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Other Phobias

Aichmophobia – Fear of Sharp Objects

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Cutting through Aichmophobia: The Fear of Sharp Objects

Do you get anxious whenever you see a sharp object, even if you are at a safe distance from it? Do you dread the sight of kitchen or dining tables, where you may have to deal with sharp knives and forks?

Were you unable to watch movies like Saw or Purge because they had so many sharp objects? Or can you not tolerate watching your grandmother sew a garment with a needle?

Heidi’s Experience with Aichmophobia-A Personal Story

Having to see a pair of scissors in a drawer at the office is probably enough to stop you from going to work altogether.

Do you often think about how much easier your life might be if there were no sharp objects?

If you relate to any of this, you may have aichmophobia, the fear of sharp objects.

Fortunately, there are many treatment options and methods available to treat aichmophobia. The first step is to identify and acknowledge the fear. Learn about the symptoms and treatments. Try self-help methods first to be able to better cope with your fear or opt for professional therapy.

While these options might not entirely eliminate your fear, they can help you lead a normal life. You will able to go about your everyday activities without a sense of dread.

Aichmophobia Causes

Aichmophobia is the feeling of nervousness, apprehension, and fear that people experience on encountering a sharp object that may cause injury. Some examples are pens, knives, pencils, needles, pins, scissors, and other household goods.

This phobia results from a combination of biological, psychological, and social factors. Phobias or extreme fears are often the results of a traumatic event that triggered an adverse reaction to a particular stimulus.

Someone suffering from this disorder may have witnessed a traumatic event involving a sharp tool, such as painful medical treatment involving an injection or an accident.

They may have experienced the incident firsthand, or they may have seen someone else being injured, which led to them developing the phobia.

Additionally, the individual may be genetically predisposed to acquiring the phobia or may also suffer from iatrophobia, a fear of doctors and medical tests, since they are associated with sharp objects.

What Is Aichmophobia?

The term aichmophobia is derived from the Greek words aichm, meaning point, and phobos, meaning phobia.

Aichmophobia can be compared to trypanophobia and belonephobia, among others. Trypanophobia is an aversion to needles, medical treatments, and medical procedures. Belonephobia is a fear of pins and needles. Aichmophobia, on the other hand, is a fear of anything sharp and pointed.

Aichmophobia is sometimes mistaken for visual looming syndrome, also know as sharp edge eye syndrome. People with this condition suffer when they see sharp objects rather than fearing the sharp objects themselves.

If the phobia remains untreated, it can eventually affect participation in day-to-day activities. Individuals with aichmophobia may fear they will come into contact with a sharp object in whatever they do.

Aichmophobia Symptoms

A person with phobias goes to great lengths to avoid situations that involve the object of their fear.

Aichmophobia can cause the following physical symptoms:

  • Shaking or trembling
  • Cold flashes
  • Sweating
  • Trouble breathing
  • Rapid heart rate
  • Tightness in the chest
  • Headache
  • Dry mouth
  • Nausea
  • Disorientation

Aichmophobia can cause the following psychological symptoms:

  • Panic attacks
  • Anxiety
  • Feeling out of control
  • Feeling like you might pass out
  • Feeling powerless
  • Feeling sad
  • Anger
  • Fear of harm

People with a fear of sharp objects can experience one or all of the symptoms mentioned above, depending on how severe the phobia is.

Some Tips to Deal with Aichmophobia

Treatment is available to help reduce your fear and improve your quality of life. Reducing your anxiety and improving your quality of life will allow you to lead a normal life.

If your symptoms worsen, seek medical assistance. You may also benefit from self-help or support groups where you can meet other people who struggle with the same type of fear.

The majority of people become less afraid of sharp items after receiving therapy. However, the type of treatment you receive and its duration will depend on the severity of your phobia. As a result, it may take some more time to overcome their phobia, and others, not as much.

Aichmophobia Diagnosis

A therapist may ask the individual a series of detailed questions about their background, symptoms, and experiences to diagnose aichmophobia.

If you have experienced persistent dread and anxiety of sharp objects for the last six months, the therapist is likely to diagnose you with the phobia.

This diagnosis will help rule out all other mental or physical disorders that might be causing these symptoms.

 

Heidi’s Experience with Aichmophobia-A Personal Story

 

When to Seek Treatment

If aichmaphobia is disrupting your everyday activities, seek medical attention as soon as possible.

Consult your doctor if:

  • You suffer from panic attacks frequently
  • You find it difficult to lead a normal life
  • You avoid going outside because of the phobia
  • This phobia is causing you problems at work or in your social life
  • You have been experiencing this phobia for over six months

In what ways can treatment help you?

  • Help you analyze your actions and thoughts to identify unhealthy patterns
  • Help you cope with complex emotions
  • Offer you a place where you can talk without being judged
  • Guide you so you can handle uncomfortable situations
  • Help you gain control over your mind and body in the presence of the object of fear

Ways to Overcome Aichmophobia

Self-Help: How Can You Help Yourself?

The process of overcoming fear begins with introspection and self-help. Tell yourself that even though sharp objects can sometimes be harmful, they will not harm you unless you handle them or get near them.

When exposed to a sharp object, you can use self-help methods to cope with your fears.

Meditate

Many people find that meditation reduces anxiety and panic attacks. Mindfulness-based meditation may help people cope with phobias of all kinds.

Meditation teaches us to focus on the present moment and helps us control our thoughts about the object of fear. Phobias often have roots in past events, and anxiety comes from a fear of the future. So focusing on the present limits the mind from flitting from one irrational thought to another.

Other Self-Help Tips

  • Join a support group
  • Practice breathing techniques and progressive muscle relaxation techniques
  • Expose yourself gradually to the object of fear

Professional Help for Fear of Sharp Objects

Psychotherapy is a common form of treatment for aichmophobia. It may include exposure therapy or cognitive-behavioral therapy.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is based on the premise that our thoughts and perceptions affect our behavior. The therapist will help you develop a fresh perspective by understanding more about your phobia.

By changing your thought patterns, the therapy helps you develop new habits and behaviors. The goal is to prepare you for actual exposure to the phobia. You learn how to determine when your fear is valid, and how to overcome it when it is irrational.

Ultimately, you learn to deal better with the source of your fear when you are in its presence.

Exposure Therapy

In this form of therapy, the therapist gradually exposes you to the source of your fear in a controlled environment until you are able to tolerate it better.

Wrap-Up

If you suffer from aichmophobia, know that you are not alone. Several people worldwide have this phobia and cope in various ways.

Although it can sometimes be challenging and scary, it’s important to talk to your family members or seek professional help before it worsens.

Even though there’s no single treatment that can eliminate phobias entirely, you can use self-help techniques and professional therapy to reduce the impact of the phobia.

Heidi’s Experience with Aichmophobia-A Personal 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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