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Body Phobias

Tomophobia – Fear of Surgical Operations

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Tomophobia: A Serious Phobia with Consequences

Does the thought of surgery put you off? Is even talking about Grey’s Anatomy a strict no?

Are you afraid of even setting foot in a medical facility? Or does the possibility of a surgical procedure make you nauseous and want to flee?

If you answered all the above questions with a yes, you most probably have tomophobia—a fear of surgical operations.

It may be difficult for you to explain why you can’t talk about medical movies or series, why you immediately flip the news on anything to do with accidents, or why you decline accompanying anyone to a hospital.

We feel you. And so do the 19 million US citizens who suffer from some form or other of phobia. You can take a look at the list of phobias to learn about some of the unusual phobias people are battling in their daily lives.

Also, don’t worry. There is no phobia that cannot be overcome with a little dedication and hard work. If you’ve just started experiencing symptoms, self-help alone can go a long way. If you’ve had this fear for awhile, there are therapists across the world who are dedicated to helping you return to a worry-free life.

What Is Tomophobia?

Tomophobia is the fear of surgical procedures or fear of surgery.

But everyone is afraid of surgeries, right? True. However, for those with tomophobia, even talking about shows that involve medical procedures can cause severe anxiety.

A phobia of medical procedures may be so intense that some refuse to even have themselves examined, let alone undergo a medical procedure.

Sometimes, those with tomophobia cannot even tolerate the sight of blood. They may faint, pass out, or run out of the room.

A 2009 case report detailed the case of a 69-year-old Caucasian man who refused to undergo an urgent medical intervention due to tomophobia. The authors mentioned that the cause of medical phobia might be attributeted to the increasing number of surgical interventions people undergo these days.

Because everyone has some amount of fear when it comes to medical procedures, tomophobia is often overlooked. However, the condition has received more attention after COVID-19. People who had avoided doctors for years were forced to face the medical system.

Tomophobia Causes

The exact cause of tomophobia is unknown; however, there are a few theories on how or why a person may have developed a fear of medical procedures.

It could have developed due to an experience with surgery or witnessing someone else going through one.

Developing specific phobias like tomophobia is common in people who have a genetic predisposition to anxiety disorders. If any of your family members had an anxiety disorder or phobia, the chances of you developing one get considerably higher.

Tomophobia Symptoms

So, what are the symptoms of tomophobia?

The most common symptom of tomophobia is fainting. However, along with it a person may experience a few or more other symptoms.

Physical Symptoms

Psychological Symptoms

  • Strong urge to flee from the situation
  • Extreme anxiety
  • Panic attacks

Tomophobia Treatment

If tomophobia is affecting your daily life, there are several steps you can take to learn to manage the phobia.

Here are some treatment options you can try to overcome your fear of medical procedures.

Self-Help

When it comes to phobias, self-help can go a long way. The patient knows best about their feelings, triggers, and reactions. They see others undergoing major medical procedures and realize that their fears are irrational.

You can do several things to help yourself. You can join support groups where people talk about their journeys and how they overcame their fears.

Journal writing is another option. Journaling is beneficial for people with mental health issues. A journal will help you realize your fears and track your progress toward a healthier you.

Relaxation techniques such as yoga, meditation, and exercise go a long way in helping cope with anxiety and fear. These techniques calm your nerves, clear your thoughts, and help you think rationally.

You can also try gradually exposing yourself to the subject of your fear. Try watching medical dramas a little at a time.

Professional Therapy

If self-help isn’t working for you, turn to professional therapy. A professional will be able to correctly diagnose your condition and its severity and provide the required treatment.

Therapists often employ psychotherapy for the treatment of phobias. They may use one or more of the following methods to help you overcome your phobia:

  • Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
  • Systematic desensitization or exposure therapy
  • Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR)

In rare cases, medication may be prescribed for a short time until the patient responds to other therapies. Medications target severe symptoms of anxiety or depression.

 

Learning to Cope with Tomophobia

Tomophobia affects a person’s daily life. It prevents them from seeking necessary medical support, which increases their suffering further. Also, the most common symptom of tomophobia—fainting—can cause a person to fall and undergo further trauma.

A combination of self-help and professional therapy will help reduce your symptoms of anxiety. It will help you better cope with triggers and help you to lead a less stressful life.

Conclusion

Tomophobia can become the bane of your existence. However, you have the power to undo it.

Seek treatment today and live a healthier, happier life.

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.
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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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