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Animal Phobias

Chionophobia – The Fear of Snow

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Fluffy White Snow, Harmless? Not If You Have Chionophobia

Do you look for excuses not to leave the house in the winter? Are you terrified by the white carpet of snow that seems majestic to everyone else? Do you find yourself racing to the safe confines of home the minute the snow starts to fall?

You have no way of explaining why your eyes are glued to the weather report during the winter. Or why when winter holidays require you to walk out into the snow, you feel anxious. As a matter of fact, a white Christmas doesn’t fill you with joy like it does your family and friends.

If you relate to any of those scenarios, you may have chionophobia, or the fear of snow.

Living with such a fear is probably difficult and not easily understood by those who haven’t experienced it. Family and friends may tend to avoid the topic, viewing it as silly or thinking you’re simply trying to seek attention. However, to someone struggling with chionophobia, the fear is very real.

But there’s no need to lose hope. There are many treatment methods you can try. Read on to learn more.

What Causes the Phobia of Snow?

The term chionophobia originates from the Greek word chion, which refers to snow, and phobia which means fear. Chionophobia is the irrational fear of snow, and it is usually linked with the fear of death or physical harm.

Phobias manifest differently in different people based on their individual experiences. However, there are two prominent fears at the root of chionophobia. The first is the fear of being blockaded by snow or stuck in or held captive by it. The second is the fear of being stranded alone in the snow.

Chionophobia often originates from a negative childhood experience. It might be because you were hit with a hard snowball or were the victim of an accident on snowy or icy roads.

Snow often comes with harsh weather conditions which could result in being snowed in, loss of power, frozen pipes, or fallen trees. All these factors could prove dangerous. The thought of such dangers might develop into a fear of snow.

You may realize that your fear is irrational and unfounded. However, you still have a hard time accepting those facts let alone controlling your reaction. At times you may tend to refuse to step outside the door if snow covers the otherwise clear roads and driveways.

 

Symptoms of Chionophobia

Like all other phobias, chionophobia tends to cause varied symptoms.

Mental/Emotional Symptoms

The most common symptom of chionophobia is paying undue attention to weather reports. You begin to get stubborn and refuse to step out of the house when the weather is snowy. The fear of snow and stormy weather may sometimes fill you with a sense of dread and doom. This may lead to trembling and, in some cases, even panic attacks.

Chionophobia can also lead to depression.

Physical Symptoms

The physical symptoms of chionophobia include crying, screaming, shaking, and in some cases even vomiting. Other symptoms include heart palpitations and stomach disorders.

A rapid increase in heartbeat, trembling, nausea, and difficulty in breathing are other commonly observed physical symptoms of a fear of snow. You may also sweat excessively and feel like you are choking when the fear is triggered.

Like other phobias, chionophobia is an irrational fear. However, if you find that chionophobia is interrupting your daily life, it may be time to seek help.

Self-Help: What Can You Do for Yourself?

Before considering seeking professional help, try solving the problem on your own. After all, self-help is the best help. Since the mind tends to believe what you tell it, you can try reassuring yourself that it’s going to be okay.

Relaxation techniques such as breathing exercises and meditation can go a long way in calming the mind when the phobia is triggered. Counting numbers and reassuring yourself with positive thoughts and statements have also proven to be helpful in the long run.

An alternative method in treating chionophobia would be to expose yourself to your object of fear. With your phobia at its peak, it may sound impossible to do, but where there’s a will there’s a way. Maybe start small by simply watching the snow fall from the safety of your home. As you grow more confident, step out into the snow to stand or even for a short walk. As you continue to expose yourself to the snow, which may be difficult at times, you will find your fears slowly fade as you progress.

Gradually exposing yourself to wintertime activities also helps reduce your snow anxiety.

Professional Help for the Fear of Snow

Depending on the severity of your symptoms, it may be best to seek professional help. In some cases, extreme fear might affect the daily functioning of your life. It may affect your work and career. It’s important not to ignore symptoms, but instead seek treatment to get to the root of the fear.

Hypnotherapy has proven to be an effective remedy for treating various social phobias, including the fear of snow. It relaxes you deeply, allowing the therapist to understand the root cause of the phobia. In turn, you’ll be more open to suggestions on ways to overcome it. The therapy is known for its ability to reduce the severity and recurrence of panic attacks, which you may be suffering from as well.

Coping with Chionophobia

Treatment in no way guarantees your phobia will vanish. However, it will allow you to better manage your fear as opposed to being controlled by it. You may no longer feel the same levels of anxiety when in contact with snow, and will finally be able to cope with the fear.

Overcoming chionophobia can go a long way in helping you lead a more normal life. Who knows? One day you might even be able to go skiing with your friends or enjoy the fun-loving spirit that comes with a white Christmas.

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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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