Skip to content Skip to sidebar Skip to footer
3K
3K
740
3K
Menu
Menu
static-img
Cacomorphobia – The Fear of Fat People
Body Phobias

Cacomorphobia – The Fear of Fat People

Share This Article
Share Post

The Excessive Fear of Obese People

What is the first thing you experience when a fat or obese person approaches you? Does your heart race? Do you look for an escape?

Do you experience unexplained fear or disgust when you see someone overweight? Have you tried to control your anxiety around fat people and found that you just couldn’t? You may have a fear of fat people.

It might help you to know that there is a phobia for what you’re experiencing—it’s called cacomorphobia, or the fear of fat people.

What Is the Fear of Obese People Called?

Cacomorphobia is the term used for an extreme fear of fat people. Fearing fat people does not mean you discriminate against them. Although irrational, having a fear of overweight people is a legitimate phobia.

Let’s take a closer look at what this fear is. Knowing more about it will put you in a better place to cope with your fear.

What Fat Phobia Is All About

While some may simply not like overweight people, what you experience goes beyond having a personal dislike. Fat people trigger in you an unexplained and uncontrollable fear.

Cacomorphobia is different from the fear of obesity or fear of getting fat. The fear of obese people has to do with fearing the sight of fat people.

We encounter people of different shapes and sizes everywhere; this includes those who are overweight. As a matter of fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 70 percent of Americans are overweight or obese. This makes it difficult for someone with a fear of fat people to go about their day-to-day life without experiencing incidents of fear or anxiety.

What Causes Cacomorphobia?

For some, fat phobia is a media- or culture-induced fear. We rarely see fat people in movies and films, and when we do, they’re often portrayed in stereotype. We aren’t shown the human within the body shape. This can create misconceptions about those who are obese.

To understand your fear, however, you need to discover its root cause. Can you remember a traumatic experience with an obese person when you were younger? Like other phobias, negative experiences are often responsible for our fears.

You might have been bullied in school by a fat student. Perhaps you felt intimidated by an overweight person even though it wasn’t their intent. For this reason, you could have grown up thinking that fat people are harmful and are out to get you.

Fat Phobia Symptoms

Cacomorphobia has varied symptoms, many of which it shares with other phobias. The symptoms and the degree to which one experiences them differ from one person to another. Symptoms can also be influenced by the specific trigger for your fear of fat people phobia. You may experience symptoms that are physical, mental, and emotional.

Physical Symptoms

  • Increased heart rate
  • Profuse sweating
  • Shivering and trembling
  • Rapid or difficulty breathing
  • Wanting to flee and hide when you spot an obese person

Mental/Emotional Symptoms

  • Obsessive and uncontrolled thoughts about fat people
  • Having mental images of being attacked by an obese person
  • Experiencing agoraphobia, the fear of places that cause panic
  • Having an uncontrollable, irrational, or exaggerated response to a fat person
  • Intense focus on fat people to the extent that you find it hard to concentrate on anything else

Treatment Options for Fear of Fat People

Your fear of fat people is controllable. You don’t need to suffer because of unreasonable, illogical fear. The quality of your life may be severely impacted because of it. It might have even reached an extent where you find it difficult to function normally and carry out normal day-to-day tasks.

Don’t be discouraged. While there is no magic pill that will make all your fears go away overnight, there are options you can explore and steps you can take to get better. The first step is to start with self-help and see if it reduces your anxiety and fears.

Self-Help

Self-help calls for you to put more effort into your recovery. You can do things on your own that can help you minimize your cacomorphobia and its effects on your lifestyle. Go at a pace that you’re comfortable with. Be open to trying different methods since not all methods will work equally well.

Remember that recovery is a process that requires willingness, discipline, and commitment. Here are a few self-help methods you can try.

Write Down Your Thoughts

Only you truly understand what you go through when you encounter fat people. Write down what you feel and think. Go into as much detail as you can. Review what you write to gain more insight into your anxiety. Identify possible triggers and coping activities you can do the next time you start to experience your fear.

Talk to Someone You Trust

Whether it’s a close friend or a trusted family member, this person should care about you and have the capacity to calm and comfort you. Tell your selected confidante how your anxiety strikes you, what causes it, and what you have tried to do about it.

Mention specific incidents and how they played out. Use the opportunity to unload some of the weight of your fears and as a springboard for discussing how you might handle them better. Narrate incidents you care to share. You will realize just how helpful this is once you start doing it.

Try Relaxation Techniques

Relaxation techniques include meditation and controlled breathing. When in public and within sight of a fat person, breathe in and out until you get your fears and your breathing under control. You will realize that this relaxes your mind and releases anxiety.

Another relaxation technique is self-affirmation. Look for positive, affirming statements that can help you overcome your fear and are meaningful for you. For example, you can remind yourself that you’re in control and that your fears are only as great as you make them.

Look into Support Groups

It is comforting to know that you’re not alone when dealing with cacomorphobia. Support groups can help you find people who are going through the same challenges as you. Sharing your fears with others who have gone through similar experiences is not only cathartic but can also provide you with helpful ways to deal with your fear.

If joining a support group in person seems like too big a step, you can look for one online. For people who may be shy or feel too embarrassed to talk about something so personal in front of strangers, it’s a good alternative.

Professional Help

If you’ve been considering getting professional help, try therapy. You can look for therapists, counselors, psychologists, or even psychiatrists who specialize in handling phobias. Some therapies you may encounter include psychotherapy and desensitization therapy.

Talk Therapy or Psychotherapy

In psychotherapy or talk therapy, you’ll talk with a mental health professional. Your therapist will listen to help you cope with your situation better. Together, you’ll work to understand your moods, sentiments, and behaviors. Your therapist can help you define the root of your fear based on your past experiences. He or she can also offer tips on how you can cope with your anxiety better.

Desensitization Therapy

Desensitization therapy in fear of fat phobia requires you to spend time in the company of fat people. While it may be hard at first, you will gradually get used to their presence. Desensitization therapy works by creating new thought associations to modify former behavior. It seeks to reduce fears with relaxation and more positive reactions.

How to Cope with Fear of Fat People

Remind yourself that being overweight doesn’t make a person bad. A person’s shape does not define their character. Together with the support network you choose, you can work on your fear of fat people and create a calm environment where you can peacefully and more healthily coexist with those of all shapes and sizes.

Conclusion

While your doctor may prescribe antidepressants or sedatives for short-term relief, you should also look for non-medicated ways to manage your fear. Now that you know more about what cacomorphobia is, you can look into getting the help you need whether it’s by engaging in self-help activities or by looking for a trained professional for treatment.

As you learn to manage your fear, be patient with yourself. Have faith that you can overcome this and you’ll become stronger from the experience.

Stories Submitted by Our Readers

Fear of Fat People

I’m not sure it is a phobia, but I am very uncomfortable, nervous, and my anxiety begins to raise around those that are grossly overweight. I may have this feeling since I was at one time obese. I mainly just get nervous but then I get sad, and I try to avoid fat people at all costs. I may not have a panic attack, but I do feel like I need to get away. I just wish I could control it since I know it is wrong to dislike others due to their weight or appearance, but I cannot control it. This makes me sad and depressed because of the way I feel.

Elaine B.

SUBMIT YOUR 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.
0LikesShare Post

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.
This Pop-up Is Included in the Theme
Best Choice for Creatives
Purchase Now