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Rare Phobias

Casadastraphobia – The Fear of Falling into the Sky

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The Fear of Falling into the Sky

Do you sometimes hyperventilate or become anxious because you feel like your body is losing gravity?

Or do you sometimes feel like you may fall upward—as if gravity has ceased working for you alone?

What you may be experiencing is a rare phobia called casadastraphobia. Casadastraphobia, or the fear of falling into the sky, is less common than other types of fears, but it is a valid phobia.

Why am I afraid of falling into the sky? Read on for some helpful information.

If you’re struggling to cope with the fear of falling into the sky, there are some steps you can take to overcome or manage your fear. The first step is to understand how the fear developed within you. Once you’re able to pinpoint its origin, it may be easier for you to find a solution.

Some Common Casadastraphobia Causes

Like any other type of fear or phobia, casadastraphobia doesn’t generally have a specific cause.

Some scientific studies suggest that the cause of this fear may be genetic. Having a family member suffering with this phobia, especially directly related members, may transfer it to their offspring. Some also believe environment plays a crucial role in the development of phobias.

Some traumatic past experience involving the sky can also cause this fear. Casadastraphobia can also arise from another mental illness, like generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) or obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). People with OCD and GAD are more likely to develop this phobia.

Everything You Need to Know about Casadastraphobia

Casasdastraphobia is a fantasy phobia. This means there is a low probability of the dreaded event ever occurring. The onset of the phobia involves imaginative thinking. It is common for those struggling with this phobia to obsessively think about their fear.

There appears to be a link between this fear and vertigo. This suggests that dizziness may trigger the fear.

Casadastraphobia is a new concept of irrational fear that has not yet made its way into mainstream medicine.

Listed Casadastraphobia Symptoms

Just like any other phobia, casadastraphobia has no particular symptom that helps distinguish it from other phobias. The good news is that those suffering from this phobia can lead healthy, normal lives. Being aware of the symptoms will help you get diagnosed and treated as early as possible before things worsen.

Casadastraphobia can cause the following physical symptoms:

  • Hot flushes
  • Shortness of breath
  • A choking sensation
  • Rapid heartbeat
  • Numbness in body
  • Dry mouth
  • Hyperventilation
  • Tightness in chest
  • Nausea
  • A feeling of faintness

Casadastraphobia can cause the following psychological symptoms:

  • Fear of losing control
  • Feeling of dread
  • Fear of dying
  • Fear of harm
  • Withdrawing from others
  • Feeling disconnected
  • Confusion, difficulty concentrating
  • Irritability and mood swings
  • Anxiety and fear

Those with casadastraphobia may also feel unable to go to places with high altitudes, or in extreme cases, even be on open ground.

Based on the severity of the phobia, it’s possible one may exhibit some or all of the symptoms above.

When Should One Seek Treatment for Casadastraphobia?

Despite having this fear, many people who have mild symptoms can lead a healthy life. If, however, your symptoms get worse and you’re unable to cope with the fear, seek professional help.

Seek treatment if:

  • You are not able to lead a normal life due to this phobia
  • Your symptoms are getting worse every day
  • You are struggling to cope with your phobia
  • You have difficulty socializing
  • You are experiencing frequent panic attacks

Casadastraphobia Treatment Options

Since this fear has only been recognized recently, it’s hard to determine how many people are affected by it. However, certain phobias like this can be impossible to avoid or cope with. You may want to consult an expert for guidance and advice regarding treatment options.

Even though most phobias are treatable, there is no single treatment that will work for everyone. In some cases, a combination of several treatments will be recommended.

How Treatment Can Help You

  • Identify unhelpful patterns when you are exposed to this phobia
  • Understand yourself better and make sense of what’s going on
  • Provide a safe environment where you can talk about your phobias without judgment

Self-Help

No one can help you better than yourself, and that is true here as well. You know what your symptoms are and what you feel. You are your first line of defense.

Try to convince yourself that your fear is irrational and the chances of it happening are almost zero. Reassuring yourself this way will help you feel more comfortable talking about or thinking about your fear.

By sharing your situation and fear with your loved ones, you can get a fresh perspective from others. Perhaps they can offer ideas on how to deal with the situation more effectively.

Meditation

Meditation is an effective way to calm yourself and learn to better handle situations, not only during feelings of panic but also in daily life. By practicing meditation, you will also learn how to manage your feelings and not dwell on your fears. When you feel fear stemming from a past event, meditation will help you live more in the present rather than getting caught up in the past.

Additional Self-Help Tips

  • Learn how to cope with panic and anxiety
  • Join a support group
  • Get enough sleep
  • Eat healthy
  • Avoid or reduce caffeine and other stimulants

Professional Treatment

Exposure Therapy

Exposure therapy involves gradually exposing yourself to your fear over time. This gradual exposure may eventually make you comfortable in the presence of the object of your fear and reduce your anxiety.

Cognitive Therapy

Cognitive therapy is based on the idea that how we perceive something has a direct effect on how we feel about it. If you can learn to think about the object of your fear differently, you will be able to cope with it better.

Learning to Cope with Casadastraphobia

If you’ve ever given up on something that meant a lot to you because you were afraid, you probably understand the importance of “doing it regardless.” Heights, snakes, and spiders are all terrifying. Even so, this doesn’t imply you should never fly, hike, or wander into the woods again. Allow yourself to be anxious, and then do your best to go on.

Yes, phobias are irritating, especially when they limit one’s freedom. Why not work to get yours under control as soon as possible, so you can get back to living life to the fullest.

 

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.
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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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