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Body Phobias

Fear of Veins – Venephobia

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The Fear of Veins: A Rare Phobia

Are you someone who can’t look at your own wrists, hands, or neck, because you can’t stand the sight of veins or arteries? Do you have trouble breathing when you even think about veins?

Do you shake or tremble or feel like you might faint after seeing a vein? Do you refuse to go to the doctor or resist surgeries because you’re terrified of veins?

Does a fear of veins mean you’ll never be able to lead a normal life? No. It does not.

You can alleviate your phobia of veins. But to do this, you must first understand why you have this fear. Once you discover the answer to this question, you can focus on how to cope with it and lead a normal life.

What Is the Fear of Veins?

Venephobia refers to the fear of veins, derived from vene, a variant of veno, which means vein, and the term phobia, which denotes the fear of something irrational. Venephobia is also known as carpophobia. Individuals suffering from this fear have a very difficult time looking at their own veins and arteries. This may cause them to have anxiety attacks, which may also lead to depression.

Those with venephobia may also experience a fear of being touched on specific areas such as their wrist, neck, inner arms, Achilles tendon, or back of the legs, where they can see a vein or feel a pulse.

A Phobia of Fear or Disgust?

But how common is the phobia? Phobias like this aren’t very common, and few people suffer from venephobia compared to other types of phobias.

Venophobia or Carpophobia Causes

If you’re wondering what could have caused your fear of veins, read on.

Just like any other phobia, there is no exact known cause for the fear of veins, but it may be related to an incident in your past. You may have experienced a trauma involving veins, one which lodged in your memory.

Although past traumatic events are the most probable cause for most phobias, genetics may also play a role in the development of phobia. If there are members of your family who suffer with anxiety or phobia, you may, too. Your environment may also contribute.

Symptoms of Venephobia

The fear of veins causes several symptoms. Almost all phobias have similar types of physical and psychological symptoms. In the case of venephobia, symptoms may be triggered by seeing or thinking of veins on one’s own body or on someone else’s.

Venephobia may cause the following physical symptoms:

  • Shaking or trembling
  • Cold flashes
  • Sweating
  • Rapid heart rate
  • Trouble breathing
  • Tightness in the chest
  • Nausea
  • Headache or dizziness
  • Numbness in the body
  • Dry mouth
  • Disorientation

Venephobia may cause the following psychological symptoms:

  • Panic attacks
  • Anxiety
  • Feeling like you have lost control
  • Feeling like you may pass out
  • Feeling powerless
  • Feeling sad
  • Anger
  • Fear of harm

Vein Phobia Treatment

If your venophobia doesn’t impact everyday life, you may not need treatment. However, it’s recommended you visit your doctor if you experience any of the following symptoms:

  • You are having panic attacks frequently
  • You are not able to lead a happy life
  • You always get anxious around people
  • You avoid your family or others because of the phobia
  • You are struggling to cope with the phobia
  • The phobia has been bothering you for more than six months

Treatment for venophobia can help you better manage your fear of veins. Therapy can help in the following ways:

  • Analyze your thoughts and actions to recognize unhealthy patterns
  • Help you resolve complex feelings
  • Help you organize your thoughts
  • Provide a space where you can talk without feeling judged
  • Guide you on how to deal with situations that make you uncomfortable
  • Help you take control over your mind and body

Vein Phobia Treatment Options

Self-Help

Self-reflection: Self-reflection is key to overcoming fear. Try to understand that this phobia can’t harm you. You can use self-reflection to cope with your feelings when exposed to your phobia. Having the ability to reflect is important not just for controlling your phobia but for other situations you may face in your daily life.

Relaxation: Relaxation can help you learn how to control your feelings and thoughts when exposed to your phobia. This includes deep breathing, yoga, and other relaxation techniques. These simple methods will help you ease physical symptoms.

Meditation: Meditation may help reduce the frequency of anxiety or panic attacks. Research has shown that mindfulness-based meditation helps individuals cope with different phobias. Meditation trains our minds to live in the moment and helps manage our thoughts about the object of fear. Since phobia is rooted in past events and anxiety is often caused by a fear of the future, when we focus on the present, we limit the number of causes for our brain to react.

Other Self-Help Tips

  • Desensitize yourself
  • Partner up
  • Join a support group
  • Relax, visualize, and practice breathing techniques
  • Challenge negative thoughts about your phobia
  • Learn to calm down quickly

Professional Help

Cognitive therapy: In cognitive therapy, the idea is that our thoughts and perceptions always affect our actions. This therapy prepares you for the actual exposure to the phobia. It teaches you how to identify if what you are feeling is real and, if it is not, how to overcome it. For example, the therapist will help you identify your feelings around veins and what to do.

Medication: Not many healthcare professionals recommend using medication for phobias. They may prescribe medication to alleviate symptoms like anxiety.

Exposure therapy: In exposure therapy, the therapist will gradually expose you to the object of your fears—in this case, veins. This will help you face your fears and resolve them over time.

How to Avoid Fear of Veins Altogether

Many who suffer from venephobia don’t seek treatment, because they think they can avoid what they fear. However, to truly avoid the fear, you need to delve into its cause, expose yourself to it gradually, and resolve it once and for all.

In Conclusion

Phobias are severe emotional and psychological problems caused by an irrational fear that interferes with our daily lives. The very thought of overcoming this may seem intimidating to you, but it isn’t impossible. Instead of running from these situations, try your hand at dealing with them. In case you still don’t believe you can overcome this, share the feelings you are experiencing with someone you trust, such as family or friends. Many have overcome phobias and are living healthy, happy lives. You can, too.

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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