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Food Phobias

Fear of Pumpkins – Cucurbitophobia  

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Pumpkins are one of the oldest domesticated plants. They’re a first cousin to squash and a symbol of the fall season. Fall celebrations wouldn’t be complete without the ever-familiar pumpkins.

But there’s another side to these cheerful, orange globes. One that causes excessive fear or even disgust in some. This fear is known as cucurbitophobia.

Cucurbitophobia can leave a person trembling with panic or nausea when it comes to pumpkins. Does this sound like you?

If you’ve ever wondered if it’s possible to master your fear of pumpkins, read on for more.

 

What Is Cucurbitophobia?

Cucurbitophobia is also known as the fear of pumpkins or disgust/fear of pumpkin guts. It is derived from the Greek word cucurbita meaning pumpkin family, and phobos meaning fear.

 

Cucurbitophobia is a specific phobia, meaning it’s a fear directed at a certain object or situation. This fear may limit a person’s daily life and may affect their mental health.

Is Cucurbitophobia a Phobia of Fear or Disgust?

Do you dislike Halloween or Thanksgiving because you fear you may come in contact with pumpkins ? Do you tremble at the mere thought of a pumpkin patch or Jack O’Lantern? Perhaps you have a garden, but you avoid growing pumpkins because of this phobia. Your anxiety may even lead to panic attacks. These are hallmarks of cucurbitophobia.

Cucurbitophobics may persistently worry about future events that involve pumpkins. This is called anticipatory anxiety. The sufferer may also experience flight-or-fight mode when encountering pumpkins or similar plants.

Cucurbitophobia may make someone fear pumpkins so much that they resort to avoidance behaviors. In severe cases, they don’t only avoid situations or objects with pumpkins but also the thoughts about them.

Even when a person is not physically in contact with pumpkins, their brain may react the same either way. This is because fear is a physical response to our patterns of thinking—the thoughts we attach to big, orange pumpkins, whether it be the sight, smell, or touch.

If you have cucurbitophobia, you may show the following behaviors:

  • Refusal to be in situations with pumpkins
  • Avoiding gardens and farms
  • Do everything possible to avoid holidays with pumpkins

Each cucurbitophobia sufferer is different. The images, videos, sounds, and words they associate with pumpkins are also different.

 

What Causes Cucurbitophobia? 

Do you specifically remember what started your fear of pumpkins?

Cucurbitophobia causes are the same as that of other specific phobias. At times, there may not be an apparent cause that generated the fear. But it is largely one’s genetic predisposition to anxiety disorders and traumatic events that work in tandem to develop cucurbitophobia.

Genetics

People who have a family history of anxiety disorders or specific phobias are more likely than others to develop cucurbitophobia. They may have a genetic predisposition to it. However, this alone is rarely a reason for a phobia to develop. But if genetics are combined with a traumatic event, it may develop into a phobia.

Traumatic Events

Some people may have experienced in their past a traumatic event involving pumpkins. For example, kids may develop aversions towards pumpkins because of a scary pumpkin event. This can be reinforced with Halloween and how pumpkins are used during the holiday. Others may have an adverse reaction to the smell of pumpkins or the appearance of the inner seed and pulp. This can manifest in the form of disgust.

What Are the Symptoms of Cucurbitophobia?

Symptoms of cucurbitophobia may depend on the underlying cause, the individual, and the intensity of their fear. It can range from a mild uneasiness to feeings of panic. The closer you get to pumpkins, the more anxious you may become. 

Cucurbitophobia symptoms are quite similar to that of other specific phobias.

Physical Symptoms

  • Dizziness
  • Shaking
  • Heart palpitations
  • Breathlessness
  • Chest pain
  • Sweating
  • Nausea
  • Stomach problems
  • Numbness or tingling
  • Hot or cold flashes
  • Feeling unsteady
  • Feeling of choking

Psychological Symptoms

  • Obsessive thoughts
  • Difficulty concentrating
  • Flashes of negative images of decaying matter
  • Fear of fainting
  • Fear of losing control
  • Withdrawal
  • Anger
  • Sadness
  • Guilt

Self-Help Guide to Treating Cucurbitophobia

When cucurbitophobia interferes with daily tasks, treating it becomes necessary. Don’t worry. There are several cucurbitophobia treatment options out there. Some can be done on your own while others invove professional therapy.

Here are some popular self-help techniques to curb the anxiety related to cucurbitophobia.

Meditate

Meditation brings you back to the present. Since your attention is on all of your senses, you can let go of anxiety.

Practice Yoga

Yoga is essentially meditation but with movement. With yoga, one concentrates on breathing and lets go of unnecessary feelings. In the process, you let go of the stress and anxiety caused by cucurbitophobia.

Regular Exercise

Cardio workouts like jogging, swimming, and aerobics are recommended for those with phobias and anxiety. You finish relaxed because your body releases the happy hormones. These help counteract the negative emotions brought about by a phobia. Exercising regularly keeps you in a good mood and eases the negative thoughts related to cucurbitophobia.

Journaling

Writing what you are anxious about can significantly reduce your stress. Vent your stress on paper. And don’t forget to jot down the things you are grateful for. This will remind you of positive things and stir happy feelings.

Professional Help for Cucurbitophobia

If self-help techniques fail to make a difference, seek help from a professional. It will take you to the root of the issue, so you’ll be able to better understand the cause. Ask a licensed therapist or doctor to verify your diagnosis. Although there’s not one specific treatment that guarantees an instant or complete cure, there are some techniques that work to ease the symptoms of most phobias.

Exposure Therapy

Exposure therapy works to desensitize you to pumpkins and/or their decaying matter bit by bit until you are no longer anxious.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) aims to bring rationality to your thought processes. CBT tries to replace negative thoughts with positive ones.

More Treatment Methods for Cucurbitophobia

  • Talk therapy
  • Dialectical behavioral therapy
  • Mindfulness-based stress reduction
  • Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP)
  • Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR)

Your psychologist will suggest a treatment option based on your specific condition.

How to Cope with Cucurbitophobia

How long can you avoid coming into contact with pumpkins? Avoidance is a quick fix, but does it work? No. And here’s why. When you rely on avoidance behaviors, your fear of pumpkins may worsen with time. It then starts hurting you by limiting your life.

You can regain control of your emotions. To do this, you’ll need to work to change how you react to body stimuli.

Here are some tips that will help you cope:

  • Take a deep breath and relax. It may seem hard, but it works.
  • Prepare your body for stressful situations by doing meditation and yoga.
  • Gradually expose yourself to your fear.
  • Don’t rationalize your fear.
  • Keep positive thoughts handy. In stressful moments, imagine a happy place.

Take your phobia seriously, but don’t allow it to take over your life.

Conclusion
Cucurbitophobia, or any kind of phobia, may seem insurmountable. But with these tips and information, you can overcome your fear of pumpkins. Just don’t expect instant results. These interventions take time. Eventually though, you’ll be able to add pumpkins to your garden and holiday celebrations without cringing in 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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