Skip to content Skip to sidebar Skip to footer
3K
3K
740
3K
Menu
Menu
static-img
Beliefs

Mnemophobia – Fear of Memories

Share This Article
Share Post

Fearing Memories?

Do you get a strong emotional response—to the point of desperation and panic—whenever you recall previous events and experiences? Or, does the thought of memory loss leave you feeling absolutely terrified? You may have mnemophobia, or fear of memories.

If this is the first time you’ve heard the term, then continue reading as we’ll be sharing some interesting details about this curious condition.

What Is Mnemophobia?

Mnemophobia is the fear of memories. It is an intense, morbid, and irrational fear of either remembering past memories or forgetting them.

In the first case, the condition can be triggered by a negative event or experience that may have a lasting impact on a person’s well-being. Look at it this way. People who have had an unfortunate life experience—for instance, a past trauma—would most likely want to seal away memories of such an event. Forgetting may have even been a necessity for them to continue with their lives.

However, even distant memories purposely forgotten can come back to the surface. For people with mnemophobia, recalling the past is the thing that they dread the most. In extreme cases, people with this condition even choose to forget the entirety of their childhood or undergo a “personality change” in an effort to block any unpleasant memory.

On the flip side, mnemophobia could also develop from an individual’s extreme anxiety about forgetting past memories. For instance, concern about memory loss, especially for a person diagnosed with or at risk of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and other related disorders, could evolve into mnemophobia.

What does mnemophobia do? Mnemophobia is, as you can imagine, a stressful condition to have. Memories, good or bad, are a big part of our identity. Having a morbid fear of memories can take its toll on a person’s quality of life.

Common Mnemophobia Symptoms

Similar to other phobias, mnemophobia may convince the mind that danger is present. Such a thought can lead to an array of irrational reactions, ranging from mild to severe.

Physical symptoms of mnemophobia include:

  • Hot flashes
  • Cold flashes
  • Shock
  • Fainting
  • Forced amnesia
  • Loss of appetite
  • Insomnia
  • Nausea

Psychological symptoms of mnemophobia include:

  • Anxiety disorder
  • Panic attack
  • Hyperventilating (rapid deep breathing)
  • Depression
  • Suicidal thoughts
  • Sweating profusely
  • Being hysterical
  • An episode of psychosis (a ‘break’ from reality, e.g., having hallucinations or delusions)

Getting through the Fear of Memories

People can control their mnemophobia symptoms. Several self-help ways include:

Exercise

Exercise helps release feel-good hormones. As such, physical activity has been proven effective in controlling anxiety. Exercise has also shown benefits to the healing process and overall well-being of people with depression.

If you’re suffering from mnemophobia and are undergoing treatment, doing lots of exercises will help you get through your intense therapy sessions.

Meditation

This can be tricky, as meditation requires concentrated use of the imagination and the mind. The purpose is to learn to concentrate on happy memories or visualize positive experiences that you would like to manifest. Meditation teaches one to take control of the mind.

Yoga

Yoga is also a helpful way to destress and recenter your mind toward the positive. Similar to meditation, yoga can help you get in the right mindset. Yoga can also help increase your mental and physical energy.

Go Caffeine-Free

Avoiding or totally eliminating caffeine from your diet will do wonders for your health and overall wellbeing. Caffeine is known to stimulate the body’s central nervous system. As such, caffeine is not advisable for people battling insomnia, anxiety, blood pressure, and other related conditions.

Professional Help for the Fear of Memories

If your mnemophobia symptoms are interfering with your daily life and relationships, see your doctor immediately. Thankfully, several procedures for treating phobia for fear of memories are available today. These include:

Exposure Response Therapy

A common approach to treating phobias is to gradually expose the patients to the object of their fear. In the case of people with mnemophobia, doctors would encourage patients to confront their childhood trauma or the negative event that triggered the phobia. The medical provider will facilitate sessions to gradually uncover the ‘forgotten’ memories, even those that are difficult to remember. The aim is to get to the root of the matter and understand what drives the fear.

Hypnosis

This alternative medical treatment attempts to tap into a patient’s subconscious mind. The aim is to communicate with the patient’s subconscious to uncover hidden pains, feelings, and thoughts. However, during hypnosis, a therapist uses suggestions and leading questions to guide the patient to recall a memory. This approach, therefore, runs the risk of drawing ‘false memories’ (because of the suggestions given during hypnosis). As such, hypnosis as a form of psychotherapy is not commonly used anymore.

Medication

In some cases, the doctor may prescribe medication to help manage the mnemophobia symptoms triggered by medical intervention. Such medication does not cure the phobia; it only helps patients cope with their symptoms as they undergo professional medical therapy.

 

Before the Therapy

As you go into your therapy for the first time, expect that your medical provider will ask a lot of questions. These questions and your answers will help the medical provider get an accurate picture of your condition. That’s why it’s best if you come to the appointment prepared. But you must take note not only of information about your condition but also of questions you have regarding the treatment.

A few things to list down include:

  • All the symptoms you have, and what you think triggered them (i.e., place, thing, situation).
  • Key personal information, especially major life events (past or recent) that cause you to feel stress.
  • All medications you take.
  • Every question you may have about the treatment.

On the other hand, some of the questions your doctor may ask you are:

  • When did you first notice your symptoms?
  • When are your symptoms likely to occur?
  • Do you notice things that make your symptoms seem better or worse?
  • How have your symptoms affected your life and the people around you?
  • Are you undergoing treatment for any medical conditions?

Dealing with Mnemophobia

Believe it or not, fear is not all that bad. In fact, fear is an important survival tool. But, as we all know, too much of anything is bad, and phobia is an excessive fear reaction. If left unchecked, a phobia can have devastating consequences. That’s why it’s vital to address symptoms of phobia as they appear.

If you are struggling with mnemophobia, know that it isn’t your fault. Don’t trivialize or belittle your fears. Most importantly, always remember, help is available. If you have decided on seeking professional medical help, do show commitment to the treatment by following your doctor’s instructions.

Also, confronting your past trauma would be difficult for sure. However, it is a very important step in your healing journey. By resolving your trauma through the treatment, you may finally get over your phobia. As you get exposed to your fears increasingly, keep in mind that your family, friends, and therapist have your back. Practice what you learned during therapy. If your symptoms should get worse, inform your therapist right away.

Finally, work on making fresh, pleasant memories to replace the stale, unpleasant ones. Embrace new experiences. While you can’t do anything about the past, the present is yours to enjoy.

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.
0LikesShare Post

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.
This Pop-up Is Included in the Theme
Best Choice for Creatives
Purchase Now