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Environmental Phobias

Siderophobia – The Fear of Stars

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Understanding Siderophobia – The Fear of Stars

Are you a stargazer? Or perhaps not. Not everyone enjoys looking up at the night sky. If you tend to avoid wishing upon a star, you might be suffering from siderophobia, a fear of stars.

Though siderophobia focuses on stars themselves, it may have a deep-rooted connection to the fear of the dark or a fear of being alone. Siderophobia can also originate from a fear of space exploration. The mystery of outer space is intriguing for many, but for some the idea may hold terror.

For those suffering with siderophobia, the mere thought of stars might elicit thoughts about dying or death. In most cases, sufferers recognize that they have irrational thoughts but are unable to control them.

What Is Siderophobia and What Are the Causes?

Siderophobia is an irrational and intense fear of stars. It is an uncommon phobia. Not everyone sympathizes with or understands the condition. They don’t recognize that the fear is real to the person experiencing siderophobia. As a result, the phobic individual might face ridicule, causing them embarrassment. In turn, they link that loss of control with their source of fear. Consequently, it becomes a vicious cycle. Let’s look at a few causes.

Traumatic Past

This fear might have developed in some because of a traumatic event during their childhood. In this case, the person might have heard reports of astronauts dying or being stranded in space.

Caregivers and Parents

Anxious caregivers and parents can fill a child with fearful thoughts and ideas. In other cases, an older sibling might have narrated stories regarding the vastness and mysterious aspects of space, which could elicit fear.

Learned Behavior

Scientists concur that most phobias are the result of learned behaviors. If someone learns to fear stars, over time , they maintain the association of stars with feelings of fear, insecurity, and embarrassment of losing control.

Genetics

At times, genetics or hereditary factors are responsible for developing a phobia. Therefore, if your parents were anxious or nervous, you have a high likelihood of developing anxiety disorders or a phobia. Similarly, some are just more susceptible to developing phobia and a chemical imbalance might lead to such anxieties and insecurities. Phobias often run in families but the intensity might differ across people.

Literature and Media

Watching sci-fi movies showing space missions, for instance, aids the development of siderophobia. Some movies have caused certain people to fear space, stars, etc. Space disasters featured in the media can also contribute to the development of the phobia. For instance, a disaster that kills all crew members is likely to elicit fear among some.

Symptoms of Siderophobia

Those with siderophobia aren’t merely uncomfortable with the thought of stars. Rather, they have persistent anxiety and fear that affects various aspects of their lives. Some will even avoid being outside at night to avoid seeing stars. Symptoms of siderophobia manifest both physically and psychologically.

Physical Symptoms

  • Sweating
  • Fatigue
  • Dizziness
  • Trembling, shaking
  • Cold or hot flashes
  • Vomiting, nausea
  • Dry mouth
  • Disorientation or confusion

Psychological Symptoms

  • Fear of dying
  • Anxiety
  • Social withdrawal
  • Shame, guilt, self-blame
  • Feelings of dread
  • Feeling disconnected
  • Fear of losing control

Those suffering with siderophobia might lose friends or develop social isolation. They may work to avoid anything to do with their source of fear. For instance, they may avoid reading about stars or watching movies featuring them. The mere thought of stars could cause a sense of panic. Also, simply imagining them could trigger symptoms.

Treatment for Siderophobia

Many sufferers don’t tend to seek treatment. Instead, they simply avoid the source of their fear. However, this strategy isn’t effective for addressing the condition. Although there’s no single treatment to address the phobia, a combination of self-help strategies and professional treatment approaches can help sufferers enjoy a meaningful life.

Self-help Strategies to Cope with Siderophobia

Journaling

Various self-help strategies can help tackle this condition effectively. To begin with, you can write your fears down. You’ll want to note down a positive thought for all negative or fearful thoughts you face. One way of dealing with any overpowering emotion is to establish a healthy way of expressing yourself. This makes journaling a beneficial tool in mental health management.

Exercising

While people often link exercise to physical benefits, they often overlook the psychological benefits. Exercise offers a range of mental health benefits for those suffering from phobias like these. People with siderophobia often exhibit anxiety and panic, so exercise can offer a proactive way of releasing pent-up tension and decreasing feelings of worry and fear.

Exercise also reduces sensitivity to your body’s response to anxiety, while decreasing the frequency and intensity of panic attacks in some instances. Another reason to engage in exercise is that it fosters confidence and social support. Specifically, aerobic exercises such as swimming or cycling have a positive effect on phobic people. Before you start with an exercise program, you should consult your doctor to establish the best type of exercise and intensity level for your condition.

Professional Help

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

In this approach, therapists help you organize your thoughts to achieve the desired behavior. This approach is effective because once you change your cognitions or thoughts; there’ll be a lasting effect on your behavior.

A therapist will help you establish the reason for your behavior and thought. The treatment is short-term and goal-oriented. It’s worth noting that the technique doesn’t concentrate on investigating the past to resolve present issues.

Systematic Desensitization

This approach is common when it comes to the treatment of phobias. In this approach, you’ll undergo exposure to the stimulus steadily with varying durations and degrees of severity. When it comes to the severity, the degree is hierarchical, from high to low.

The goal of this approach is to eliminate the feared stimulus and replace it with a response of relaxation. Initially, you will learn deep breathing techniques and present a list of your fears, beginning from the least fear-evoking circumstance to the most.

Mindfulness and Meditation

This approach makes you aware of your feelings, thoughts, and decreases interference from the environment. In this technique, you will also experience different sensations. When it comes to meditation, the approach changes the emotional attachment you have to your thoughts. It also helps detach your thoughts from the emotion of the phobia.

Take Charge of Yourself!

Taking charge of yourself could help sufferers manage anxiety, decrease stress, and cope with phobias. Do things that can enhance your mood by allowing you to prioritize fears and concerns, encourage positive self-talk and recognize negative behaviors and thoughts. Track all signs so you can identify triggers and discover ways to control them better.

Look at it this way: your fear focuses on the current circumstance. So, you must remember that your thoughts determine how you act or respond to certain situations and stimuli. Therefore, negative thoughts produce a negative behavior reaction or unwelcome behavior.

While siderophobia is among the rare phobias that people seldom understand, the effects are real for those who experience it. Fortunately, there are various solutions to help address the condition.

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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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