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Environmental Phobias

Blennophobia – The Fear of Slime

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Decoding Blennophobia: The Fear of Slime

Do you remember when the slime trend took over social media in 2016? Did watching slime videos make you squirm in discomfort?

Watching Instagram’s clever algorithm throw one slime video after the other must have been a terrifying time for you. You probably experienced terror watching snails leave a wet trail behind. If that’s the case, in all likelihood you may suffer from blennophobia. But guess what, there’s a way of working around your fear. Read on to learn more about your fear of slime and how you can overcome it.

Everything You Need to Know about Blennophobia

What phobia is the fear of slime? Blennophobia is the fear of slime. It’s an irrational fear that induces anxiety when exposed to or experiencing slime or any other slimy materials such as body fluids or foods.

Is Blennophobia a Phobia of Fear or Disgust?

What is blennophobia meaning? The word “blennophobia” originated from the Greek term blénnos meaning “slime” or “mucus.” The good news? If you look up “blennophobia meaning” on Google, the search results will not return a picture of slime. Disclaimer: Do not search “blennophobia” alone.

Blennophobia is a rare phobia that has been largely ignored in medicine. However, as reports of irrational fears increased, researchers began paying closer attention to it. Currently, blennophobia is categorized as a DSM-V anxiety disorder in individuals suffering from it. This irrational fear can be provoked by slimy foods, humid environments that produce slime, and even snails.

There are three known categories of phobias which include specific phobias, social phobias, and agoraphobia. Blennophobia is an example of a specific phobia. It pertains to a single entity or object.

Blennophobia can be often confused with the myxophobia, but don’t worry. They’re similar. Myxophobia is defined as the fear of slime and mucus. Interestingly enough, there’s also a separate fear for slimy creatures known as molluscophobia.

What Causes Blennophobia?

The most common cause of blennophobia is experience. If a person has had traumatic experiences related to slime, then that may be the main cause of developing this phobia. Maybe they were victims of bullying and had a large amount of slimy liquid thrown at them. Past experiences like this, particularly traumatizing ones, are the main cause of blennophobia. Oddly enough, a lack of experience with something is also linked to the development of phobias.

The third cause of blennophobia is genetics. Science has theorized that genetics play a huge role in determining if a child will develop blennophobia. A parent or grandparent with severe blennophobia may pass these genes to their family, who might manifest symptoms of blennophobia after a trigger event. Additionally, blennophobia is more frequent among those who have sensory integration disorder.

Is Blennophobia Irrational?

Yes, blennophobia is an irrational fear. The National Institute of Mental health states that specific phobias such as blennophobia are usually induced by external stimuli that pose no actual threat. However, it should never become the subject of a prank. It’s just as harmful as putting a snake on someone who has a phobia of snakes. It can lead to anxiety, shortness of breath, hyperventilating, heart palpitations, etc.

Symptoms of Blennophobia

Phobias are very real despite how unreasonable they may sound. That’s why it’s so important to know how they might affect an individual suffering from it. Here are some blennophobia symptoms to look out for:

Mental/Emotional Symptoms

Blennophobia symptoms manifest in many ways. One suffering from this phobia will avoid damp areas at all costs since slime dwells on damp and irrigated soil. But in the long term, such habits of avoiding certain areas or food may lead to obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).

Being exposed to the fear stimulus can also cause a person to have a panic attack and possibly go into cardiac arrest. Even though death by fear is a rare condition, it’s not impossible.

Physical Symptoms

Apart from affecting a person mentally, blennophobia can also cause certain physical changes in individuals. These include:

  • Heart palpitations
  • Tensed muscles
  • Hypervigilance or showing extreme alertness to the stimulus
  • Trembling and quivering
  • Nausea
  • Restlessness
  • Dizziness
  • Hot flashes and chills
  • Feeling of dryness in the mouth or choking
  • Excessive sweating
  • Increased blood pressure

How Do You Deal with Blennophobia?

In case you might be asking yourself if there is treatment available for blennophobia, you’re in luck! There are a variety of treatments available to help people cope with their fear of slime.

Self-Help: What Can You Do to Help Yourself?

Knowing your fear and how to treat it is important. So, take a deep breath whenever you experience inexplicable fear involving slime. Begin by jotting down how you feel when you experience slime around you. Make a note of every emotion you go through while experiencing this fear. Now, try to replace these negative thoughts with certain positive associations.

Try relaxation techniques. Deep breathing and sipping on a cup of warm, soothing tea can help you get into a calmer state of mind. Meditation is also helpful in reducing stress and anxiety. Yoga, too, is effective. Watching yoga videos and practicing different poses daily has proven to alleviate anxiety and fear. Exercising daily can also be highly effective.

Professional Help for the Fear of Slime: The Options Available

Of course, if self-help methods aren’t enough, you can consider seeking help from experts to deal with your phobia. Blennophobia treatment includes many therapies. Mental health professionals may suggest cognitive-behavioral therapy. It’s one of the most widely prescribed treatments for mental illnesses. You will meet with a therapist to discuss your fear and determine the cause of it. Remember, as the patient you must share and reflect on how you developed your fear, why you react the way you do, and how you feel when they are vulnerable.

Exposure therapy is also one of the most popular blennophobia treatments recommended by experts. In this treatment, you are exposed to the stimulus, in this case, slime. This is done to elicit a response in you that will subside over time. The therapy’s main takeaway is that the stimulus will not harm anyone, especially you. Exposure will be safe, gradual, and guided by your therapist.

Talk therapy, also known as talking treatment, is another form of counseling that facilitates communication between you and a therapist. The goal is to help you air out all your feelings and worries. The sessions are private without enforcing a sense of judgment and intrusion. Sometimes this can help you discover more about yourself and hopefully detach from your irrational fears.

Apart from therapy, medication may be used. Although there are no specific medications for blennophobia, anti-anxiety medications and antidepressants could be prescribed to you if you’re prone to panic attacks. However, before taking any drugs for blennophobia, first consult your doctor. Self-diagnosis and self-prescribing can be dangerous.

Learning to Cope with Blennophobia

Despite the many available treatments, your blennophobia might not completely go away. But getting your phobia treated will certainly help in reducing the intensity of your fear. In the long term, you’ll be able to handle yourself better in stressful situations.

Wrapping It Up

Suffering from blennophobia is real. Don’t be embarrassed to seek treatment if you suffer from anxiety around slime. Do what makes you feel better about your phobia. With time, slime won’t be your villain anymore.

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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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