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Environmental Phobias

Atelophobia – Fear of Imperfection

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Understanding Atelophobia – the Fear of Imperfection

Do you ever get the feeling that nothing you do is good enough? No matter how hard you try, you can’t attain the level of finesse for which you strive? Does that feeling eat you up inside? Does it make you feel inferior to your peers?

If your answer to any of these questions is yes, then there is a high probability that you have atelophobia.

Explaining such a fear to your friends and family seems impossible. You have a constant need to hold yourself back from doing something because you’re afraid you won’t do it right.

Living with fear like this can prove to be extremely difficult and has the potential to make you feel very anxious as well. However, don’t feel disheartened. There are ways to overcome such a phobia. But for that, you first need to find the root cause.

 

What Causes Atelophobia?

There is a chance that your atelophobia is biological. It means that you are wired to be insecure, sensitive, and a perfectionist. It could also be caused in reaction to a specific traumatic experience that involved terrible circumstances with failure or pressure to be perfect.

When you grow up in an environment that’s critical and judges your every move, you don’t learn to tolerate or even accept the concept of anything less than perfect.

The term atelophobia comes from two Greek words, atelos, meaning “imperfect” and phobia, meaning “fear.” Hence, the word very literally means fear of imperfection. We often feel threatened by our fears, but phobias involve no real threat or danger.

Atelophobia is a type of anxiety disorder that presents itself as fear or anxiety. Often, atelophobia is regarded as perfectionism, or the drive to be perfect. And while that may be considered true, it is also an irrational fear of making a mistake. You tend to get very obsessed with the mistakes you have made in the past and begin to imagine mistakes that you could possibly make in the future. These thoughts can cause overwhelming anxiety, which makes you feel panicky and nauseous.

Atelophobia often makes you judgmental and causes you to make negative evaluations that you’re not doing things perfectly or in the right manner. Such an irrational need for perfection is very different than having ambition or striving for excellence. You may feel crushed or disheartened just by the idea of failing.

Symptoms of Atelophobia

Psychological Symptoms

One very common symptom of atelophobia is emotional stress. Emotional stress manifests itself as an increase in anxiety, panic, and fear.

In the case of atelophobia, the feared stimulus can be subjective. It is because what may seem wrong or imperfect to someone may seem fine or even perfect to someone else.

It may also lead to indecisiveness, procrastination, avoidance. You may begin to check all your work for mistakes excessively. Eventually, you start seeking out reassurance from those around you. Such in-depth and detailed perfectionistic concern could also result in burnout.

Physical Symptoms

Due to the connection between the mind and body, it is very common for phobias to have physical symptoms. People experiencing atelophobia often complain of headaches and muscle tension.

Among other physical symptoms, you may feel hyperventilation, shortness of breath, and even stomach pain. People who have atelophobia may also suffer panic attacks when pressured into doing something in which they fear failure. It is important to know that atelophobia is different from atychiphobia, which is the fear of failure and may have entirely different symptoms.

Seeking help is the first step to learning how to overcome atelophobia.

 

Self Help—What Can You Do to Help Yourself

Before considering any professional treatment from outside, you should first consider finding a solution by yourself. After all, self-help is the best help. You could start by convincing yourself that your fear may be irrational.

The mind believes what it hears over and over again. Every day tell yourself that it is okay and whisper kind words of reassurance to yourself. Convince yourself that you’re doing okay.

When faced with situations in which the fear is triggered, try breathing exercises for keeping yourself calm. Take deep breaths or even try meditating. Another way to distract yourself from the fear could be to start to count numbers in your mind.

You could also try to write down your thoughts. This may help you realize patterns in which the atelophobia is triggering in you. Consciously focus on trying to replace the negative thoughts with positive qualities and traits.

Don’t be too hard on yourself. Replace all the negatives with positive beliefs and statements, which will deplete the fear. And eventually, make it vanish completely.

Professional Help for Fear of Imperfection

There are therapists, psychologists, and specialists in phobias available at the press of a button in today’s day and age. They have expertise in the area of phobias, anxiety, and perfectionist issues.

They can help you develop a treatment plan that may include psychotherapy, medication, or even treatment groups. If the treatment plan is adhered to, you will find that your fears will have slowly started to deplete without you even noticing.

Learning to Cope with Atelophobia

While phobias don’t always vanish completely, it is better to have a control on them. This way, at least, you are in control of the phobia and the phobia is not controlling you. It is always better to be in control.

You will find that once you have developed a coping mechanism, even with your existing fears, you won’t feel as anxious as you did before. You will start to see the changes in yourself as you go.

Overcoming atelophobia can go a long way in allowing you to lead a normal life. You can now start trying all those sports you’ve been holding yourself back from out of the fear you won’t be good at them. Or try and hone your skills without worrying about being perfect. It may sound hard to believe, but we all need to embrace our flaws.

Accept the simple fact that no one is perfect, no matter how much we try, no matter how far we go, or how deep we fall. Once you accept that, you will finally feel at peace with yourself. You will feel the anxiety vanish and be able to open yourself up to the innumerable opportunities the world has to offer. All you have to do is take a deep breath and assure yourself that you’ve got this. Then without wasting another moment on thinking, dive into the task or skill at hand!

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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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