good news. Every individual gets their fair share of each. When you look at life through neither thorn-pierced lenses nor rose-colored ones, you will appreciate the entirety of the experience.

Disappointment happens so that you can be grateful for the good times—not afraid of them. Continuing to live in a perpetual state of fear of good news is unhealthy for your body and mind and puts a strain on your overall quality of life.

Be open to receiving more good news, and if bad news does come along, try not to wallow in it. Remember it’s all a part of the experience.

 

Conclusion

Good news is good. It’s understandable that you may have an aversion to good news based on past experiences, but you are wiser and more knowledgeable now. Holding on to past hurts is harmful to your health. Get all the help you need. Liberate yourself from this chain of fear, so you can live a balanced, normal life.

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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