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Fear of Spiders and Snakes in the Toilet

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Let’s Flush the Fear of Spiders and Snakes in the Toilet

Do you check and recheck under the toilet seat and in the bowl before sitting on the toilet?

Do you have a fear something may bite your derriere while sitting on the household throne?

Have you watched those YouTube videos where people pull a snake from the toilet and now can’t stop thinking about it?

Or the video of a huge spider in the toilet bowl?

Don’t feel embarrassed; you’re not alone. A recent study found that five percent of Americans have a strong, inhibiting fear of spiders and snakes.

If you have a phobia of snakes or spiders in toilets, read on. You may be able to overcome it by focusing on the underlying issue and following some simple steps. First, try to learn when and why you developed the fear. Next, try self-help methods like meditation and relaxation. If that’s not enough, seek professional therapy for intense phobia.

What Exactly Is the Fear of Spiders and Snakes

We’ve all heard stories about snakes slithering through bathroom plumbing and chilling out inside the toilet bowl. Snakes and spiders evoke both disgust and fear in many.

Even a person who hasn’t encountered a snake or spider in their lifetime can develop this phobia. There’s no specific term for snake and spider fear combined. However, the fear of spiders is called arachnophobia, whereas snake fear is known as ophidiophobia.

There has been a debate about whether a snake or spider phobia is innate or learned. Max Planck Institute in Germany conducted a study on infants to answer this specific question. The researchers showed two images to forty-eight six-month-old infants in this study. One had snakes and spiders in it and the other had flowers and fish.

The results were surprising. When the infants saw pictures of snakes and spiders, they reacted with larger pupils. This suggested that the fear could be innate and not learned.

While many people have this fear, some have a specific fear of encountering these creepy crawlers and itsy bitsy spiders in their toilets. There are not many poisonous snakes and spiders in the US, but those who have this fear shiver at the thought of a spider crawling up their arm, no matter how harmless it may be. They may even avoid using a toilet for fear they may see a spider or snake inside.

Causes for Fear of Spiders and Snakes in the Toilet

For millions of years, humans have encountered different poisonous as well as nonpoisonous snakes and spiders. Our ancestors might have been incapacitated or even killed due to bites from these creatures lurking deep within the grass or in trees.

While fewer than eleven people die from spider bites each year, what makes spiders scary is their appearance. The uncertainty that the spider can land on your head or body at any given moment makes it even more frightening.

Snakebites kill up to 138,000 people each year compared to spider bites. So it’s understandable how these two creatures can cause some to fear them enough to hamper their everyday routine.

Everything You Need to Know about the Fear of Spiders and Snakes in the Toilet

Many scientists have concluded that the fear of snakes and spiders has an evolutionary origin. Like primates, we can identify these creepy creatures quickly and react fast because of the reaction mechanism in our brains.

As a result of this apparently inherited stress reaction, we learn to fear or dislike these animals. The combination of this fear with other factors can develop a phobia.

Parents’ fear of these creatures or a genetic predisposition for an overactive amygdala, which is essential to estimate danger, can cause children to be anxious about them.

Having a fear of snakes and spiders inside a toilet is no different from fearing snakes and spiders outside, except you may have encountered them in the toilet and become frightened due to the trauma.

Symptoms of a Fear of Spiders and Snakes in the Toilet

When you have this fear, it can be challenging to live a normal life. To determine how serious your phobia is, you need to monitor your symptoms. A person can have this fear but not react as anxiously as someone would who has a more severe phobia.

Just like any other phobia, this phobia has no specific symptoms. The symptoms are similar to those of other phobias. Here are the physical and psychological symptoms that the phobia causes.

Physical Symptoms

  • Nausea
  • Increased heart rate
  • Dry mouth
  • A choking sensation
  • Tightness in the chest
  • A rise in blood pressure
  • Uncontrollable trembling

Psychological Symptoms

  • Unexplained fear
  • Panic attacks
  • A dreadful feeling
  • Feeling dizzy
  • Anxiety when in the toilet
  • Fear of losing control
  • Anger, mood swings

There is nothing unusual about spider and snake fear, but if you get more anxious than others and experience panic attacks, then you most likely have developed a phobia. You might experience some or almost all of the symptoms above depending on the severity of your phobia.

Potential Treatment for Fear of Spiders and Snakes in the Toilet

If you feel like you’re having difficulty coping with this fear and find it hard to lead a normal life, you may want to consider treatment for your anxiety. While there’s no specific treatment for this phobia or any other phobia, you can explore one of many treatment options.

Self-Help

Try to first attempt to get your situation under control on your own. Start by convincing yourself that the fear is irrational and not something that will harm you. Reassuring yourself in this way can help you get comfortable with thinking or talking about your fear.

If possible, try to share what you feel with others like your family members or your close friends. They may be able to help. Try to be optimistic and start replacing negative thoughts with positive ones.

Meditation

Try calming yourself in difficult situations with meditation and breathing techniques. Meditation can help you better understand your fear and perhaps even give you control over your feelings. This may allow to you to rid yourself of the fear.

Extra Self-Help Tips

  • Practice breathing techniques
  • Partner up
  • Join a support group
  • Try Yoga

Professional Help

Exposure Therapy

As the name suggests, in this type of therapy, the therapist will expose you to the object of your fear gradually and in a controlled environment. This will help you get used to these objects and may help you eventually overcome them.

Cognitive Therapy

Cognitive therapy can help change the way you perceive a situation. This can help you deal with your phobia. By doing this, you’ll also gain control of your emotions and learn how to make sense of what’s real and what’s not.

Wrap-Up

None of the techniques mentioned above are guaranteed to eliminate your anxiety or phobia. But these techniques may help you take control of your feelings and better manage your fear.

The next time you go to the bathroom, take a deep breath. Tell yourself you can manage this. You owe it to yourself to have a peaceful experience on the toilet.

Stories Submitted by Our Readers

Fear of Spiders

I was putting on my shoes one morning and felt something wiggling. I pulled my foot out fast and out jumped a spider. I froze and screamed until my roommate killed the thing. Since then, I can’t stand to see a pic of one.

Thomas M Baltz

I think if a spider got on me I would have a heart attack.

Deanna S Moorefield

SUBMIT YOUR STORY

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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