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Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia-The Fear of 666
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Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia – The Fear of 666

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The Fear of 666: Mystical Number and Mysterious Fear

Do you feel a chill down your spine when you think of the number 666? Do you get lightheaded or nauseous if you see this number? Are you convinced that the number 666 is dangerous?

If so, then you may suffer from hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia, or the fear of 666.

Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia refers to extreme anxiety and stress in an individual when they face the number 666. This anxiety can get so intense it can disrupt one’s day-to-day activities.

If you struggle with a fear of 666, you may not understand what’s happening to you. And it’s tough to explain your fear to others, because people don’t consider it a real fear. But for you, it’s irrational and all-consuming.

Let’s take a look at the causes, symptoms, and ways to overcome this phobia.

What Is Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia?

Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia is a highly specific phobia where the individual has a fear of the number 666. Those suffering from this phobia experience severe bouts of anxiety and stress whenever they see the number.

People who have a fear of the number 666 think it’s life-threatening. Whenever they encounter the number, they may experience symptoms ranging from sweating to trembling or even panic attacks.

 

Why Is There a Phobia of the Number 666?

Many people suffer from the fear of the number 666, just as some fear the swastika or the number 13.

The 666 phobia has its roots in superstition and religious beliefs. Due to its negative connotations, many try to avoid reading or talking about the number.

Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia Etymology

The 666 number is mentioned in the Bible, specifically in the Book of Revelation. It states that the number is the identification of “The Beast” or the Antichrist. Scripture doesn’t specifically mention the number 666, but rather writes it as “six hundred threescore and six.” Believers were warned against getting marked with this number.

Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia Causes

Pop culture makes liberal use of 666, especially in horror and supernatural films. These movies connect 666 with the Devil, evil paranormal powers, and apocalyptic scenarios. Given its association with the end of the world, it’s no wonder people became terrified of this three-digit number.

Aside from these factors, there are other hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia causes. For example, a child may have grown up around someone suffering from this phobia and inherited the fear. A traumatic event centered around the number could have also triggered this phobia.

Symptoms of Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia

Unsure of the symptoms of this phobia? Check out this list to learn more.

Mental/Emotional Symptoms

  • Feeling nauseous or dizzy
  • Feelings of helplessness
  • Irrational fear of death
  • Intense fear after looking at the number 666
  • Obsessive thoughts about the number 666
  • Unable to function in daily life

Physical Symptoms

  • Migraines
  • Profuse sweating
  • Accelerated heartbeat
  • Chills
  • Fainting
  • Dry mouth
  • Confusion
  • Difficulty in breathing
  • Tight feeling in the chest

How to Overcome Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia

There are multiple self-help strategies and professional treatments you can use to deal with the fear of the number 666. Remember, these steps require regular practice and determination.

Self-Help Methods for the Fear of 666

Educate Yourself

First, acknowledge that you have a fear of the number 666. Next, educate yourself on various self-help methods. In addition to this article, there are several books and websites you can access to get all the information you need on this fear.

Using what you learn, you can create a plan for dealing with your fear of 666, or hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia.

Talk to People You Trust

You may not understand how this can help you overcome your phobia, but surrounding yourself with trusted friends and family members goes a long way. Having a strong and reliable support system is important in dealing with any kind of phobia.

Based on the experiences of others who have overcome phobias, don’t go through this process alone. People who love you unconditionally will motivate you. Their encouragement will positively affect your mind and boost your confidence.

If you’re not comfortable with confiding in your friends or loved ones, try being a part of discussion groups on phobias. Soon, you’ll realize you aren’t alone in your desire to defeat this fear.

Express Yourself

People who suffer from phobias often experience bouts of overthinking and anxiety. One of the easiest methods to curb this is to express yourself.

If you aren’t comfortable with expressing your problems aloud, write down what you feel. You can do this on your phone, in your journal, or on your computer. This allows you to release and stop unwanted thoughts.

Remember, overthinking can damage the progress you’ve made. Worse, it can reinforce your fears. Therefore, work toward putting an end to this harmful habit.

Don’t Forget to Exercise

Exercising helps reduce stress and calms the mind. One of the most beneficial forms of exercise is cardiovascular training. Cardio has been known to calm the mind and release endorphins, also known as happy chemicals.

The best part? Cardio doesn’t require any special or expensive equipment. It’s quite easy to do. Some examples of cardio are running, cycling, and jumping rope.

Take It Slow

Take your time as you attempt to overcome your phobia. You won’t see results overnight. For example, start by simply viewing visuals with the number 6. Remember, progress takes time, so don’t expect instant success.

Seeking Professional Help

What if these self-help methods have zero impact on your fear of 666? There’s nothing to worry about. Just take the next step by consulting a trained professional about hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia treatment.

Mindfulness Therapy

Mindfulness-based stress therapy or MBSR is a form of therapy for those who suffer from severe stress, anxiety, low self-esteem, and depression. Together with your mental health professional, you’ll learn to lessen the distractions caused by situations or things around you.

Your therapist will work to draw your attention to your thoughts in an attempt to increase self-awareness. Being aware of your actions and thoughts can enable you to work on them more effectively. This can help you lessen the effects of your phobia.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a form of therapy where the patient’s thought process is redirected in order to reach the desired goal. This is a highly effective method and can have lasting effects on the patient. Cognitive behavioral therapy does not deal with addressing past trauma. Rather, it focuses on issues that one is facing in the present.

Exposure Therapy

For some, exposure therapy can work wonders. The idea is to help you to overcome your phobia by making you come face-to-face with it.

It’s a gradual process. At first, your therapist may start by asking you to simply think about the number 666. Once you’ve mastered that without symptoms, you’ll move on to actually viewing the number.

Remember, treatment is monitored by a professional who will track your reactions. Don’t be scared. The therapist will only progress with your consent.

How to Avoid Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia

The first step to avoid this phobia is to acknowledge that you have it. Try and understand why you have this fear and what’s causing it. Only then can you do the work.

Stay patient and take small steps to achieve your goal. Try exercising, meditating, and expressing yourself. These activities help reduce stress and enable you to remain calm.

In Conclusion

Right now, you may feel that you’ll never get over this phobia. But it doesn’t have to be that way. You can change that.

Have faith in the process and in yourself. In time, you’ll be watching a horror movie with the number 666 without even batting an eye.

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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