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Environmental Phobias

Cymophobia or Kymophobia – The Fear of Waves or Wave-Like Motions

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The Fear of Waves or Wave-Like Motions

Going up and down, up and down, wave after wave, endless energy. Do these simple thoughts cause you discomfort?

Do you avoid the wave pools at water parks? Does your stomach churn at the thought of activities like surfing and paddle boarding? What about a big boat riding up and down on fifteen-foot rolling waves, or a simple walk on the ocean beach? If your answer was a firm yes, you may have cymophobia or kymophobia, the excessive fear of waves or wave-like motions.

Reading about floods, tsunamis, and hurricanes on the news must make your heart race and your mouth run dry. You probably can’t even think of living near deep, large bodies of water, such as the ocean.

Simply being near the sea can aggravate your fears of drowning or suffocation by huge waves. It can feel impossible to push away thoughts of waves to avoid triggering your cymphobia. But it doesn’t always have to be this way. To deal with this phobia, first try to have a deeper understanding of it.

What Is Cymophobia?

Cymophobia is the irrational fear of waves, sea swells, and wave-like motions. The meaning of cymophobia originates from the Greek word cymo meaning “waves” and phobos meaning “fear”. This phobia is also linked with the phobia of water called aquaphobia.

It might sound like an odd thing to fear, but it’s something you can learn to overcome. If you suffer from cymophobia, don’t be disheartened. You can deal with it by learning more about its causes, symptoms, and treatments.

Cymophobia Causes

Individuals with cymophobia tend to be afraid they’ll be consumed, drowned, and suffocated by waves, even when they’re asleep. There are several factors that can result in someone developing cymophobia. Here are a few notable causes that may be responsible:

Past Experiences

If a person had traumatic experiences with water at a young age or was a victim of bullying, there is a greater likelihood of them developing cymophobia. It could be because someone pushed them into the deeper end of a pool, the sea, or even off the slide, which may have been traumatizing enough to have a lasting impression.

Genetics

Studies have shown that phobias can run in families. There could be one or more family members who have a fear of waves and may have passed on those genes to their offspring.

Upbringing

Some people may have been raised in environments where others struggled with fear or phobia. These fears can be learned. One may develop a sense of fearfulness of any kind of danger, including that related to waves or wave-like motions. Such long-lasting fears can progress into phobia.

Symptoms of Cymophobia

There are various signs one can watch for when diagnosing cymophobia. The level of fear individuals experience may differ, but the primary symptom with all phobias is anxiety.

If left untreated, any phobia—including cymophobia—can further escalate and lead to other conditions such as depression and panic attacks. Knowing how to manage anxiety can help a person overcome their fear of waves.

Phobias are complicated, and they rarely manifest in the same way in different people. A person suffering from cymophobia may be comfortable with swimming in a pool but experience discomfort around a large body of open water like the sea or ocean.

Symptoms such as fear and panic are also common as the brain can create imaginary situations without the person actually experiencing it. A person need not be exposed to waves or wave-like motions to be triggered.

So, if you’re wondering, “do I have cymophobia,” here are some of the symptoms you can watch for:

Physical Symptoms

  • Sweating
  • Choking sensation
  • Hot flashes or chills
  • Trembling
  • Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
  • Nausea
  • Headaches and dizziness
  • Pain or tightness in the chest
  • Dry mouth
  • Rapid heartbeat (tachycardia)
  • Hyperventilation
  • Rise in blood pressure
  • Fear of fainting
  • Confusion or disorientation
  • Need to visit the washroom frequently
  • Ringing in the ears
  • Numbness

Mental/Emotional Symptoms

  • Anxiety and fear
  • Fear of dying
  • Fear of losing control
  • Fear of harm or illness
  • Feeling lost or disconnected
  • Fear of shame, guilt, self-blame
  • Feelings of anger, irritability, mood swings
  • Feeling disconnected and hopeless
  • Feelings of dread
  • Confusion
  • Withdrawal from others

Cymophobia Treatment

Having a phobia can be debilitating. It can affect one’s social life as well as interpersonal relationships. However, there are various ways to cope with this fear.

So, how do you deal with cymophobia? The first step to dealing with cymophobia is to accept the fact that you have a problem. Admitting that you have an irrational fear and seeking help is key in your journey to recovery.

While there is no one specific cymophobia treatment, you can explore different treatment options and see what helps more. Usually, you can go about this in two ways: one is self-help and the other is by seeking professional help.

Self-Help

Before you consider getting help from a professional, you can try a number of self-help techniques to deal with cymophobia. Reassuring statements and positive reinforcements can go a long way in dealing with the fear. In addition to the methods listed below, you can also try relaxation techniques like deep breathing, controlled breathing, or meditation.

Exercise Regularly

Even if you don’t get time to exercise because of your busy schedule, try and squeeze in some light movements. Exercise helps release endorphins that will make you feel calmer and more relaxed. It can also help with releasing repressed anxiety.

Yoga and Meditation

Yoga is known to reduce stress and anxiety as it tends to stimulate a meditative state of mind. You can try out a beginner’s yoga class and practice it for a few days to see how it affects you. Yoga along with meditation is known to help people attain a calmer and balanced outlook.

Professional Treatment

Seeking professional help can allow you to better understand your phobia. Once you identify the root of your phobia, you can begin to figure out how to overcome your fear of waves and wave-like motions.

Talk Therapies

Talk therapies are a type of counseling between a therapist and a patient. These treatments are physically non-intrusive and help create a safe zone for the patient where they can unburden all their thoughts about their fears and anxieties.

The goal is for the patient to more closely examine their thoughts and feelings and discover more about themselves in a non-judgemental environment.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Another popular treatment therapists use is cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT. In this treatment approach, the patient discusses their phobia and how they developed it with the therapist. It helps determine their triggers.

During these conversations, the therapist will try to understand the patient’s past experiences and thoughts about the fear.

Coping with Cymophobia in the Long Term

Not all phobias can vanish completely. You may have to live with them—but that doesn’t mean you need to live in fright. The most important thing to remember is to never give up hope and to keep trying to overcome your phobia.

Connect with a professional or find someone trustworthy to talk to. Don’t shy away from asking for help from others. You can even try to get in touch with people who have similar experiences. It will minimize your fear and help you manage it better.

Final Thoughts

While cymophobia may not occupy your mind 24/7, don’t ignore it. It might not limit your day-to-day activities, but left ignored, it can significantly affect your life.

You may not be going deep-sea diving anytime soon, but with consistent treatment, you may find yourself enjoying the sound of waves.

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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