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

Teacherophobia – Fear of Teachers

Share This Article
Share Post

Let’s Learn More about Teacherophobia

Everyone, at some point in their lives, has experienced being afraid of a teacher. But if this fear goes beyond the usual anxiety of being in school and starts making you anxious and panicked, it’s cause for concern.

Does thinking back to your school days fill you with dread? Do you feel anxious when around teachers or other persons of authority in the educational field? If you’re in school, do you find yourself skipping class or avoiding talking about certain subjects?

All of these are signs you may be dealing with teacherophobia, also called pedagophobia, which is the fear of teachers.

This phobia causes a person to become afraid of teachers, either all teachers or one particular teacher, so much so that they are afraid of even talking about them. When this phobia manifests in children, they will want to avoid school at all costs and may fake illness or use other tactics to avoid going to school. But adults can also develop a fear of a teacher or teachers later in life.

Fortunately, there are ways to combat this phobia. Once you acknowledge your fear is irrational, you can try different treatment methods to slowly but surely overcome your pedagophobia.

 

What Is Teacherophobia?

Teacherophobia or pedagophobia is an irritational fear of teachers. Someone with this phobia is scared of teachers or other authority figures in the educational field, such as the principal.

Teacherophobia is related to scolionophobia (the fear of school) and sophophobia (the fear of studying or learning). In this phobia, the individual is afraid of facing a teacher.

A child with this phobia may get physically sick when forced to go to school. They may spend more time at home rather than at school, which can affect their education. A child may be afraid of just one teacher who they feel is too strict or asks a lot of questions, or they may fear teachers in general.

Unfortunately, many parents disregard this behavior as laziness or stubbornness and fail to get their child help. This phobia can then affect the child’s mental health as well as academic progress.

In adults, pedagophobia may not affect their academic progress, but it can still affect their everyday lives.

Causes of Teacherophobia

The exact cause of any phobia is undefined, and the exact trigger for everyone is different. It is usually a combination of different factors such as genetics, environment, and past experiences.

For example, someone who had a traumatic experience with a teacher, such as experiencing verbal or physical abuse, is at a higher risk of developing a fear of teachers.

Living with or knowing someone with an anxiety disorder can also lead to an individual developing certain thought patterns that result in a phobia.

Genetic predisposition also plays an important role in developing teacherophobia. If you have someone in your family suffering from mental issues, you are at higher risk of developing this or any phobia.

 

Symptoms of Teacherophobia

Symptoms vary from one person to another, although most symptoms are similar to other anxiety disorders and phobias. Depending on the severity of the phobia, a person may experience extreme or mild symptoms.

Here are some of the most common symptoms of teacherophobia.

Physical Symptoms

  • Sweating
  • Trembling
  • Increased heart rate
  • Increased blood pressure
  • Palpitations
  • Headache
  • Gastric distress
  • Tightening of chest
  • Diarrhea
  • Fever

Mental/Emotional Symptoms

  • Anxiety
  • Panic attack
  • Anger
  • Clinginess
  • Nightmares
  • Irritability

 

Treatment of Teacherophobia

Like with all the phobias that exist, there is no one specific cure for teacherophobia. However, there are various treatment plans, including self-help, that can help you deal with the symptoms and even overcome your phobia.

Self-Help Techniques

You can learn to deal with your phobia on your own using various self-help methods. Meditation, deep breathing, and yoga are all known to help ground you. These techniques can help you deal with the anxiety that comes with any phobia.

However, in the case of teacherophobia, children are more prone to developing this fear. So, it’s important for parents to step in and help them overcome their phobia.

Here are a few tips parents can try:

  • Calmly talk with your child and encourage them to open up about their phobia
  • Assure them that you are not going to get angry at them or ridicule their fear
  • Boost their self-esteem
  • Help them realize that a teacher can be a trusted figure and not one to be feared
  • Talk with them to understand whether they’ve had any problematic experiences with a teacher
  • Help them with their schoolwork
  • Get them started on self-help techniques like relaxation techniques and meditation
  • Talk with the authorities at school and take cooperative steps to make their journey easier
  • Seek out therapy for your child so they can be guided by certified professionals

Professional Treatment

A professional therapist will help those with this fear to acknowledge the phobia, recognize triggers, and equip them with specific tools to manage the fear.

A mental health professional may try one or more of the following therapies:

  • Cognitive behavioral therapy
  • Exposure therapy
  • Dialectical behavior therapy

In rare cases, the doctor may even use medications for some time. These medications help the patient deal with panic attacks or anxiety symptoms and are not a cure for the phobia.

 

Coping with Teacherophobia

A teacher is someone who can often have a significant impact on an individual’s growing years. But for a child struggling with teacherophobia, the classroom can become a battleground where they are losing the battle. Even adults dealing with teacherophobia can develop a negative relationship with teachers and the education system.

It’s important to acknowledge this fear, especially in the case of children, and not dismiss it. You can talk with them and guide them to professionals who will help them overcome their fears. These simple steps may help your child develop healthy relationships with their teachers and education.

 

Conclusion

Teacherophobia can not only affect an adult’s social life, but it can also get in the way of a child’s education. Though adults have the ability to tend to their own needs, children suffering from teacherophobia need the support of their parents. Children may even need professional support to overcome their fear. With some time and effort, they can overcome this phobia and develop a positive relationship with their teachers.

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