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Sexual Phobias

Agraphobia – The Fear of Sexual Abuse

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The Fear of Sexual Abuse: A Serious Issue and Phobia

Do you avoid intimate contact, getting into romantic relationships, or going into elevators alone for fear of being sexually abused by a stranger?

It may be hard for you to understand or explain the panic attacks you experience at the mere thought of sexual abuse. Or why you turn away from intimate contact or put down every romantic advance, even when you’re interested in intimacy and may be romantically attracted to someone.

You may have agraphobia, better known as contreltophobia. Agraphobia is the fear of being sexually assaulted or abused.

Is agraphobia curable? Although debilitating, you can overcome the fear of sexual abuse with the right support and treatment. Keep reading to find out more about this unique fear, what it may entail, whether you might have it, and how to treat it.

 

 

Some Things You Need to Know about Agraphobia

Agraphobia is the fear of sexual abuse. A person who has this phobia might develop a fear response to thinking about sexual abuse or watching it.

Those with fear of sexual abuse tend to isolate themselves from other people. They may maintain a physical distance from people and keep themselves from getting emotionally close to anyone.

Some might even keep to themselves and avoid stepping out of their homes.

The fear is often confused with agoraphobia, a fear of open spaces that keeps people from leaving their homes. Another similar list of phobias also includes erotophobia, which is the fear of sex, or cypridophobia, the fear of sexual activity.

Unlike most other phobias, which are fear-based, the fear of sexual abuse is associated with emotions of disgust. The person’s fear might arise from feelings of aversion towards the abusive act.

What Causes the Fear of Sexual Abuse?

The fear of sexual abuse typically stems from a traumatic experience in the past relating to sexual abuse. This trauma isn’t necessarily related to the sufferer experiencing sexual abuse, as is common in PTSD-driven fear of sexual abuse.

The individual might have been emotionally traumatized after watching sexual abuse happening to someone else, news coverage of the incident, or even a scene in a film.

The trauma from watching sexual abuse happen to another might then become a trigger that activates a fear response to thoughts of sexual abuse. Thinking of sexual abuse or fearing an occurrence then triggers various symptoms.

The fear often grows out of proportion due to excessive worry and irrational thought. It might also develop due to sex abuse hysteria with careless investigation practices and misinformation.

Hysteria-driven fear of sexual abuse is more commonly encountered in children. It may occur in child custody cases where sexual abuse is charged.

Sometimes, a genetic predisposition to developing mental illnesses may make a person more prone to developing an irrational fear of sexual abuse.

 

Symptoms of Agraphobia

The fear of sexual abuse can impact a person physically and psychologically.

Depending on the root causes of agraphobia, the individual might experience various symptoms. These agraphobia symptoms may occur in response to a stimulus or even be induced by thinking about the fear.

Physical Symptoms

  • Excessive shaking
  • Breathlessness
  • Excessive sweating
  • Nausea
  • Dryness of the mouth
  • Anxiety attacks
  • Heart palpitations
  • High blood pressure
  • Muscle tension

Psychological Symptoms

  • Anxiety when thinking of sexual abuse
  • Panic attacks
  • Excessive avoidance of romantic relationships
  • Feelings of frustration and irritability
  • Fear of embarrassment
  • Feeling disconnected
  • Feeling like running away
  • Fear of death or dying

 

 

Treatment

How Do You Deal with Agraphobia?

Many people experiencing mild agraphobia avoid intimacy, romantic relationships, and being in social places. While this does help keep their fearful thoughts at bay, it does more damage than healing.

Simply put, the more the sufferer avoids dealing with the fear, the more their symptoms may intensify. Eventually, this prevents them from living their life.

Left untreated, it can even lead to depression.

Self-Help

Self-help forms one of the best agraphobia treatments. Since the fear stems from irrational thinking processes, self-help can be beneficial.

Self-help practices can include a combination of exercise, nutrition, meditation, and more.

Exercise, mainly aerobic, helps the body release feel-good chemicals while reducing stress hormones in the blood. This effect is beneficial in the management and treatment of anxiety disorders.

Exercise also reduces the occurrence of symptoms while giving the person time to logicize fear-inducing situations or thoughts.

Yoga is another self-help strategy. Some poses and meditative breathing practices reduce stress responses and prevent anxiety attacks.

Eating a nutrient-dense diet also helps keep anxiety symptoms in check. Furthermore, avoiding caffeine is a must. Caffeine might help keep the person alert and awake, but it also makes them nervous and prone to panicking with the slightest triggers.

Exposure Therapy

Exposure therapy involves gradually exposing the person to their fear.

Since exposing a person to sexual abuse might do further harm, therapists may use alternate desensitization strategies like educating the sufferer about the subject of their fear.

This can help the person face their fears in a safe environment, allowing them to overcome anxiety and distress.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) involves addressing thoughts centered around the fear to resolve irrational fears through logical reasoning.

CBT helps the person recognize troublesome thoughts when they occur. The therapist also teaches methods to redirect such thoughts.

CBT works to uncover the root cause of the fear and responsive behavior and teaches more pragmatic approaches.

 

Learning to Cope with Agraphobia

No matter what treatment or combination of treatments you choose, getting rid of your phobia can take a long time. This makes learning how to cope with fear an important step while you continue with daily life.

The first step in coping with your agraphobia lifestyle is seeking the support of those around you. Whether it is your romantic partner, family, or friends, their support can help you cope with everyday obstacles and negative thoughts as you keep working through treatment.

 

In Conclusion

If you’ve decided to take on the journey toward better managing agraphobia, then you’re already halfway there. All you need to do now is arm yourself with positive thoughts of overcoming your fears to truly cherish your life and those around you.

 

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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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