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Environmental Phobias

Fear of Outhouses – Portaphobia, or Paruresis

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Fear of Using an Outhouse: An Inconvenient Fear

Do you find yourself on edge just thinking about making a trip to the outhouse?

Does the idea of using a porta-potty trigger a sense of panic?

Living a life driven by fear can be exhausting, especially if it involves your bladder. And how do you get the help you need if you’re too embarrassed to talk about it?

Fear of outhouses, paruresis, and portaphobia are all terms for the silent fear of outhouses or especially the fear of outhouses at night. Living in fear is never the answer, especially when you have access to resources that can help you combat it. While it may seem like an embarrassing topic to discuss, recognition and acceptance is the first step to finding a solution. Read on for more about combating the fear of outhouses.

Want to know more about the fear of outhouses? You’ve come to the right place!

What Is the Fear of Outhouses?

Paruresis, or portaphobia, is the fear of using public toilets like Porta-Potty, especially in the presence of others. People suffering from paruresis or the fear of outhouses may have a difficult time even stepping into an outhouse much less taking care of business in one. It might be the small space, the smell, or the combination.

Many of us are uncomfortable peeing in the presence of others. As a matter of fact, paruresis—also called shy bladder syndrome—affects an estimated 20 million people in the United States alone. So, you’re not “the socially awkward/weird” person you may think you are. Paruresis is impartial. It affects people of all ages and genders, and it’s believed to be the second most common type of social phobia.

Is Portaphobia a Phobia of Fear or Disgust?

You’d think holding your pee in would offer a temporary solution, right? But it doesn’t. It may actually cause long-lasting medical complications. Paruresis may cause a hindrance in your day-to-day life. It may even lead to social anxiety disorders.

Pair this with hearing stories about people finding snakes in portable toilets and you have an anxiety-filled disaster on your hand. Can snakes get in a Porta-Potty? It’s a question that haunts many who experience the fear of outhouses. Though your fear may be irrational, it is real. Don’t dismiss it.

Paruresis Symptoms

Those with paruresis will resort to everything from holding in their pee/poop to “challenging” themselves to use the public restroom. So it begs the question: Is paruresis a social anxiety? After all, it triggers a feeling of dread and dejectedness at the mere thought of using a public restroom.

So, how do you know that you have a fear of outhouses? How do you know it’s not just a defense mechanism you’ve developed from watching outhouse pranks on the internet?

Paruresis can be diagnosed by keeping an eye out for the known symptoms, including mental, emotional, and physical.

Mental/Emotional Symptoms

Is paruresis a mental disorder? If you’ve wondered that, the answer is no. Paruresis itself is not a mental illness. It does have psychological undertones, which is why it’s difficult to find a distinction between the two.

That said, keep a lookout for these mental/emotional symptoms:

  • Avoiding social situations where you might need to visit the public restroom
  • Feeling stressed and anxious at the thought of using an outhouse to relieve yourself
  • Avoiding traveling or working in a traditional office system, opting for jobs where you work from home instead
  • Depression
  • Social anxiety disorders
  • Needing complete privacy when visiting the restroom for fear that others will hear you pee

Physical Symptoms

  • Restricting drinks to reduce the possibility of urination
  • Excessive sweating/shaking
  • Increased heart rate

If you experience these symptoms and feel they’ve made a drastic impact on your life, consider visiting a doctor before it grows into a more serious health problem.

What Can I Do to Help Myself?

Understandably, people shy away from talking about living with paruresis for fear of critical judgment and embarrassment. So, if you don’t talk about it, how do you overcome paruresis?

The good news is, you can start by helping yourself.

Ask yourself what causes your bathroom anxiety. It could be anything from someone disturbing you while you do your business, past experience or trauma, or family history, among other possible causes. Locating the cause can help you form a plan to tackle the issue.

Here are some ways you can help yourself overcome the fear of outhouses:

  • Try relaxation techniques. As this is mostly a psychological problem, tackling anxiety may help you overcome the fear altogether.
  • Change the way you think and behave about your phobia. Don’t talk down to yourself when you can’t use a public restroom. Learn what triggers your phobia and actively work towards treating it.
  • Start small. If you fear others can hear your pee hit the toilet, go to a quiet, secluded restroom and make as much noise as possible while urinating. Slowly progress to more crowded restrooms.
  • Open a conversation. Talk to a friend or a family member and include them in your treatment process.

In some instances, paruresis is linked to a medical condition. If you suspect a health issue, it would be better to visit a healthcare professional who can locate the root cause and prescribe treatments accordingly.

Seeking Professional Help

If you find yourself unable to tackle your fear of outhouses, it doesn’t mean you have to live with it forever. Seeking professional help is your next step.

The most common form of treatment for tackling issues surrounding public toilets is gradual exposure therapy. As the name goes, you’ll be slowly and gradually introduced to a fearful scenario. Having a pee-partner to look out for you can speed up your treatment process.

Because your brain already sees it coming, you’ll experience a lower anxiety response. The treatment may take some time to take effect, as you’re not only dealing with a physical problem here but a mental and emotional one.

You can also talk to your health professional about alternative forms of treatment, such as hypnotherapy and talk therapy.

Tips to Avoid the Issue

What if we tell you you can avoid this phobia altogether? Self-help and professional help go a long way, but you know what else does? Meditation.

With mindfulness and meditation, you can train your brain to create more positive emotions, energy, and focus with less distraction and anxiety. And when your anxiety is significantly reduced, there’s nothing stopping you from using a public restroom.

Another technique is to practice breathing. Do a body scan to reground yourself, and most importantly, cultivate compassion for both yourself and the fear you live with. Once you locate the cause and target it, you won’t be limited by your fear of outhouses.

Wrapping Up

Fear of outhouses is not an uncommon phobia. Chances are, you may already know someone who’s living with this fear but doesn’t know it.

The good news is, it may be possible to manage this fear all on your own. Or if the symptoms are severe, a therapist can help you identify the causes and prescribe a treatment.

Take this time to open a conversation with your loved ones. You don’t have to live a life full of fear. Not alone anyway.

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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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