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Body Phobias

Algophobia – The Fear of Pain

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Extreme Fear of Pain

Do you overreact whenever you experience the slightest of pain?

Sure, pain has the ability to scare people, but in your case, the distress you feel may be over the top. You’re aware that your reactions to pain are intense, but you can’t help it.

If this sounds familiar, you might have algophobia.

What Is Algophobia?

Fear is a normal reaction to pain, but for people with algophobia the dread they experience is deep and extreme to an extent that it can interfere with their daily life. They might not leave their home or engage in usual everyday activities for fear of coming across something that might cause them pain.

In severe cases, the mere thought of experiencing pain can trigger the condition. Sometimes, the condition can even lead to psychological pain, and this can turn into a vicious and debilitating cycle of pain and fear.

What Causes the Fear of Pain?

Mental health experts and behavioral psychologists suggest that most phobias, including algophobia, can be caused by genetic and environmental factors. For example, those who have a parent or relative dealing with algophobia have an increased risk of developing the phobia themselves.

Certain life experiences, especially traumatic events, could also cause phobias. For instance, let’s say during childhood you experienced an injury that caused you severe pain. This experience may have set in motion the development of your algophobia. People who have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may also have an increased risk of developing algophobia.

 

Quick Fact
What’s another name for algophobia?
The fear of pain is also known as algiophobia.

 

Symptoms of Algophobia

People with a fear of pain usually have symptoms that are similar to other phobias. These can be classified as physical symptoms and psychological symptoms. Some of these symptoms are as follows:

Physical Symptoms

  • Breathlessness
  • Nausea
  • Dizziness
  • Excessive sweating
  • Increased heartbeat
  • Headache
  • Diarrhea

Psychological Symptoms

  • Anxiety or panic attacks
  • Extreme anger and loss of control
  • Intense feelings of stress or terror
  • The mental health of the person deteriorates rapidly
  • Detachment from reality
  • Inability to think and speak clearly

Self-help for Algophobia

The first thing you can do for yourself as an algophobic is to seek the advice of a professional psychologist or other mental health professional. This is the only proven way to learn skills which will help you cope with your fear. There are other steps, however, that you can take to help manage your phobia symptoms in conjunction with treatment.

The first self-help tip is to practice relaxation techniques. From yoga to massage to breath control, deliberately taking time to practice relaxation will help in the management of symptoms. It will help your mind relax and will decrease your level of anxiety. There are different forms of relaxation and not all work for everyone. It’s important to try out different styles to find the technique that works for you.

One popular relaxation method is transcendental meditation. This involves making vibrating sounds such as omm, which activates your vagus nerves. This can slow down your heart rate and immediately produce a calming effect.

If your algophobia is a result of pre-existing conditions such as arthritis, the progressive muscle relaxation technique is one that might do wonders for you. It involves a repeated cycle of tensing and releasing the muscles of your body from your feet up to your neck. Contract and relax the muscles slowly and repeatedly, focusing all your attention solely on the process. This is an excellent self-help therapy.

Another helpful technique is visualization. This means mentally visualizing that you are successfully handling a situation that involves pain. Your mind is at the center of all your fears and anxieties and so to help yourself, you must first convince your mind that you are capable of handling pain and discomfort. Hence, the first step is to visualize it, and then move on towards gradually achieving it.

Positive visualization also comes in handy. This is particularly helpful when you are trying to avoid intrusive thoughts and fears that seep into your mind and exaggerate your fears or triggers. One common method is to visualize someone standing at the door, shouting all these scary possibilities at you. This makes you want to avoid your triggers, and you visualize yourself closing the door on them and putting an end to their fear mongering.

You can also try to join group therapies and even reach out to people with similar phobias and symptoms. Knowing that you are not alone and that you are a part of a community of similar people will do wonders for your confidence in overcoming your phobia. Online communities, group chats, physical sessions with a moderator, all these have been known to help phobia sufferers cope with their depression and isolation symptoms that come with the condition.

Professional Help for Algophobia

Some of the available treatments proven to be useful are as follows:

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

CBT is a psychotherapy that uses a practical approach to treating anxiety and other similar disorders, but it is also proven to be useful in treating phobias.

CBT focuses on changing negative thoughts and ideas that trigger the condition. In the case of algophobia, the therapist uses a structured approach to help patients realize how their thoughts and perceptions are triggering their phobia. The aim is to teach the patient to view their object of fear more clearly and develop ways to respond to it productively.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy is rooted in five key principles:

  • There is always another point of view.
  • Events don’t cause feelings.
  • We all have unique ways of seeing the world.
  • Mind affects the body; body affects the mind.
  • Our minds are scientific.

All these principles, once well understood by the patient, can help them approach their triggers and symptoms from a more informed and balanced mental state.

Systematic Desensitization

Also known as exposure therapy, this is another useful method in which the patient is gradually exposed to the object of fear until they become desensitized and no longer have visceral reactions towards it. There are two ways of performing this procedure: in vitro or in vivo. In vitro involves the patient visualizing being exposed to the trigger while in vivo means that the patient is physically placed in contact with a stimulus. This is done in controlled measures under supervision of a mental health professional. It’s important to avoid extreme reactions where the patient is overexposed and may experience negative consequences.

How to Overcome the Fear of Pain

  • The first step is understanding how your phobia works. Then take steps to overcome it.
  • When you experience pain, try deep calming breaths to slow down your heart rate and prevent your panic from getting the better of you.
  • You can’t fight this on your own. Open up to your friends and family about how algophobia has affected your life. Let them help you get through it.
  • You can’t beat the phobia by locking yourself away and distancing yourself from the world. Go out and live your life. Strive to fight your fear.

Work through the Fear of Pain

Many self-help tips and professional therapies work hand in hand. Meditation and relaxation techniques help the patient through the desensitization stage of their professional therapy, and positive visualization is quite similar to the in vitro systematic desensitization technique.

All in all, it’s important to remember that overcoming the fear of pain is possible. The first step is always the most difficult. But with commitment and the right support from the people you trust or an expert medical provider (or both), you can break free from the grip of algophobia and enjoy your life.

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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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