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

Nosocomephobia – Fear of Hospitals

Share This Article
Share Post

The Fear of Hospitals Is Not Just a Cliche

Turn on the TV at any given time, in any city, and you are bound to run across a slew of medical shows.

House., ER, General Hospital, Scrubs, Doc Martin—from soap operas to comedies to dramas to dramedies, medical shows are everywhere, and with them, all manner of beeping machines, scary diagnoses, and patients being saved, or not. . .

With all those sick patients living and dying like the one at the start of the movie Up (it’s OK, cry, we all do) from a certain point of view, it could be seen as totally understandable that we don’t like hospitals. But what if that dislike goes beyond that into outright fear?

No one actually likes hospitals (it’s not like they’re on anyone’s bucket list of vacation destinations) but they’re a critical part of our communities.

If you are sick, hurt, have a disease, or suspect you or someone you love might have one, especially in the era of Covid-19, you should be able to go to the hospital without fear.

That’s why it is so important to get to what’s at the root of the fear of hospitals, why some people move from dislike to outright terror, and if that’s you, what you can do about it.

Defining and Diagnosing this Phobia

First things first: What is the name for fear of hospitals? To put a label on things is the first step to conquering them, so it’s worth noting that the proper name for a fear of hospitals is nosocomephobia.

To break the term down, nosos is Greek for “diseases” while comes is Latin for “consequences” or, oddly enough, “companion.”

Aside from the interesting fact that this is the rare phobia that mixes both Greek and Latin terms rather than use one or the other, these terms taken together point to the fact that being phobic of hospitals is really a fear of “diseases” and the “consequences” thereof.

This actually brings us to a related question: What is the fear of doctors called? Because many people who suffer from a phobia of hospitals also suffer from a fear of doctors and possibly even needles. The fear of doctors is referred to as iatrophobia, while trypanophobia is the fear of needles.

Both of these, as well as a litany of other phobias about diseases, germs, and death all contribute to the overall nature of nosocomephobia.

Causes and Symptoms of Nosocomephobia

But let’s return to nosocomephobia itself, because there are still more reasons why sufferers feel phobic at the sight of hospitals. One important thing to note here is that it’s perfectly understandable to feel uncomfortable in a hospital. After all, a lot of uncomfortable or even tragic things can take place here (again, that hospital scene from Up).

That’s why it’s so important to be able to distinguish between this normal dislike of hospitals and an outright phobia.

The causes here should be apparent. We have already touched on many of them. If you have had a family member who has suffered or, God forbid, perished in a hospital, chances are you won’t think too fondly of the place. This, over time, can compound upon itself and become a fear of the place itself, especially if you are younger, when traumatic incidents can loom larger and make greater, deeper impressions upon your psyche.

Those medical shows may not help, either. The phrase “Monkey See, Monkey Do” exists for a reason—we are highly impressionable, especially when we see fellow humans engaging in or suffering from a certain activity.

On the one hand, there are limits to this. While anti-violent video game crusaders have made a career out of this argument, research has shown time and again that first-person shooters and other violent video games are not directly linked to violence. Likewise, watching Dr. House won’t suddenly transform you into a snarky pill-popping, cane-pimping medical savant yourself.

But it may exacerbate your fears of medical conditions and associated issues such as germs if you already have them. In this way, it’s more like “Monkey See, Monkey Feel,” as we empathize with and thus even share the phobias perpetuated (though unintentionally) by the media we consume. Watching characters get sick obviously won’t make you sick, but if you have germaphobia, it could enhance paranoid feelings that every surface is covered with deathly microbial invaders which can kill at a touch.

This is obviously an irrational belief, which is the essential point about phobias. They are, by definition, irrational. That doesn’t make your feelings illegitimate, but it is important to distinguish between an irrational fear (even looking at a hospital may give me a panic attack, and going in may kill me) and a rational one (hospitals are places where, yes, there are plenty of sick and sometimes dead people).

In addition to identifying all of these causal signs, you’ll also want to look for these common symptoms of nosocomephobia:

  • Obsession over hospitals
  • Panic attacks when looking at or even thinking about hospitals
  • Nausea
  • Elevated heart rate
  • Sweating
  • Shortness of breath
  • Anxiety
  • Exhibiting extreme avoidance behavior (i.e., refusing to go to the hospital even if you have a serious medical condition)

Treatment Options for Nosocomephobia

Needless to say, after that preamble about medical TV shows heightening already existent paranoias, if you suffer from a phobia of hospitals, doctors, needles, germs, disease, or any number of other conditions associated with these, an ER marathon probably isn’t a good idea.

Beyond that, conquering something like nosocomephobia is largely down to you and your own efforts. Given the fact that you have a fear of hospitals and doctors, you aren’t likely to be quick to seek out “professional medical help” anyway.

Change the Way Your Fear of Hospitals Phobia Affects You

For starters, you might try practicing mindfulness techniques to focus your mind when thinking about hospitals. This can help you focus your thoughts away from the irrational fears which can pervade your psyche when confronted with hospitals and allow you to consider them in a more rational manner. If you’re naturally a more rationally-minded, logic-and-problem-solving type of person, this approach may be best for you.

Meditation is another useful way to combat anxiety, nosocomephobia included. This can help you stop thinking and fixating on your phobia so much and instead clear your mind and achieve the peace you need to proceed with your life. Deep breathing exercises can also be a useful way to calm yourself, and can be achieved on the go if you do have to enter a hospital as well.

Then there is hypnosis. While the results can vary and data remains ambiguous, if you have benefited from hypnosis treatments for other phobias before, hypnosis treatments for nosocomephobia could be a big help.

There is no denying that a hospital can be a scary place, and cases there often don’t have a “Hollywood ending.” Nevertheless, they save countless lives, and are a huge benefit to not just our society but humanity at large. Hospitals are a force for good, and hopefully you can overcome your phobia and see and feel that good for yourself.

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