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Other Phobias

Fear of Blenders – Blenderphobia

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Decoding the Fear of Blenders

Let’s face it. Blenders are loud. Very loud. The appliance shakes and chops violently, and for some of us this can induce deeply rooted fears that may manifest into a full-blown phobia.

Does your anxiety skyrocket when you use a blender or hear its sound?

Does your heart race like an Indy car when using a blender?

Do you imagine the blender exploding or your fingers being chopped by the blade?

If your answer to all these questions is yes, there’s no need to feel embarrassed. You may suffer from a fear of blenders.

So what is the fear of blenders called? Blenderphobia.

Research this phobia, and you’ll find a half-dozen people in your area with the same dread.

The good news is, like all other phobias, blenderphobia is treatable. Self-help methods are a great place to start. But if that’s not enough to help you overcome the fear, you can progress to professional treatment if necessary.

This article will explore the causes, symptoms, and treatments for blenderphobia. Here’s everything you need to know.

Blenderphobia Definition

When this author was nine years old, for some unknown reason, I thought I could stop a blender blade from spinning by holding it. Yes, you could call this a late “do not touch the hot oven” experience.

Well, what happened is exactly what you’d think. I mangled the end of my finger. Forty years later, to this day, when I hear a blender whining at high speed, I look at my finger and shake with fear and remorse.

Perhaps your fear of blenders started differently, but with simple education you can work your way through it.

What is blenderphobia? Blenderphobia, which is also called blendaphobia, is an irrational fear of blenders.

People with blenderphobia may not necessarily use the blender themselves. The mere sound of the blender is enough to frighten them.

While many people are simply more careful when using the blender, those with this phobia will often avoid a blender altogether. They may struggle while explaining their feelings. The mere thought of blenders affects them.

Is it normal to be scared of blenders? Even though the fear is irrational, it is understandable. Unlike other fears related to harmless objects, this fear may stem from an actual fear of an injury while operating a blender.

The blades can be intimidating to you because they are sharp and whirl around at incredible speeds. But as long as you don’t put your hand inside the blender, the blades will not harm you.

You can get started by reading the directions and safety precautions on the product. But before we dive into how to manage this phobia, you must look at the causes. To deal with and defeat your phobia, you must first figure out when you developed the fear.

Blenderphobia Causes

Phobias may arise due to genetic predispositions, or they may develop due to an experience involving the object, in this case, a blender.

The chances of a person developing blenderphobia are higher if their parents or grandparents experienced the same phobia. These individuals can pass on their tendencies to develop mental illnesses and symptoms to their children and grandchildren.

Find out if your parents or grandparents had this phobia. If they didn’t, you can go on to the second most common cause—past trauma or experience.

Try to recall a time when someone was injured in an accident involving a blender during your childhood. Maybe a blender blew up when someone was using it or maybe it cut their hand due to incorrect usage.

Although these two causes are common, if they did not contribute to your phobia, consider the third possible cause.

Did you grow up around someone with blenderphobia? If you constantly saw their fearful behavior around blenders, you may have also subconsciously developed the fear.

Some theories suggest that some fear or phobias can be innate, meaning the sufferers are predisposed to fear certain things that may cause them harm.

Symptoms of Blenderphobia

Blenderphobia has no specific symptoms. However, almost all individuals who suffer from different phobias experience some common symptoms—physical and psychological.

Physical Symptoms

  • Cold flashes
  • Excessive sweating
  • Nausea
  • Choking
  • Numbness
  • Dry mouth
  • Trouble breathing
  • Chills

Psychological Symptoms

  • Panic attacks
  • Feeling detached
  • Feeling anxious
  • Feeling agitated
  • Fear of harm

Depending on the severity of the phobia, people with blenderphobia may have some or all of the symptoms above.

Blenderphobia Treatment

If you suffer with blenderphobia, you might simply avoid this common kitchen implement as a form of treatment. However, it may not be that simple for everyone due to work or home life. If this is the case for you, there are self-help and professional therapy options available to help you cope with your phobia.

What Can You Do to Help Yourself?

Many people will suggest that you go directly to a professional if you have a phobia. However, self-help techniques have proven effective for many. However, if you experience frequent panic attacks and the phobia disrupts your everyday activities, you might wish to bypass these self-help techniques and seek professional help.

Self-Reflection

Self-reflection involves delving into your fear, trying to understand how it all started, and analyzing how it continues to affect you. Try to tell yourself that you won’t get hurt as long as you take safety precautions.

Progressive Muscle Relaxation

During progressive muscle relaxation, you begin by focusing on your feet, then rhythmically contract and relax your muscles as you work your way up to your head. This technique can be very effective and will calm you down when you are near the object of your fear.

Yoga

Yoga has been proven to help people with physical and psychological disorders such as anxiety. Since anxiety and fear go hand in hand, yoga will help alleviate these feelings and help you better cope with your phobia.

Visualization

The ability to imagine may be one of the greatest gifts to humanity. By using your imagination or visualization, you can picture yourself overcoming any particular fear. For example, imagine yourself using a blender effectively in a calm and relaxed manner.

This technique will also allow you to anticipate possible scenarios to allow you to prepare and act accordingly should that situation arise.

Other Self-Help Techniques

None of these techniques guarantee the complete elimination of the phobia, but they can reduce the effect or severity of the symptoms.

Professional Help for the Fear of Blenders

When self-help doesn’t alleviate the symptoms of blenderphobia, the next step may be professional help. Below are two options.

Hypnotherapy

During hypnotherapy, you will achieve an altered state of consciousness, during which you are receptive to suggestions and affirmations.

The hypnotherapist uses guided imagery to help you unlearn the phobia-induced fear response. Considerable evidence suggests that hypnotherapy helps people overcome their fear and phobias.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Our actions are based on our thought patterns, feelings, and beliefs. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) works to help you understand and modify your thoughts and beliefs to alter your behavior. This is a gradual process and may take several sessions, but the effects are long-lasting.

Individuals with a phobia can sometimes struggle to distinguish what is real and what is not. CBT can help them replace irrational thought patterns with more adaptive ones in such situations. It can also replace negative thoughts and emotions with positive ones, helping with the depression, stress, and anxiety that can come with a phobia.

Your therapist may combine CBT with exposure therapy to help you better cope with your fear.

In Closing

Even though there is no specific treatment for blenderphobia, early diagnosis and treatment can help you overcome the phobia and help you lead a happy, normal life. Starting with self-help in the early stages increases your chance of overcoming the phobia without visiting a professional.

It also helps to let someone close to you know about your fear. This will help you share your feelings without feeling judged. If you are experiencing panic attacks which continue for more than six weeks, seek help right away.

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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