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Body Phobias

Ereuthrophobia – Fear of Blushing

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Decoding Ereuthrophobia

Do you feel anxious when you blush? Does even the thought of blushing leave you feeling stressed and nervous? Do you avoid meeting people or engaging in situations that may lead you to blush?

If you’ve answered yes, then you may be suffering from a fear of blushing called ereuthrophobia or ereuthophobia or sometimes erythrophobia.

For most people, blushing is a natural reaction to embarrassment, nervousness, or anxiety. However, people with ereuthrophobia are often plagued with a feeling of shame and embarrassment. They fear that this natural response may reveal their secrets.

However, ereuthrophobia is treatable. Keep reading to learn more about erythrophobia, the fear of blushing symptoms and treatments.

 

What Is Ereuthrophobia?

While there is no specific definition of ereuthrophobia, it is a type of phobia that causes intense anxiety and nervousness.

The term ereuthrophobia is derived from the Greek words ereuthos meaning blushing and phobia meaning fear. It is a specific phobia which is a form of anxiety disorder that causes an irrational fear of even the thought of blushing.

Ereuthrophobia is not exactly the fear of blushing itself but rather being afraid of being judged for the thoughts and feelings associated with blushing. It essentially causes one to be worried about showing a chink in their armor of confidence.

As blushing is a psychological response, the fear is quite complex and difficult to overcome. This fear intensifies the more one thinks about it. And the more you worry, the more likely you are to have anxiety or feelings of panic.

Related Phobia – Fear of Hair

Symptoms of Ereuthrophobia

Like any other phobia, ereuthrophobia symptoms can manifest in different ways in different people. Here are some of the major physical and psychological symptoms of ereuthrophobia.

Physical Symptoms

  • Increased heart rate
  • Sweating
  • Dizziness
  • Difficulty breathing normally/rapid breathing
  • Shaking
  • Fast heart rate
  • A churning feeling or butterflies in the stomach
  • Chest pain

Psychological Symptoms

Ereuthrophobia Causes

There can be many reasons that can cause a person to develop ereuthrophobia. More often than not, such phobias are the result of a past traumatic experience involving the object of their fear, in this case, blushing.

It may also have been caused by a person in the family having the phobia. Even reading or hearing about someone’s past traumatic experience with blushing can lead to the development of the phobia.

Regardless of how the fear develops, like any other phobia, ereuthrophobia is also an irrational fear. However, if left untreated, it can worsen over time and significantly affect a person’s day-to-day life.

What Causes Blushing or What is Blushing?

Ereuthrophobia Diagnosis

Diagnosing ereuthrophobia is slightly more complicated compared to diagnosing other phobias. This is because ereuthrophobia can easily be mistaken for normal blushing.

Typically, the doctor may consider your symptoms and may even run a few tests to confirm the phobia. Take a look at some of the criteria that help in diagnosing this social anxiety blushing:

  • If your fear of blushing is excessive, persistent, and unreasonable
  • Blushing or even the fear of it causes panic and anxiety
  • If you avoid situations that may cause blushing to the extend it affects your daily life
  • The fear is persistent for at least the last six months
  • There is no other underlying mental health illness that may have led to the fear of blushing
  • There are no nutritional deficiencies

 

Ereuthrophobia Treatment

If you’re wondering how to overcome erythrophobia, there are various treatment options available for the fear of blushing. The type of treatment depends upon the severity of the symptoms and the complexity of the fear. Take a look at some of the most commonly applied and effective ereuthrophobia treatments.

Self-Help

Self-help is often considered the best form of treatment for any form of anxiety disorder. The person suffering from it is well aware of their thoughts and triggers and that their fear is irrational.

Most people also realize that their fear is not actually due to the blushing response but how their blushing will be perceived by others. Through self-help, they can use techniques to help reduce the anxiety and nervousness that results from this fear.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT is known to be particularly helpful in dealing with any form of specific phobia. Phobias are a result of how we perceive things and our reaction to the object of fear.

Through CBT, the therapist helps you divert your negative thoughts and reactions concerning the fear and replace them with positive ones. This therapy helps the individual to shift their perception of reality and reconstruct their thought process.

Exposure Therapy

Another common therapy for phobias is exposure therapy. In this therapy, the therapist gradually subjects the individual to the object of their fear. For those suffering from ereuthophobia, the therapist would expose them to situations that will lead to blushing and help them gradually become accustomed to the response and overcome it.

Medication

Medication is prescribed only for severe cases when the phobia hinders the day-to-day functioning of the person. Medication therapy only treats the physiological response to phobia, not the phobia itself. However, most therapists avoid prescribing medication due to the risk of long-term dependency on drugs.

The most common antidepressants prescribed for ereuthrophobia are selective serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRs). These help reduce the anxiety response when blushing.

In extreme cases, beta-blockers are also used for treating the physical symptoms of anxiety. So, when a person is certain they will experience physical symptoms such as shaking or rapid heartbeat, they can take the medication in advance to avoid anxiety or panic attacks.

Combination Therapy

If no specific therapy seems to be working and you’re left wondering how to overcome the fear of blushing, a combination of therapies may be used. The therapist may implement both therapy and medication for severe cases when therapy alone is inadequate.

Surgery

Ereuthrophobia is one of the few specific phobias that has a surgical treatment. The medical procedure is called endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy (ETS), and it is typically performed to treat excessive sweating. However, it can also help reduce blushing. In this procedure, the doctor cuts the sympathetic nerves that regulate blushing and sweating.

However, the procedure has side effects. For example, when this procedure is used to reduce sweating, sweating may stop in one area and increase in another area. Similarly, when conducted to reduce blushing, the patient may stop blushing on one side of their face but continue to blush on the other side of their face.

The patient may even experience phantom blushing, which means they feel like they are blushing when they are not.

When considering this surgical option, it’s important to remember that ereuthrophobia is an anxiety disorder. So, removing the physical blushing mechanism may not eliminate one’s fear.

This is why surgery is recommended in only very select, extreme cases when no other treatment options have worked.

 

Learning to Cope with Ereuthrophobia

Ereuthrophobia is a social anxiety disorder that can have a major impact on one’s social life and daily functioning.

The first step is to acknowledge the phobia and identify the root cause of the fear. Then you can develop strategies to avoid the negative reaction when faced with the object of your fear.

If self-help techniques are unsuccessful, make sure you approach a professional. Phobias should not be taken lightly or ignored. You can even try medications and surgery if you are facing an extreme form of the illness and you and your doctor deem it the right choice for you.

 

Conclusion

Blushing is such a common response that one would never think that blushing, of all the phobias, could be someone’s fear. But ereuthrophobia, or the fear of blushing, is a real phobia that can lead to severe anxiety. Make sure you seek the right treatment options, and you’ll be well on your way to conquering this fear!

 

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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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