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Body Phobias

Vaccinophobia – Fear of Vaccines

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Vaccines May Scare Some More than the Illness Itself

Do you get scared when you learn you’ll need a shot or that a new vaccine is on its way? Do you fear getting sick or experiencing harm as a result of receiving a vaccination?

Do you feel nervous, shaky, or even sick to your stomach when you think about getting a vaccine? Would you avoid a vaccine at all costs, even if you knew it might save your life?

If so, you might have vaccinophobia, which is the name for a phobia of vaccines. Vaccinophobia can be tough to deal with, but rest assured there are ways to overcome it.

By learning more about what causes vaccinophobia, its symptoms, and the vaccinophobia treatment options available, you can start to feel more in control and less afraid.

What Is Vaccinophobia?

Vaccinophobia is a fear of vaccines or a phobia of getting shots. It’s an anxiety disorder that can make people feel extremely anxious or afraid when they think about getting vaccinated.

You might even feel that you have little control over your health when you’re so afraid of something that could prevent you from becoming ill.

Vaccines are an effective way to protect you from getting sick. They expose your body to a tiny amount of a virus or bacteria, so your immune system can learn how to fight it off if you’re ever exposed to the real thing.

Vaccines have been around for a while and have saved millions of lives; they are beneficial for both your own protection and the protection of others.

Vaccinophobia may result from a bad experience, like getting a shot that hurt a lot or made you feel sick. It may have also developed because of rumors or scary stories you’ve heard from other people about vaccines.

 

Symptoms of the Phobia

Vaccinophobia causes both psychological and physical symptoms ranging from general anxiety to increased or irregular heart rates. The following list may not include all of the potential symptoms.

Psychological Symptoms

Psychological symptoms can include feeling nervous or scared when you think about getting a vaccine.

You may also experience:

  • Panic attacks
  • Anxiety
  • Fear of getting hurt
  • Fearing death
  • Confusion, irritability, and mood swings.

You might worry about getting sick or about something bad happening to you after you get vaccinated. Sometimes, this fear can be so intense that you avoid getting vaccines altogether, even if it means putting your health at risk. 

Physical Symptoms

When faced with the possibility of getting vaccinated, some people may also experience physical symptoms besides the psychological ones.

People with vaccinophobia may experience a few or several of these symptoms:

  • Trembling
  • Sweating
  • Trouble breathing
  • Irregular or rapid heartbeat
  • Ringing or buzzing in the ear
  • Nausea
  • Vomiting
  • Headache
  • High blood pressure
  • Dry mouth
  • Hyperventilation
  • Dizziness or lightheadedness
  • Muscle tension or aches

These physical symptoms can be uncomfortable and may even make it difficult for individuals to follow through with getting vaccinated. However, they are typically short-lived and will generally subside once the individual is no longer in the triggering situation.

Self-Help

How Can I Overcome My Fear of Vaccines?

There are several things you can do to help yourself feel less afraid if you have vaccinophobia. Self-help strategies can help alleviate your symptoms and eventually overcome your fear of vaccines.

Some strategies that may be helpful include:

  • Practicing relaxation techniques, such as deep breathing or meditation, to calm the mind and body when feeling anxious or fearful.
  • Gradual exposure therapy, which involves gradually exposing the individual to the feared object or situation in a safe and controlled environment, allowing them to become more comfortable and desensitized to the fear.
  • Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), which involves working with a trained therapist to identify and change negative thought patterns that contribute to the fear of vaccines.
  • Talk to someone you trust, like a parent, teacher, or doctor, about your fears. They can help you understand why you’re feeling this way and come up with a plan to overcome it.
  • Learn more about vaccines and how they work. The more you understand about the science behind vaccines, the less scary they might seem.

If you’re having trouble controlling your fear on your own or have more severe symptoms, you might benefit from getting professional assistance.

Professional Help

It may be necessary to seek professional treatment for vaccinophobia if self-help techniques prove ineffective. There are several options for treatment that help with different kinds of phobias:

Counseling or therapy with a licensed mental health professional can help the individual identify and work through underlying fears and anxieties.

Doctors may prescribe anti-anxiety drugs or beta-blockers to help manage symptoms and reduce the fear and anxiety associated with vaccines. Remember, you should only use medication under the guidance of a licensed medical professional.

 

How to Avoid Altogether

While vaccinations are a crucial part of preserving public health, there are some circumstances in which it may be wise to forgo them.

For instance, some vaccinations might not be suitable for those with compromised immune systems, severe allergies to vaccine components, or severe reactions to prior vaccinations.

Discuss alternative options for maintaining good health and preventing disease spread with a healthcare provider if there are any valid reasons to avoid vaccines.

It may not be possible to entirely eliminate the need for vaccines, so it is best to work on yourself or with a professional to treat the phobia.

Related Phobias: Tomophobia – Fear of Surgical Operations

Wrapping Up

While vaccinophobia can be a challenging and often uncomfortable phobia to deal with, there is hope for those struggling with it.

People can manage their fear and lead healthy, fulfilling lives with the aid of self-help techniques and professional assistance. Understanding why you are scared of vaccines and getting the support you need will allow you to live your best 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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