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Other Phobias

Fear of Cotton Balls – Sidonglobophobia

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The Fear of Cotton Balls

Do you hate getting packages in the mail because the packing peanuts give you a queasy feeling?

Do you feel like you can’t breathe or begin to shake when you open a bottle of aspirin, knowing there’s a white, fuzzy cotton ball that will need to be removed?

If so, you may be one of a small population of individuals who suffer from sidonglobophobia, or the fear of cotton balls.

 

It can be a hard task to live your life without seeing items that resemble cotton balls. You may even be afraid to tell anyone of your fear as they may laugh at you, which will only bring on more anxiety.

But know this: the fear is real and there is hope. First, you must learn why you have this fear. Then you can begin to focus on calming your nerves and learning how to cope with the symptoms.

What Is the Fear of Cotton Balls?

The fear of cotton balls has the more common name of sidonglobophobia, but it is also known as bambakophobia. Those that suffer from this fear have a very difficult time using cotton swabs, opening medicine bottles, or even their mail. The mere image of a cotton ball may bring on crying spells or panic attacks.

Some individuals become overwhelmed with the sounds created by foam peanuts or other package wrapping used in shipping.

How rare is sidonglobophobia? The phobia, known as a sensory phobia, affects a very small group of individuals across the globe.

What Causes the Fear of Cotton Balls?

You may be one of those individuals who remembers being afraid of foam or cotton balls for as far back as you can remember. The cause of deep fear of cotton balls is not known. However, experts believe that the fear developed during childhood like most phobias.

The cotton balls resemble the eggs of various creatures such as cockroaches, snakes, and lizards. As a child, you may have seen these eggs as a danger or something to fear. The fear that was experienced as a child can be brought to your adult mind when you see cotton balls or foam peanuts.

When you see cotton balls, it may trigger emotion from an experience you had as a child. Such experiences may include coming upon snakes eggs in a field or a large sac of spider eggs in a tree or barn. These sights may have frightened you and made you want to run away.

The largest population suffering from sidonglobophobia are the Natives in the islands of the South Pacific. Though a small and somewhat unexpected demographic, native islanders still receive shipped products, even in remote areas.

Some individuals may also have an aversion to cotton balls because of sensitive skin. The cotton balls may feel rough to the skin, which may bring on a fear of cotton ball texture.

Symptoms of Sidonglobophobia

The fear of cotton balls can cause both physical and psychological symptoms.

Physical Symptoms of Sidonglobophobia Include:

  • Crying
  • Screaming
  • Trying to run away
  • Will not open medicine bottles
  • Will not open shipping boxes
  • Will not use cotton swabs
  • Breathing fast
  • Fast heartbeat
  • Nausea
  • Disgust
  • Goosebumps

Psychological Symptoms of the Fear of Cotton Balls:

The psychological symptoms of cotton balls include:

  • Devastating feelings of fear or panic
  • Uncontrollable, obsessive thoughts
  • Scary memories
  • Anxiety with the thought or image of cotton balls
  • Incapacity to cope with the anxiety
  • A replay of images of cotton balls in one’s mind
  • Thoughts of death
  • Panic attack
  • Anxiety attack

Treatments for Sidonglobophobia

Self-help: What Can I Do to Help Myself with Sidonglobophobia

The main thing you can do is learn when the fear of cotton balls began, or figure out what the cotton balls remind you of. Understanding that cotton balls are not dangerous can help you learn how to cope with the feelings and emotions that arise when you see items such as packing peanuts or cotton balls.

Self-help books can aid in providing you with the ability to replace negative thoughts with positive ones. A change in your perspective where cotton balls are concerned will play a role in becoming free of fear.

Professional Help Options

Talking with a therapist would be a nice complement to your self-help efforts. Professionals can offer options to better manage your fear of cotton balls, or teach you techniques to better cope with the symptoms.

Fear of Packing Peanuts is closely related to fear of cotton balls.

The Most Common Treatments Include:

Hypnotic therapy, which has been used for several years, may help you pinpoint the start of your fear of cotton balls. Once you realize that the fear has nothing to do with cotton balls, you may begin healing.

Exposure therapy is another great option. Your therapist will slowly introduce you to cotton balls beginning with simple images. Next will be videos, and lastly actual cotton balls themselves. The process will occur in a controlled, safe environment. The process will provide some framework to help you understand the irrationality of the fear.

During this type of therapy, you will also learn relaxation and breathing techniques that will help you cope with symptoms when you see a cotton ball.

Cognitive behavioral therapy is used to redirect your thought patterns. This may provide you with a new way to look at cotton balls, so you can change your reaction and behaviors associated with the fear.

Medications Used for Sidonglobophobia – Fear of Cotton Balls

Antidepressants may be prescribed to help with extreme symptoms associated with sidonglobophobia. Such medications as Prozac, Zoloft, Celexa, Paxil, and Lexapro are among the most popular. These medications do have side effects such as insomnia or diarrhea, therefore they are only prescribed when a person’s fear is interfering with their daily lives.

Beta blockers may help with some of the more physical symptoms such as sweating and shaking. The way this medication works is by blocking the way adrenaline works in your body.

If your fear of cotton balls is extreme, some physicians may prescribe a sedative to aid with severe anxiety.

All medications are used only to alleviate severe symptoms, and in most cases will not stop the fear of cotton balls. Therefore, medicines should be used along with therapy.

Simple Tips to Avoid Your Fear of Cotton Balls

In some cases, fear can be lessened by learning meditation and positive visualization.

Learning how to meditate on positive thoughts—and not the fear of cotton balls—can help you overcome the fear.

Positive visualization works by helping you overcome the fear as well. You learn to use your mind to visualize yourself touching cotton balls or opening a package. The more you can visualize yourself performing these tasks without symptoms, the easier it will become when you do encounter cotton balls.

The only way to totally avoid the fear would be to have someone else open all of your packages, never go down the cotton ball aisle of the drug store, and have someone else open your medicine bottles. But these steps may take more time and energy than simply learning how to cope with your anxiety.

Facts about Sidonglobophobia

  1. The fear of cotton balls pronunciation is: sidon-globo-pho-bi-a.
  2. A person suffering from sidonglobophobia cannot open medicine bottles or use a cotton swab.
  3. It is believed that Michael Jackson, a world-famous music artist, suffered from the fear of cotton balls.
  4. Not only does a person with sidonglobophobia fear cotton balls, but also shipping peanuts.
  5. Even though sidonglobophobia is rare, it is common on the islands in the South Pacific.

There is help for anyone suffering from a fear of cotton balls, whether you use self-help, professional therapy, or a combination of therapy and medication. With the correct help, you can enjoy life without the fear of opening a medicine bottle.

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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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