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Environmental Phobias

Anglophobia – The Fear of the English

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Cheerio, Do You Fear the English?

If you’re someone who dreads the thought of England, its people, or its culture, you might have anglophobia. This is a specific phobia, which means it’s an irrational and excessive fear of a particular thing or situation, specifically England-English.

If you have anglophobia, you might feel like you’re having a panic attack when you’re around anything related to England or English culture.

You might have trouble breathing, your heart might race, and you might sweat a lot. Other symptoms might include muscle tension or cramps, and going to great lengths to avoid anything related to England.

We don’t really know what causes anglophobia, but it may be a combination of genetics and environmental factors. If your family has a history of mental illness, especially anxiety disorders or specific phobias, you may be more likely to develop anglophobia. And if you’ve had a traumatic experience that’s related to England, that could also contribute to your phobia.

Symptoms of Anglophobia

Symptoms of the fear of England may vary from person to person, but may include:

  1. Panic attacks: These can involve symptoms such as rapid breathing, an increased heart rate, dizziness, and chest pain.
  2. Difficulty breathing: People with anglophobia may experience shortness of breath or a feeling of suffocation when confronted with anything related to England or English culture.
  3. Increased heart rate: The fear associated with anglophobia can cause the heart to race or beat irregularly.
  4. Sweating: Excessive sweating is a common symptom of anxiety and can be experienced by people with anglophobia.
  5. Muscular tension: People with anglophobia may experience muscle tension or cramping, particularly in the chest, neck, or shoulders.
  6. Avoidance: People with anglophobia may go to great lengths to avoid anything related to England or English culture, such as avoiding travel to England or avoiding activities or events that involve English themes.

 

 

Treatment for Anglophobia

If you’re dealing with anglophobia and find it’s causing you distress, there are a few things you can try.

Start with Self-Help

There are several self-help strategies that may be useful in managing anglophobia:

  1. Exercise: Regular physical activity can help reduce stress and anxiety.
  2. Relaxation techniques: Techniques such as deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and meditation can help reduce anxiety and promote relaxation.
  3. Stress management techniques: Strategies such as time management, setting boundaries, and prioritizing self-care can help reduce stress and improve overall wellbeing.
  4. Seek support: Talk to a trusted friend or family member about your fears and ask for their support.
  5. Learn about your phobia: Understanding more about anglophobia and how it affects you can help you feel more in control of your anxiety.
  6. Challenge negative thoughts: Identify and challenge negative thoughts and beliefs about England or English culture.
  7. Gradually expose yourself to your fear: Gradually exposing yourself to your fear in a controlled and safe environment can help you build up your tolerance and reduce your anxiety.

These self-help strategies may improve anglophobia symptoms, but they are not a substitute for professional treatment. If you’re experiencing significant distress due to anglophobia, it’s important to seek help from a mental health professional. They can work with you to develop a treatment plan tailored to your needs to better manage your symptoms and improve your quality of life.

 

From Self-Help Options to More Effective Professional Treatments

One option is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT helps you understand the thoughts and behaviors that contribute to your anxiety, and teaches you how to change them so you can reduce symptoms.

Another option is exposure therapy, which involves gradually exposing you to your fear in a controlled and safe environment. This might involve visualizing yourself in a situation related to England, or gradually exposing yourself to images or other stimuli related to England.

In conjunction with other therapies, there are also antidepressants or anti-anxiety medications available. These medications treat symptoms, but do not treat the phobia itself. It’s important to talk to a medical professional before starting any new medication, because they can have side effects and might not be right for each individual.

Talk therapy is one of the most effective and accessible options. There are two ways to engage in talk therapy, the easiest being from your home computer or even on your cell phone. People highly underestimate the power of simply talking with someone. Add in the tools provided by a professional therapist, and you can see how helpful talk therapy could be.

 

Wrap-Up

If you think you might have anglophobia, it’s a good idea to seek help from a mental health professional. They can work with you to come up with a treatment plan that’s right for you. Treatment can help you manage your symptoms and improve your quality of 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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