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Other Phobias

Chromophobia – Fear of Colors

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Life Is a Rainbow, but Not If You Have a Fear of Colors

Do you avoid large swatches of bright colors?

Perhaps certain colors make you feel uncomfortable or cause physical symptoms. You may break into a sweat or leave places that are too colorful.

Or do you feel disgust when surrounded by too many colors at once?

Is chromophobia a phobia of fear or disgust?

If any of this sounds famliar, then you may suffer from chromophobia, also known as the fear of colors.

This fear of colors affects less than 2 percent of people worldwide, including the veteran director, Woody Allen and actor Billy Bob Thornton.

Read on for more about chromophobia meaning and how to tackle it.

Everything You Need to Know about Chromophobia

What is the fear of colors called? Chromophobia is the common name for fear of colors. It’s also known as chromatophobia. Understanding this phobia might be hard if you don’t suffer from it. After all, what threats do colors pose?

Some develop this phobia for specific colors or a range of colors. Woody Allen once opened up about his phobia of bright colors.

Colors act as a metaphor for humans. The phobia of colors may stem from this perception. For example, the color red typically denotes stop, anger, or bloodshed while the color white denotes peace, freedom, and death in some cultures.

Chromophobia, or a fear of colors, is generally an irrational and conditioned response. However, there are cases where the phobia is more than just an aversion—it’s a clinical phobia.

Chromophobia Causes

While many factors may cause chromophobia, in most cases, it’s a learned response.

The first possible cause is culture. This suggests that chromophobia is most likely a result of a person’s upbringing, culture, or religion. To most people, the fear of black, also known as melanophobia, stems from the fact the color black is associated with evil, mourning, and darkness.

Experience and trauma are the second known causes of chromophobia. Many who have suffered tragedy in their lives may associate a particular color with it. They may be reminded of this tragic event whenever they see the color. For example, if a person is involved in a life-altering accident while driving a green car, they may feel apprehensive about the color green.

There is a cinematic depiction of this phobia in the 1964 thriller film, Marnie. In the film, the main character suffers from a fear of red brought on by a childhood trauma.

In some cases, the fear of certain colors is just a result of brain activity and its attributions to displeasing things. Some people associate red with blood and yellow with bees.

Are There Various Forms of Chromophobia?

Yes, there are many forms of this phobia. They are divided into subcategories depending on colors. Some of the types of chromophobia are:

  1. Xanthophobia: Fear of yellow
  2. Cyanophobia: Fear of blue
  3. Prasinophobia: Fear of green
  4. Leukophobia: Fear of white
  5. Melanophobia: Fear of black

Responses to the fear stimulus differ from person to person. Some may experience panic attacks, while others may have difficulty performing daily duties or going out in public. Others suffer a milder form of chromophobia which makes them highly reluctant to use certain colors in interior design and fashion. The most common color phobias are xanthophobia and melanophobia. Read on to learn about symptoms and treatments options for chromophobia.

Chromophobia Symptoms

Exposure to a stimulus can induce fear and anxiety in a person with a phobia. Chromophobia is a real condition in which a person may go to great lengths to avoid a certain color. This may have an impact on how a person functions, as they may avoid going out with friends, going to work, and even choose not to watch television out of fear. However, in most circumstances, it isn’t a major difficulty unless they come into contact with the color in a specific situation.

Mental/Emotional Symptoms

  • Avoiding clothes of the dreaded colors
  • Avoiding social settings
  • Strong reluctance to use colors in interior decor

Physical Symptoms

  • Panic attacks
  • Difficulty concentrating and breathing
  • Nausea
  • Dry mouth
  • Heart palpitations
  • Shivering and trembling
  • Migraines and headaches

Chromophobia Treatment: How to Deal with Chromophobia

Chromophobia is a difficult condition to endure. Before seeking professional help, you can try some self-care to help yourself with your fears.

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

Yoga is the most effective and self-paced treatment for anxiety and phobias. Yoga has numerous advantages, including being one of the most efficient ways of combating anxiety. It boosts mental wellness and teaches good breathing techniques, which are especially helpful for stress induced by phobias. It may also aid in sleeping and relaxation, which may help lower response when confronted with a phobia. Yoga also boosts energy levels and enhances mood. Practicing yoga poses two or three times a week can go a long way in a battle with chromophobia, especially if your phobia keeps you up at night.

Professional Help for the Fear of Color(s): Options Available

While psychotherapy is one option for overcoming a fear of colors phobia, there are various other options available for chromophobia treatment. It’s easier to get help than it is to learn to live with chromophobia. Going to a therapist will help reduce your anxiety and lessen your fears. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a method of dealing with phobias that is therapeutic and effective.

CBT is concerned with a patient’s behaviors, feelings, and thoughts. The involved therapist assists in identifying and dealing with specific difficulties. It is more systematic than other talk therapies and seeks to understand how a person developed their fear, why they behave the way they do, and how they feel when they are vulnerable.

When a therapist encounters a patient with a phobia like chromophobia, the aim is to change their attitude to the phobic stimulus. Exposure therapy is one of the most common treatment methods for phobias. This treatment entails exposing the patient to the phobic element, in this case, color. This is also known as desensitization. This is done deliberately in order to evoke a response from the patient. The goal here is to note a diminishing response to the fear stimulus. For example, someone with a fear of red might be gradually exposed to the color through LED lighting.

Hypnosis could be beneficial too. Although many people are hesitant to undergo hypnosis, in the case of therapy, it is done by a skilled professional. Hypnotherapy is a safe and effective form of treatment that does not attempt to take control of your mind or body. It just assists in allowing you to go deeper into your subconscious to find the root of your fear.

Learning to Cope with Chromophobia

Learning to cope with a phobia is essential, especially if your phobia is something you’ll have to deal with regularly. Seek counseling to help you overcome your anxiety. Next time, you won’t have to worry about all the red merchandise on Valentine’s Day or the green costumes on Saint Patrick’s Day.

Rounding It Off

Overcoming chromophobia can be hard, especially if it takes control of your life. It can manifest in many ways. Maybe you’re afraid to visit concerts or even watch TV out of the fear of being exposed to themes with the color you fear. Or maybe you can never buy that obnoxious green wallpaper that your partner loves. So, seek help. Whether you choose the self-care route or try therapy, be consistent. You could also consider a mixed approach. The end goal here is to lessen your fear. And you can if you allow yourself time for treatment.

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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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