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Other Phobias

The Fear of Chemicals – Chemophobia

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The Excessive Fear of Chemicals

Do you find yourself shaking in fear when it’s time to wash your hair? Does the prospect of taking medication stain your clothes with perspiration?

If that is the case, you may have chemophobia.

Chemophobia is the fear of chemicals. And what is the fear of chemicals? It’s typically a fear of the unknown. It develops because of not knowing what chemicals are in your shampoo, medicines, or any products you use on a daily basis.

Sometimes, the fear could also be a result of misinformation or misconception, especially about what the word “chemical” means.

Chemicals make up almost everything we interact with. Our food and beverages contain chemicals, as does our cleaning equipment. Even our soaps and shampoos are chemically based. While we can’t just stop using these products, identifying chemophobia at an early stage can help address it.

Causes of Chemophobia

According to the American Council on Science and Health, chemophobia often results from scary stories, exaggerated claims, and misinformation gathered from sources that may not be reliable.

Not long ago, if one was sick, they would simply visit a doctor and take the medication prescribed without question. If they did have questions, the doctor was the only qualified person they could ask.

However, with the rise of the internet, we now have access to countless opinions and alternative takes on any given subject. And with plenty of marketers and influencers trying to sell you their products, services, or concepts, people are often misled into believing potentially dangerous ideas.

Studies have also shown that personality traits such as paranoia can play a major role in the development of chemophobia. Such paranoia contributes to the cultivation of falsehoods or confusions about chemicals. And when a person is confused about whether or not it is safe to use a particular chemical, they avoid it. Not because they believe the falsehood but because there’s a zero percent chance of anything bad happening with a chemical you don’t use. They simply don’t want to take the risk.

Why Is the Fear of Chemicals Irrational?

While a healthy dose of skepticism is important when deciding what to consume and what not to, too much of it can paralyze you and significantly impact your everyday life.

Chemicals are everywhere and in everything. What’s classified as “synthetic products” are made from chemicals found in nature; they simply go through additional processing.

Decades of media attention and rumor have assigned a negative connotation to the term “chemicals.” And many companies today use this to their advantage by advertising their products as “chemical-free” or “100% natural,” even though what you’re getting, be it skin lotion or painkillers, are still technically chemicals.

Chemophobia Symptoms

Life can be difficult when you don’t trust the integrity of the manufacturers that make the chemicals we need and use every day.

Chemicals are essentially anything from the material world. Some chemicals are safe, and some are unnecessary and dangerous. Since not all of us can have all the information we need to make our choices, we have to rely on scientists and regulatory bodies. These groups research and approve the chemical products introduced into the market and work to ensure our safety.

But to someone who fears chemicals without any scientific basis, the sight or even the thought of chemicals can trigger an emotional response. This is a serious problem. Those who suffer from chemophobia are likely to fall prey to false marketing and may end up consuming unapproved, harmful products.

If you want to determine whether you may have chemophobia, here are some symptoms to look for:

Physical Symptoms

  • Muscle tension
  • Hypersensitivity
  • Avoiding essential medicines
  • Panic attacks
  • Dizziness

Mental/Emotional Symptoms

  • Depression
  • Paranoia
  • Anxiety around chemicals or when thinking about chemicals

How Do You Deal with Chemophobia?

The fear of chemicals is not completely irrational. Hazardous chemicals do exist, so there’s good reason to be cautious of them to an extent. But you cross the line from caution to phobia when your response to the very idea of chemicals is emotionally fueled and lacking in knowledge.

This is why it’s important to acknowledge that you may have a problem. Then you can learn to deal with chemophobia.

Self-Help: What Are the Options?

The source of this fear is usually misconception. We fear what we don’t understand, and that’s normal. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. So the best way to go about helping yourself overcome chemophobia is to educate yourself on the products you’re consuming.

Make sure you consult reliable sources—physicians, chemists, and researchers—instead of getting your takes from outlets that don’t provide solid evidence to support their claims. Get your information from reputable sources such as the food, drug, or cosmetics regulatory institutions in your country.

The world has no shortage of paid actors and con artists, which is something you probably already know. The doors of scientific discourse are open to everyone. However, sometimes under the rigors of the scientific process, individuals can’t back up their tall claims about specific chemical products. They resort to deception to market their ideas or alternative products. You need to be vigilant of these types of individuals.

Professional Chemophobia Treatment

Professional treatment for a phobia as complex as chemophobia can include many options. But here are the two most common methods of treatment practiced.

Exposure Therapy

This process works by exposing the individual to the subject of their fear in small but progressive doses over a period of time. So, in the case of chemicals, a therapist will begin with simple stimuli, like a picture of bleach. Depending on the extent of your symptoms, your therapist may move on to stronger stimuli. This can help you practice learning how to manage your anxiety in a safe way.

The therapy may also include visualization exercises where the patient is asked to imagine fictional scenarios involving chemicals. The goal is to desensitize you without giving you more anxiety than you can handle at each stage.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive behavioral therapy, also called CBT, involves having an open conversation with the therapist to help you uproot your fear. Therapists help patients find the irrational or emotional origins of their fear of chemicals and replace them with more rational thoughts.

These sessions aren’t about debunking your ideas about the specific chemicals you use. You may be correct and aware of the hazards of certain chemicals. The therapy is aimed at reducing the overall fear of chemicals that hinders you from enjoying a good quality of life. It’s important to come in with an open mind for these sessions to make the most of them.

Coping with Chemophobia in the Long Term

As with any phobia, overcoming chemophobia can take time. It’s not an easy process. And don’t worry, you don’t have to start trusting bleach and oven cleaners tomorrow. But make sure you take the time to set reasonable goals and milestones and follow them.

Many times people with phobias tend to lose hope and give in to their fears by setting up walls between them and the subject of their fear. This, however, results in them restricting the quality of their own life. They become unwelcoming of anything unfamiliar including other people and refuse to seek medical treatment.

That’s why it’s important to keep a trusted friend, partner, professional, or family member in the loop. There will always be someone willing to help see you through it.

Final Thoughts

When you need to deal with a phobia, particularly the fear of chemicals, avoid a defeatist approach. There are hundreds of chemicals that are vital to our survival and well-being.

The most important way to deal with chemophobia is to use verified sources to build your knowledge pool. By doing so, you can overcome your fears and help others find the same strength.

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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