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Animal Phobias

Lepidopterophobia – Fear of Butterflies

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Butterflies and Moths: Beautiful or Creepy?

Does the mere idea of butterflies make you feel uncomfortable? Do you dread visiting parks and gardens, because you might encounter flying insects?

Have you ever woken up screaming from a nightmare about scary winged creatures? It wasn’t bats you dreamt about; instead, butterflies or moths were the villains.

Are you afraid that others will judge you because of your fear of moths?

If any of these scenarios seem to fit, consider two possible reasons: lepidopterophobia or mottephobia.

As uncommon as it may seem, a fear of bugs is very real. Celebrities with lepidopterophobia include actress Nicole Kidman and model Kylie Jenner. During an interview, Jenner once said that without a butterfly’s artsy wings, it’s just a bug.

If you suffer from an extreme fear of butterflies, know that there is hope. Read on to find solutions to overcome this fear.

QUICK FACT

Butterflies and moths are useful insects, because they pollinate needed plants.
They are known as accidental pollinators.

What Is Lepidopterophobia?

Lepidopterophobia refers to an overwhelming fear of butterflies and moths. Those with this condition react strongly when an insect accidentally touches or crawls on their skin. They may even get the jitters at the mere sight or thought of a winged bug.

Why the phobia begins varies, but insects or bugs that flutter may have something to do with it. This phobia is related to entomophobia (fear of insects) and mottephobia (fear of moths). Sometimes, lepidopterophobics are also scared of birds and other flying creatures.

The fear tends to form in early childhood up to the teenage years. For some, a swarm of butterflies and moths may trigger specific childhood trauma or a negative experience. Sudden development of this phobia can occur when someone goes through a period of high stress. It can also be caused by the loss of a loved one, especially if the event is associated with insects.

If you have this condition, you may find it difficult to explain. You can’t put into words how much it bothers you to see people wearing butterfly-patterned clothing or accessories. Nobody understands why you leave the room when moths appear on TV. Others may find moths and butterflies pretty, but you’re just creeped out.

How can you cope with irrational thoughts about butterflies and other flying critters? Read on.

Symptoms of Lepidopterophobia

Naturally, symptoms of this phobia can differ from one person to another. Retention of this fear happens in the pituitary gland in the brain. A phobia is clinically diagnosed when it lasts for six months or more.

Both your body and mind may be affected by this extreme aversion. Here are some known symptoms of lepidopterophobia.

Physical Symptoms

  • Heart palpitations
  • Hyperventilation
  • Insomnia
  • Difficulty breathing
  • Shivering
  • Flight reaction
  • Crying
  • Dry mouth
  • Panic attacks
  • Sweating
  • Headaches
  • Dizziness

Mental/Emotional Symptoms

  • Avoiding leaving home
  • Stress
  • Avoiding going to the zoo, park, or public places with trees or plants
  • Anxiety attacks
  • Depression
  • Suicidal thoughts
  • A constant need to scratch and touch skin

Self-Help for Lepidopterophobia

Accepting that butterflies are harmless can be overwhelming at first. Your reaction may seem exaggerated and unrealistic, even to yourself. Phobias don’t often make sense.

Overcoming phobias takes immense patience and strength. And sometimes you may have to try different treatments. But don’t lose hope. Every phobia can become manageable with the right care.

To start, take smaller steps to get help. Desensitizing yourself is a gradual process.

What Can I Do to Overcome Lepidopterophobia?

Facing your fear is the best course of action. Research suggests that a lack of control over the mind and body can lead to developing phobias.

One of the most effective ways to rid yourself of the fear is to practice relaxation and breathing techniques. Try meditating for a few minutes each day. Eventually, you’ll come to believe you are in control of the situation, which may boost your confidence.

There is an approach called mere exposure effect. Gradually gather information about these insects. Then, expose yourself to butterflies and moths in a controlled atmosphere. As you gain familiarity, your fear may begin to wane.

You could even use your creative side to attempt to face this fear. For instance, draw a picture of a butterfly or a moth from an internet page.

Professionals suggest that lowering your caffeine intake may also prove beneficial, because it relaxes you.

Getting Professional Help

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a common form of professional therapy which can help you overcome your fear of butterflies and moths. CBT can help with your thought processes. Group therapy is another option. Share your fear with a supportive group and gain insight into your phobia from those who experience the same. A phobia tends to hold you back from socializing, so a regular support group is invaluable.

Talk therapies also exist. Talk to a mental health professional about your phobia. While you’re at it, talking to trusted friends and family is also helpful. It will remind you that you’re not alone in this journey.

It can never hurt to consult an expert on this subject. Talk to a therapist and gain more knowledge about why this bothers you. Together, you can discover the reason behind your paralyzing fear of butterflies or moths.

Helping Children Cope with Lepidopterophobia

Parents play a vital role in helping children cope with irrational fears. Parents need to encourage their children to talk about what scares them. Work to reassure and boost your child’s confidence level.

Consult with a pediatrician if the fear is affecting your child’s daily life. Art therapy and exposure therapy may help them overcome their phobia. With a little help from a pediatric mental health professional, your child may be able to recognize the harmless aspect of butterflies and let go of their fear.

Follow These Simple Techniques

A phobia is when a fear reaches a point that it disrupts everyday life. It will not disappear on its own. But there is always a solution to overcome or at least better manage your fear.

There are multiple therapies available. First and foremost, it’s important to build self-trust.

Whenever you feel a panic attack starting, remember to take a deep breath and repeat to yourself “I am bigger than this irrational fear.”

Phobias form a conflicting thought process in your mind. This in turn weakens the nervous system. Therapies such as acupuncture help reduce stress. Meditation or yoga as well work to calm the body.

When to Seek Medical Help

If your life is hindered by constant thoughts of fear, seek professional help. Do this as soon as you can, especially if you are unable to find purpose or meaning in life.

Phobias can worsen to an extent where it builds a wall between you and:

  • your work
  • your daily routine
  • your relationships
  • your personal goals
  • your public life

To overcome this fear, it’s important to know when to seek help. Thoughts of self-harm are a major reason to consider professional help to bring you back in balance. Don’t let a phobia of butterflies stop you from experiencing life to the fullest.

Conclusion
Once you’ve learned how to better cope with your fear of butterflies, you’ll feel like you’re on top of the world. Realization, acceptance, and a conscious effort are all part of the journey to curb an irrational fear of butterflies and moths. With positive thoughts and wise decisions, you can conquer lepidopterophobia.

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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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