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Dikephobia – The Fear of Justice

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What Is Dikephobia?

Do you break into a cold sweat at the thought of justice? Does the very idea of justice cause you to panic?

Just the mention of the word might set your heart racing and cause you anxiety. If this is the case, you might be suffering from dikephobia, or the fear of justice. Do you have a reason to fear justice? Fearing the law because you have done wrong is a normal fear process. Dikephobia is different.

No matter how strange it sounds, those with dikephobia have a hard time dealing with their fears of justice. Let’s unravel the mysteries that concern the fear of justice and how you can deal with it.

Meaning of Dikephobia

The word dikephobia originated from two Greek terms: dik meaning “justice,” and phobia meaning “fear.” Dikephobia is the irrational and unreasonable fear of justice.

Phobias can pose serious threats to your well-being. If you suffer from dikephobia and run into a situation where you have to face justice, you might suffer from anxiety or panic attacks. This may force you to avoid situations involving justice, which may create more problems for you and negatively impact your daily life. This cause-and-effect scenario can worsen the phobia.

Dikephobia Causes

It’s important to distinguish between phobia and disgust before you understand the causes of dikephobia. Fear or phobia is a response to danger or a hazard. Disgust, on the other hand, is a response to protect the body from a foreseeable disease or contamination.

Dikephobia: A phobia of fear or disgust?

There are various reasons why one might develop dikephobia. In most cases, phobias occur as a result of some traumatic experience an individual might have had in childhood. A dreadful experience later turns into a fear or phobia. Dikephobia can arise from a combination of both internal and external causes.

Various studies show that fears and phobias such as dikephobia can run in families and can be passed from generation to generation. Scarring childhood events or any major life experience engraved in our memory can lead us to fear justice.

Observational learning is also a leading cause of dikephobia. When we constantly learn about fears related to justice that are showcased in the media, in movies, and in newspapers, we can absorb that into our thinking. This then turns into a fear before we realize it.

What Is Dikephobia Like?

Although dikephobia is not as commonly known as other phobias, it can severely affect a person’s ability to go about their daily activities. In most cases, dikephobia can be the root cause of extreme mental distress and anguish. Symptoms associated with it can give rise to grave issues like depression, bipolar disorder, and other personality disorders. If you find someone sweating profusely near a courtroom, house of justice, or police station, that is what dikephobia might look like.

Symptoms of Dikephobia

Like most phobias, dikephobia shows itself in a variety of mental, emotional, and physical symptoms which are often related to each other. The severity of each symptom varies from person to person and depends on external factors. Anyone who is at the risk of developing this phobia should be on the lookout for the following symptoms:

Mental/Emotional Symptoms

  • Fear of losing control over the body
  • Unable to balance the body, feeling of fainting
  • Extreme anxiety at the mere thought of justice
  • Lack of will to complete easy tasks and routine activities
  • Irritation, mood swings, anger, and loss of temper
  • Feeling disconnected from the surroundings
  • Constant feeling of guilt and embarrassment

Physical Symptoms

  • Sweating and palpitations
  • Irregular heartbeats accompanied by rapid breathing
  • Tightness in the chest
  • High blood pressure
  • Numbness and muscle tension

These symptoms, if untreated, can worsen with time. That’s why prompt intervention and treatment is necessary for people suffering from dikephobia.

How Do You Deal with Dikephobia?

Simply put, you deal with dikephobia like you would any other phobia. Medications and therapy aside, there are certain things you can do on your own to treat dikephobia.

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

One very popular and fool-proof way of dealing with irrational fear is by mustering up the courage to expose yourself to the fear and face it directly. There is no denying that the idea is scary. But once you start facing your fears, half your battle is won. Just like you develop a phobia over time, and are not born with it, you have the power to shrink it over time through self care.

Exercise can help too. A habit of exercise in your daily schedule promotes your overall well-being. Aerobic exercise releases endorphins which makes you feel good and keeps you from focusing on the things you fear.

Professional Help for the Fear of Justice: The Options Available

There are no specific dikephobia treatments designed to target and treat it. However, many treatment options diminish the severity of the symptoms associated with dikephobia. Let’s look at a few which have been shown to be effective in the treatment of phobias, including the fear of justice.

Exposure therapy is one such practice. As the name of the treatment suggests, exposure therapy suggests the patient be exposed to the objects, situations, or the fear stimulus. When practiced in a safe environment, it helps reduce stress, anxiety, and mental distress.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) helps you identify the behavioral patterns involved in your fear of justice. With the help of a therapist, you can work toward making changes in those patterns. This offers hope that you might just be able to overcome your fear. Your body not only goes into a state of relaxation, but you gain the courage to face other challenges that may come your way.

How to Cope with Dikephobia

The fear of justice, although relatively unknown, is a powerful fear. As difficult as it may seem, facing your fear of justice is one of the best things you can do to cope with it.

More than encouraging you to build a healthy relationship with yourself and your feelings, self-help is the first step toward mental and physical fitness. A great way to practice self-care is by taking some time out from your schedule and getting to know yourselves a little better.

Attend to your fears. When you find yourself in a state of panic, make sure to take a deep breath and face the fears that follow. Step-by-step, fight your fears away.

Wrapping It Up

There is nothing shameful about developing a phobia. What is concerning is when we delay our recovery. Always try to seek help and conquer your fears before they get the better of you. Make sure to take proper care of yourself before your phobias and fears take a turn for the worse. Nothing is impossible if you put your mind to it. Dikephobia too can be made much less threatening if you help yourself.

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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