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Body Phobias

Traumatophobia – The Fear of Injury

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Traumatophobia: The Fear of Injury

Are you wondering if you have traumatophobia? About 4 percent of the US population has this condition.

Fear is a normal response to physical harm. However, phobics take it to the extreme. Even the mere thought or mention of injury may cause a panic attack.

Does the sight of someone getting hurt scare you? Can’t sleep at the thought of getting injured? If these sound familiar, then you most likely have traumatophobia. Traumatophobia can be managed with the right intervention. But first, you have to acknowledge that you have this fear.

What Is Traumatophobia?

Traumatophobia is defined as the phobia of physically getting hurt. But wait, isn’t it natural to be afraid of injury? Keep in mind that traumatophobia is a severe and illogical fear of getting an injury. You are constantly afraid of cutting yourself, breaking a bone, spraining an ankle, getting a bruise, and so on.

Terror is your automatic response to the idea of experiencing pain or seeing blood because of an injury. Those suffering from traumatophobia may experience a heightened sense of anxiety even at the thought of being physically hurt. Such individuals might go to extreme lengths to avoid situations or things that can result in them getting injured.

How extreme? Phobics have been known to isolate themselves completely, leading to self-loathing and depression. They may find themselves unable to deal with such strong and negative emotions. This problem can further aggravate their fear and lead them to develop generalized anxiety disorders or obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD).

Traumatophobia Causes

For an individual to develop traumatophobia, it’s not necessary that they have experienced physical injuries in the past. Sometimes, it’s acquired secondhand when people have:

  • Seen others getting gravely injured
  • Watched someone getting hurt on television
  • Heard stories of someone suffering a severe injury

Under these circumstances, you may begin to fear the sight of injuries.

Traumatophobia can develop at any stage in life. Many develop this fear of injury during their late childhood or early teens. In the case of adults, those who have fought in wars are more vulnerable to developing traumatophobia.

Traumatophobia Symptoms

Let’s go over the telltale signs of traumatophobia.

Mental/Emotional Symptoms

  • Fear of losing control of oneself
  • Fear of fainting
  • Fear of death
  • Feelings of dread
  • Withdrawal and self-isolation
  • Feeling disconnected from people and surroundings
  • Uncontrollable anxiety
  • Feeling hopeless and dejected
  • Anger and irritability
  • Mood swings
  • Confusion and difficulty concentrating
  • Self-loathing and guilt

Physical Symptoms

  • Excessive sweating
  • Trembling
  • Hot flashes and chills
  • Shortness of breath
  • Rapid heartbeat
  • Pain or tightness in the chest
  • Nausea
  • Headache
  • Dizziness
  • Stomachache
  • Numbness
  • Prickly sensation in the fingers
  • Increase in blood pressure
  • Ringing sensation in the ears
  • An urge to pee

Those suffering from traumatophobia might be hypervigilant about any illness that may be ailing them. They are highly aware of any possible injuries associated with the disease. A tiny cut, which may appear insignificant to other people, would be blown out of proportion by someone with traumatophobia. They would react as if they were bleeding profusely.

Self-Help for Traumatophobia

Have you found yourself wondering how to overcome traumatophobia? While it’s recommended that you seek professional help, traumatophobia treatment can also be done through various self-help techniques. Let’s take a closer look.

Meditation

One of the best ways to overcome your fear of injury is through mindfulness meditation techniques. Mindfulness meditation has been helpful for those who wish to reflect. It can help you calm down and relax. Meditation also helps distract you from troubling thoughts by redirecting your mind towards positivity. You can search for meditation techniques on the Internet, or download meditation apps if you’re unfamiliar with the practice.

Breathing Exercises

Just like mindfulness meditation, breathing exercises help to relax the mind and body. Breathing exercises help to divert your mind from any disturbing thoughts so you can focus on your breathing. With breathing exercises, you can pay better attention to the way the muscles in your abdomen and chest expand and contract.

Caffeine Avoidance

Caffeine is a stimulant commonly found in tea, coffee, and dark chocolate. Although it helps to boost energy levels instantly, caffeine also worsens anxiety and causes your heart to beat rapidly. As a result, it becomes easier for someone suffering from traumatophobia to suffer from anxiety or panic attacks. If you’re suffering from traumatophobia, it’s best to consume caffeine in small quantities. Better yet, eliminate it from your diet altogether.

But what happens if you’ve tried self-help techniques to no avail? In that case, it’s time to move on to seeking professional help.

Getting Professional Help

If you feel self-help techniques are not working, then seek professional help. Here are some of the more common methods used by therapists to treat patients with traumatophobia:

Exposure Therapy

In exposure therapy, a therapist gradually and repeatedly exposes you to your fears. This technique aims to desensitize you to your phobia triggers. While you won’t be deliberately injured, you may be repeatedly shown images or videos of others being physically hurt or injured.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive behavioral therapy is a form of talk therapy where a therapist asks you to locate the source of your fear. This technique helps you understand why you have a specific phobia. You soon become more aware of your irrational thinking patterns.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

Dialectical behavior therapy is one of the most effective techniques that helps regulate emotions. It is commonly used in the treatment of borderline personality disorder and involves asking you to “half-smile.” Whenever this phobia crosses your mind, you’re asked to slightly raise the corners of your mouth. That’s where the term “half-smile” comes from. Sometimes, mindfulness meditation techniques are also employed in DBT, though it’s done in a group setting. At most, the treatment takes about six months to complete.

How to Avoid Traumatophobia Altogether

If you believe traumatophobia is interfering with your everyday life or you’re unable to seek help, then avoiding your fears altogether may be the best approach. What would this look like when practiced? You can avoid situations where there is a high probability of getting injured, such as sports and other physical activities. You should also refrain from watching movies, TV shows, or reading stories that describe people being physically hurt. In some cases, avoid taking up a profession where people are most likely to be injured, such as mining, combat, and jobs involving physical labor.

Related Phobias: Tomophobia – Fear of Surgical Operations

Conclusion

An individual suffering from traumatophobia can easily fall into the trap of self-loathing and guilt. Many people think they are the only ones suffering from this problem and so they avoid discussing their fears with others. However, they are far from alone. Just like any other phobia, traumatophobia can be overcome with the right help and techniques. Very soon, you’ll be on the path to recovery and lead a normal, healthy life.

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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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