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Situational Phobias

Enochlophobia – Fear of Crowds

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The Fear of Crowds: It’s More Than You Think

It is remarkable how in the span of a few short months the sight of crowds has taken on a whole new meaning. Where crowded city streets used to be not just a way of life but, indeed, a sign of liveliness, in the midst of COVID-19, streets are empty and where crowds exist, so too does fear.

But what if your fear of crowds precedes COVID-19? What if the sight of crowds themselves are enough to make you want to quarantine yourself away from the world? What if you have a fear of crowds themselves? If so, you’re not alone, but you might be surprised as to what that fear actually means, or is called, and what it will take to overcome it.

A fear of big crowds is no small thing, so let’s take a closer look at the fear of crowds and see what’s behind it.

What’s in a Name?

First and foremost, it’s important to establish that a fear of crowds may not mean what you think it means. Many people tend to associate agoraphobia with a fear of crowds, and while there may be some overlap there as we’ll see, the technical term for a fear of crowds is enochlophobia.

The difference between the two may be seen in their names. “Ochlo” is the Greek word for “crowd,” while “agora” is the Greek word for “market.” As such, agoraphobia is actually the fear of feeling trapped, humiliated, or otherwise anxiety-ridden in open yet confined places, like marketplaces. There are likely to be crowds in places such as these, adding to and perhaps triggering your fear of being trapped or humiliated, but it isn’t the crowd yourself of which you are afraid. By contrast, enochlophobia is the fear of the crowds themselves.

This quibble over what a fear of crowds is called isn’t simply semantic or syntactic. Returning to our COVID-19 example, if what makes you fearful of large crowds is the prospect of catching the virus, you probably don’t have a fear of crowds phobia, at least not in its own right. On the other hand, if you would be afraid of crowds no matter what and have been since before this pandemic began, your chances of having something akin to enochlophobia are far greater.

Causes and Symptoms of Fear of Crowds

All of that is well and good, but what does that actually mean for those who suffer from a fear of big crowds in their own right?

For one thing, it is important to note that enochlophobia is not recognized as a standalone phobia in the DSM-5. Instead, it is considered to be a specific phobia, meaning that it is particular to the person who has it. Your enochlophobia, if you have it, is likely to be different and triggered by different crowd-related things than someone else’s. This can make it difficult to diagnose, since aside from that broad definition of fearing crowds, it is hard to generalize about those who have different forms of enochlophobia. Different things cause different forms of enochlophobia.

Some generalized causes for enochlophobia typically include forms of personal trauma. If you have had an exceptionally bad experience with crowds in the past, that may be the catalyst for the formation of a phobia such as enochlophobia. This trauma can take several forms. Maybe you were in a crowd when something bad happened, or maybe you watched or heard about something bad happening in a crowd to someone you cared about, or maybe you had overprotective parents who instilled a fear of large crowds in you from the beginning.

Again, these tend to vary from person to person, nailing down specific causes which can apply to most or all cases is very difficult.

The fear of crowds is real to those who suffer from enochlophobia.

Common symptoms of enochlophobia that most sufferers tend to experience in some form or another include:

  • Trembling
  • Elevated heart rate
  • Nausea and vomiting
  • Heart palpitations
  • Feeling like you’re being suffocated
  • Stomach pain
  • Dizziness and headaches
  • Blacking out
  • Dilated pupils
  • A sense of depersonalization or desperation
  • Bursting into tears
  • Clinging onto someone
  • A sudden urge to escape
  • An extreme fear of public humiliation

Who Suffers from Enochlophobia?

According to online polls , near 90 percent of those responding who say they had enochlophobia were 35 or younger, while over 63 percent were women. There may be a correlation from factors such as rape culture making women feel less safe in public spaces, or that men tend to have more of a pack mentality.

Conditions Related to Enochlophobia

The symptoms listed above do have a lot of overlap with agoraphobia, and again, the two are often related if still separate conditions.

There are several conditions related to enochlophobia that may impact your experience with it, including:

  • Ochlophobia, which is the fear of mobs
  • Demophobia, which is the fear of uncontrolled masses of people
  • Agoraphobia which, as mentioned, is tied to public places, but can be triggered in part by crowds of people therein
  • Social Anxiety Disorder, which refers to generalized fears of being humiliated in front of people, which can naturally be exacerbated by large crowds of people

The first two are essentially even more highly specific versions of a fear of crowds, while the latter two touch on different types of phobias that may have considerable overlap with enochlophobia.

Self-Treatment Options for Enochlophobia

As a highly particularized phobia, a fear of crowds is something for which you may be asked to undergo self-treatment. In some situations, you are the best person to help yourself, and this is one of them.

There are a wide range of effective self-treatment options for enochlophobia:

  • Meditation: This is a common technique for tackling varied personal phobias. Deep breathing exercises and practice controlling your nerves can help calm you, preparing you for dealing with the hustle and bustle of crowds.
  • Taking the plunge: Sometimes the best way to tackle your fears is to face them head on. By directly exposing yourself to crowds, you can help assuage your fear of it. That said, you should only do this in a safe, controlled manner. Make sure you have someone you trust on hand as a support system, and make sure that you are walking in an area with a relatively good safety record. The last thing your enochlophobia needs is another bad experience to deepen your fears.
  • Talking to others: As alluded to above, you are far from alone in your fear of crowds. Speaking with others who share your fears can help you all overcome them by acting as a mutual support system for one another. You may even discover some great new friends along the way.
  • Journaling: Sometimes the best way to deal with phobias is to get them out, and writing is one of the best ways of doing just that.

Professional Treatment Options for the Fear of Crowds

If these treatments aren’t helping or you feel you need further guidance, see a mental health professional. They can prescribe a wide range of treatments, from cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which works to rewire how your brain associates certain ideas (in this case crowds), to exposure therapy, discussions and possibly even medications, though the latter is far less common.

You are not merely a face in the crowd. Your fears, phobias, and feelings matter, and with the right approach, you can conquer your enochlophobia.

Stories Submitted by Our Readers

Fear of Crowds

My therapist has told me that my fear of crowds is more than likely a part of PTSD which has all kinds of parts and fears. I just hope for the best every day. One of these days maybe I can at least handle a few of my fears so I can live a somewhat normal life again.
Bruce

I may only be a teen, but I have the same phobia even when I am only with family. I can only handle a couple of people at a time or go into a full-fledged panic attack. My parents made me read a poem I had written in school and received an excellent grade in front of my family. I ran out of the room crying, shaking all over, and felt like I couldn’t breathe. I just stay away from large crowds or in the back when I must be around others.
Denise

SUBMIT YOUR STORY

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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