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Environmental Phobias

Escalaphobia – Fear of Escalators

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Escalators: Fun for Children, Scary for Others

Do you ditch the ease and convenience of escalators and take the stairs? Does the mere thought of stepping onto an escalator send chills down your spine? Your vision is fine and you don’t suffer from any disabilities, yet you cannot force yourself to step onto an escalator.

If this sounds like you, then you might be struggling with escalaphobia or the fear of escalators.

Dealing with any phobia is difficult. Not only can it restrict your daily life, but a phobia such as escalaphobia can create a barrier between you, your friends, and family members. The fear of escalators can force you to walk away from the group on several occasions. You may even find yourself avoiding shopping malls and metro stations.

However, don’t be discouraged. Like any other phobia, escalaphobia can also be treated.

What Are the Causes of Escalaphobia?

The fear of escalators is often associated with a number of other phobias that may gradually evolve into escalaphobia.

Related Phobias

Bathmophobia, or the fear of stairs and slopes, is often connected with escalator phobia. In bathmophobia, people are afraid of a slope or a flight of stairs, even when they do not need to climb up or down.

Climacophobia, or the fear of climbing, is also associated with the phobia of escalators. Those with climacophobia are comfortable being around stairs or slopes, but they often become terrified when they are required to climb them.

Other connected phobias include acrophobia or the fear of heights and illyngophobia, the fear of vertigo.

Previous Traumatic Experiences

Many phobias are known to be triggered by the negative experiences of the past. This is also true for escalaphobia.

You may once have had your shoelace stuck in an escalator or perhaps you slipped while getting on or off the escalator, causing you to lose your balance. People may even lose their balance on the escalator when the steps and the handrails are mistimed. Being exposed to such situations increases the risk of developing a phobia of escalators.

Another factor that can lead to someone developing escalaphobia is the false belief that the hidden machinery below the stairs moves quicker than one’s normal walking pace. This false assumption can lead someone to fear they are moving up or down too fast and might get thrown off.

Other Triggers

Surprisingly enough, the series of negative experiences mentioned above need not even have happened to you for you to develop escalaphobia.

If you witnessed such disastrous situations in person or even on TV, or if a parent or close relative has a history of the same fear, it puts you at higher risk of developing escalaphobia.

Pre-existing conditions such as vertigo or sensory issues such as lack of depth perception can also worsen your escalaphobia.

In some cases, the continuous motion of the escalator steps can also be a central factor in developing a fear of escalators.

Symptoms of Escalaphobia

Intense fear, an obvious symptom of escalaphobia, may cause you to avoid coming into contact with escalators. And when confronted with an escalator, you may experience various physical and mental/emotional symptoms.

Mental/Emotional Symptoms

● Fear of losing control or fear of failing to maintain control
● Fear of passing out
● Fear of dying
● Fear of harm or illness
● Feeling sad or hopeless
● Feeling guilt or shame
● Withdrawing from others
● Confusion or inability to concentrate
● Feeling disconnected
● Anxiety
● Feeling panicked

Physical Symptoms

● Sweating
● Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
● Trembling
● Nausea
● Hot flushes or chills
● Rapid heartbeat
● Feeling faint
● Chest ache or tightness in the chest
● Headaches and dizziness
● Numbness
● Dry mouth
● Wanting to urinate
● Ringing in the ears
● Hyperventilating
● Difficulty breathing
● Increased blood pressure

How to Treat Escalaphobia

Take this phobia seriously. Failing to seek treatment can sometimes lead to anxiety and depression in other areas of your life as well. Learning how to deal with such irrational fears is important if you want to overcome your fear of escalators.

Hypnosis for Fear of Escalators

Self-Help

Acceptance is the first step towards treating any phobia. Acknowledging there is a problem is important before you take the next steps. It’s also important to remember that there is nothing embarrassing about having a phobia. A lot of people suffer from various kinds of phobias.

Seeking professional help for your escalator phobia is also important. However, there are ways in which you can address some of the associated symptoms on your own. For example, relaxing activities like yoga and meditation are known to help relieve the symptoms of phobias.

Professional Help

When seeking professional treatment, your therapist will typically first try to identify the root of the fear of escalators, so they can develop a treatment plan.

If the root cause is a lack of balance or perception, then training or therapy for learning to balance body weight better would be recommended. If there is an issue with eyesight, an eye care professional can suggest the necessary visual aids to overcome this problem.

As with all types of phobias, gradually desensitizing yourself to the trigger plays a major role in dealing with escalaphobia. Confronting the feared object or trigger gradually and in a controlled environment can significantly help in overcoming escalaphobia.

A professional psychotherapist may also employ well-known therapies to treat phobias such as hypnotherapy, neuro-linguistic programming, and cognitive behavioral therapy.

Dealing with Escalaphobia

Even though elevators and stairs are always available as alternatives, that doesn’t mean you should ignore the issue. The goal is not to eliminate the trigger but to make it ineffective.

Have faith in yourself and trust the process. While none of these escalator phobia treatments come with a guarantee that your phobia will be cured, they do promise a high rate of improvement.

Apart from the medical treatment, what matters is your attitude toward dealing with your phobia. Don’t expect overnight results. It will take time, patience, and persistence on your part.

Conclusion
All machines, including an escalator, are susceptible to malfunction. No activity can ever be entirely risk-free, not even walking along the sidewalk. So, while fear of escalators is understandable, don’t let it limit you from living your best life.

Even if escalaphobia may seem silly or unrealistic, take your phobia seriously. If left untreated, phobias can result in major behavioral issues as well as mental distress.

Through self-help or with the help of a professional, you won’t have to limit the pace of your life. The time has come to learn how to manage your escalaphobia more effectively.

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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