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Environmental Phobias

Thaasophobia – The Fear of Being Seated

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Thaasophobia: A Rare Phobia

Do you feel scared or anxious when you have too much free time? Does the thought of sitting still and doing nothing fill you with a sense of dread? Do you often find yourself taking on more work just to keep busy?

If yes, you might be experiencing a specific phobia called thaasophobia, or the fear of being seated or sitting idly.

Those with thaasophobia tend to avoid being idle or sitting still. They often try to keep themselves busy and avoid having to sit. The thought of having to sit can cause severe anxiety and symptoms like shaking, sweating, or heart palpitations.

In this article, we’ll talk about what thaasophobia is and why it happens. We’ll also take a look at different treatment methods for the phobia.

What Is Thaasophobia?

So, what is the phobia for fear of sitting and how does it manifest?

Thaasophobia is an irrational fear of sitting idly. On the irrational fears list, thaasophobia is considered uncommon and can often be difficult to diagnose.

Those with thaasophobia may be triggered and experience this fear even when they are in a safe and secure environment. Being asked to take a seat can push them into a state of panic.

Thaasophobia can cause people to continually take on work or try to always be occupied, so they don’t have idle time. This can hinder their daily lives and make it difficult to live “normally.”

What Causes Thaasophobia

There is no definite cause known for thaasophobia. Thaasophobia causes tend to vary from one person to another.

Some may develop this fear due to a traumatic experience or injury related to sitting. Others may have a more generalized fear of losing control or feeling trapped when sitting down.

More often than not, phobias develop from a previous experience involving the object of one’s fear. An individual may have had a bad experience involving sitting or heard about someone developing back injuries due to sitting.

Genetics and history of anxiety-related disorders also play a major role in the risk of developing a phobia.

 

Symptoms of Thaasophobia

Thaasophobia symptoms can be different in different individuals. But they typically experience multiple symptoms simultaneously. Here are some common signs and symptoms of thaasophobia.

Psychological Symptoms

  • Panic attacks
  • Extreme avoidance
  • Obsessive or intrusive thoughts
  • Anxiety when thinking about sitting
  • Fear of impending doom
  • Feeling depressed

Physical Symptoms

  • Rapid heartbeat
  • Difficulty breathing
  • Nausea
  • Dizziness
  • Muscle tension
  • Headaches
  • Back pain

It’s important to remember that not everyone with thaasophobia will experience all of these symptoms, and the severity of the symptoms can vary from person to person.

 

Thaasophobia Treatment

Phobias, including thaasophobia, limit a person’s ability to live well and enjoy freedom in their daily lives. If you or someone you know has thaasophobia, there are a variety of treatment strategies and trained professionals out there who can help.

Self-Help Strategies

The good news is, there are things you can do on your own to get a hold of your fear and take back control of your life.

Taking a proactive approach to your phobia can help you develop coping mechanisms to deal with the fear. For example, meditation, yoga, and deep breathing exercises are known to help you relax. They have a grounding effect and can help reduce the anxiety that comes with phobias. You can also try rhythmic breathing to help you cope with panic attacks.

Progressive muscle relaxation involves tensing and relaxing different muscle groups in your body, which can also help relieve tension.

It’s also a good idea to find support groups for phobias. Talking to people who have had similar experiences or who deal with and can understand your anxieties can be very helpful in your recovery.

Seeking Professional Help

Seek professional help for thaasophobia if you find that self-help methods aren’t enough. Professional treatment involves talking to a doctor or a mental health professional who is experienced in treating phobias.

Your therapist may talk about your fears and try to figure out what’s causing them. They will then suggest different strategies or techniques to help manage your fear of sitting.

Exposure Therapy

This form of therapy is aimed at helping the person with thaasophobia learn to overcome their fear through exposure to the trigger. It is done through controlled gradual exposure to the object of their fear — sitting idly — in a safe environment. It can help the person learn to tolerate and manage their anxiety in situations involving sitting, ultimately reducing their fear and avoidance behaviors.

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction

This therapy teaches individuals with thaasophobia mindfulness techniques, so they can better tolerate the feeling of being seated and reduce their fear and anxiety.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

CBT is a highly effective form of therapy that helps explore negative thought patterns and irrational perspectives concerning one’s phobia. It helps the individual challenge the logic in these distortions and reframes them.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

DBT focuses on teaching individuals mindfulness skills, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness to help manage their anxiety and discomfort around activities involving sitting.

 

How to Avoid Altogether

Thaasophobia is one of the few phobias where you cannot avoid what you fear. You simply cannot keep yourself busy at all times, and there will always be times when you have nothing to do but sit idly.

So, avoidance will not help when dealing with thaasophobia.

That is why professional treatment is so important. A therapist will teach you skills and coping strategies that you can use to deal with such situations. You can also talk to your friends and family, so they understand what you’re going through and offer you support throughout your treatment.

 

Conclusion

If your fear of sitting idly is causing you problems, now is the time to seek help. There are many coping techniques you can practice on your own, and if that doesn’t work, there are professional therapists waiting to help. You can learn effective relaxation techniques you can use anytime, anywhere, to help you feel calm and comfortable. So, take a deep breath, relax, and remember that sitting can be a great way to rest, recharge, and enjoy the world around us!

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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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