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Other Phobias

Pittakionophobia — Fear of Sticky Notes or Labels

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How Common Is Pittakionophobia

Unlike your friends who love to collect paper products, do you see yourself escaping from the sight of sticky notes and labels?

Does the mere mention of sticky notes and stickers make you feel dizzy? Does the thought of labels put you in a state of distress? Do you avoid going to the supermarket because there are food tags everywhere? Do you see those little stickers on fruit and vegetables and feel disgusted or bothered?

You may be suffering from pittakionophobia, the irrational fear of sticky notes and labels.

Read on to learn what causes pittakionophobia, its symptoms, treatment options, and more.

Some Things to Know about Pittakionophobia

Do you remember a time when someone asked you to pick an object, but you couldn’t? It could have been something as harmless as an apple or a notebook, but you were unable to do it because it had a sticker on it.

You may have felt repulsed or anxious and tried everything to escape the situation.

You may belong to that small group of people that suffers from pittakionophobia. This is a rare phobia that invokes a fearful reaction toward stickers and labels.

Pittakionophobia Meaning

Pronounced pit-ak-ee-ono-phobia, this phobia is a combination of two words—pittakion and phobia. Pittakion is a Greek word that stands for tickets or labels. Phobia means an irrational fear or aversion toward an object. So, together, the term stands for an irrational fear toward sticky notes, tags, and stickers.

How Rare Is Pittakionophobia?

The fear of stickers and labels is a rare phobia. It may be that those who suffer from it refrain from acknowledging it. They may feel the fear sounds too silly to be considered a valid fear or phobia. They may feel ashamed to accept it.

What Causes Pittakionophobia?

The most common reason for pittakionophobia is a past traumatic experience. Anyone who has had a distressing encounter with sticky labels in the past may get anxious when they come across stickers later in life.

Subconsciously, they have linked stickers and labels with fear, anxiety, or danger. This experience may have occurred during childhood, adolescence, or near adulthood.

The experience may include direct involvement with the sticker. The sticker may have stuck to the person on a part of their body. Or they may have observed someone else having a negative experience with stickers and labels.

How Pittakionophobia Can Affect You

People who suffer from pittakionophobia may get anxious when they see a label stuck on an object. Or they may be fearful of the stickiness of the label. The way this phobia feels varies from person to person.

As with any other fear, dealing with pittakionophobia affects your regular routine. For example, a trip to the supermarket may seem like a trip into the jaws of death. Understandably so, because you’re likely to locate labels on products in every nook and cranny of the market.

With pittakionophobia your emotions are not in your control. You may feel anxious, furious, or uneasy near labels or products with stickers on them.

Symptoms of Pittakionophobia

The symptoms of pittakionophobia vary. They depend on the severity of the situation that involves you and your object of fear.

Those struggling with pittakionophobia may experience some of the following symptoms:

Mental/Emotional Symptoms

  • Extreme anxiety
  • The urge and need to escape from the situation involving stickers
  • Lack of concentration and focus
  • Feeling stressed, detached, or demotivated
  • Panic attacks and tension
  • No physical and mental control over the body
  • Lack of motivation to perform at work and low productivity levels

Physical Symptoms

  • Shortness of breath
  • Dizziness and feeling lightheaded
  • Sweating and heart palpitations
  • Increase in heart rate
  • Trembling or shaking
  • Upset stomach and nausea
  • Chills and abnormal sweating
  • Rapid changes in the digestive system

How Do You Deal with Pittakionophobia?

You can deal with and overcome your worst fears with practice and diligence. Although pittakionophobia is not as common as other fears, it requires the same attention.

The first step is to own up to your fears. The quicker you do that, the more in control of your fears you will be. On the other hand, the more you avoid your fears, the longer you delay recovery.

It’s common for people struggling with a fear of sticky notes or labels to feel panicky and anxious. If you’re stuck in a situation like this, take a break and get a breather. Try to meditate, read a book, or listen to soothing music to put your mind at rest.

Pittakionophobia Treatments

You can seek one of many available treatments to overcome pittakionophobia.

Advanced transformational hypnotherapy is one option for treating this phobia. Through this, you can discover the origin of your fears. Once you find the origin, the next step is to remove the incorrect belief or fear that has linked stickers and labels to anxiety.

Coping with Pittakionophobia

Is your fear getting in the way of your goals? If you seek a peaceful life free of fear, try the following steps:

Acknowledge the Fear

Work to acknowledge, accept, and embrace your fear. Understand your fear before you try to overcome it. Expose yourself to the object of your fear—in this case sticky notes and labels—every chance you get so that you have a better shot at overcoming your fear.

Creating a Plan

Create a plan and a schedule that includes different ways to practice dealing with the fear. This can consist of meditation, yoga, a day out with friends, or anything that puts your mind at peace.

Learn about Your Fears

A fear such as pittakionophobia is rare and may be new to most. So, on the off chance you’re dealing with it, make sure to educate yourself about the fear as much as possible. Try to gather as much information as you can to make a sensible decision on how to treat or manage it.

Final Thoughts

Fear can be unnerving. Especially something as rare as pittakionophobia. However, try not to lose hope or give up on trying to overcome it. It may be hard to come face to face with your fears. But the more you do it, the more you will condition your brain to be less fearful of it.

The best thing you can do for yourself is seek help. It could be a friend, a teacher, your parents, or better—a professional therapist. Get in touch with anyone you feel comfortable with and share your fears. In no time, you’ll be hanging out in the produce aisle again.

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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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