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Animal Phobias

Zemmiphobia – Fear of the Great Mole Rat

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Mole Rat: Strange Looking for Most, but Scary for Others

Does your heart pound when you see a great mole rat, whether it be physically present or on a TV or cell phone screen?

 

Are you confused because you know others who have no fear of this animal, while you’re simply terrified of it? Do you go to great lengths to avoid potential mole rate encounters?

 

Overcoming your persistent fear of the great mole rat involves understanding why you’re experiencing fear and implementing strategies to move beyond your fearful experiences.

 

 

What Is Zemmiphobia?

 

Zemmiphobia is a phobia or irrational fear of the rodent known as the great mole rat. Zemmi comes from the Russian word zemny, which roughly translates to “earth puppy.”

 

The zemmi is a giant mole rat in Eastern Europe. But any mole rat or hairless rodent can cause zemmiphobia.

 

A phobia is an irrational and intense fear of something. Fears of small animals, such as mice and similar creatures, often make it to the list of common phobias.

 

Like with other phobias, it’s possible to overcome zemmiphobia through intervention and consistent practices.

 

Zemmiphobia Symptoms

 

Phobias are challenging because they affect both mind and body.

 

Psychological Symptoms

  • Overthinking about mole rats
  • Expecting the worst-case scenarios
  • Being unable to focus, think clearly, or plan
  • Procrastinating
  • Being forgetful
  • Carelessness
  • Feeling irritable or agitated
  • Feeling bad about yourself

 

Physical Symptoms

  • Wanting to shout and run away
  • Stopping what you’re doing and freezing in place
  • Clinging to other people or furniture
  • Thumping heart
  • Breathlessness
  • Choking sensation
  • Shaking
  • Feeling dizzy
  • Sweating
  • Feeling aches and pains
  • Tense muscles
  • Unable to sleep or sleeping too much
  • Increased or decreased appetite
  • Being sick for no reason

 

Zemmiphobia Self-Help Techniques

 

Other people have likely told you that you shouldn’t be so scared of a “harmless” creature. However, knowing your fear is unfounded does nothing to lessen the panicky feelings, right? Denying your fears doesn’t help. But these things might:

 

Understanding Your Fear: Zemmiphobia Causes

 

Zemmiphobia can result from a past negative experience with mole rats. Maybe as a child you saw a mole rat that looked like a monster to you. Or maybe something terrible happened where the rodent was present, so your mind associated the unpleasant event with the rodent.

 

The fear of mole rats might also be inherited. Interestingly, our ancestors’ fears may have been imprinted in their genetic code, which may then be passed on to their descendants. If you have parents or relatives who are afraid of mole rats, it’s natural for you to be afraid of them, too, even if you haven’t had negative encounters with them.

 

 

The Ladder Technique: Face Your Fear

 

Face your fear gradually. Create a ladder of actions of increasing difficulty. For example:

 

Step 1: Look at a picture of a mole rat.

Step 2: Watch a short video of a mole rat.

Step 3: Watch a documentary about mole rats.

Step 4: Go to a zoo or a pet shop selling mole rats and watch them from a distance.

Step 5: Go to a place with mole rats and observe them within six feet.

Step 6: Be within three feet of a mole rat

Step 7: Be right in front of a mole rat

Step 8: Pet a mole rat

Step 9: Carry a mole rat

Step 10: (optional) Own a mole rat as a pet.

 

You can make your own ladder, but ensure that the first step doesn’t scare you too much. If someone can help you go through all the steps or a particular step (for instance, a vet, zookeeper, or mole rat expert), ask for their support.

 

Plan to get a reward each time you accomplish a step. Doing this will make you look forward to going up the ladder.

 

Remain in the challenging situation until you feel better.

 

Practice facing your fear of mole rats regularly; expose yourself to it every day.

 

When you are feeling less afraid, go to the next step.

 

Overcome Your Negative Thoughts

 

When we don’t know something well, it’s easy to imagine many terrifying things about it. That’s why it will help to learn more about mole rats if you’re afraid of them.

 

Read about mole rats and learn about their characteristics. Check whether they are as dangerous in real life as they are in your head. Connect with mole rat experts and ask whether these animals can harm you. They may advise you on how to be less afraid of them.

 

Tell yourself repeatedly: “Whenever I see, hear, feel, or think about a mole rat, I would (insert a more helpful reaction here).” For example, you can recall the interesting facts you have read about them. You can remember when other people handled them and they turned out fine. Or, you can decide to feel calmer this time around.

 

Overcome Your Sensations of Fear

 

When you realize you’re becoming afraid, pay close attention to your feelings. Is your heart racing? Slow down your breaths. This will calm your heart rate. Are you so tense that your fists are clenched and your arm muscles ache? Loosen your muscles, and shake your arms and legs if you can.

 

 

 

Seeking Professional Help For Zemmiphobia

 

It may be difficult for people to battle their fears on their own. Fortunately, professional help is available for those suffering from phobias. Treatment of zemmiphobia may include therapeutic sessions and medication.

 

Phobia Exposure

 

If you don’t want to face your phobia alone, seek help from phobia specialists. An exposure therapy session may last an hour and a half to three hours, and sessions may continue for several weeks.

 

Therapy

 

A counselor or psychotherapist can help people with zemmiphobia process complex memories, beliefs, and feelings through talk therapies. There are many kinds of therapies; one often recommended for phobias is cognitive behavioral therapy. The therapist helps the client learn useful techniques to control or modify their thoughts, so they will have better experiences.

 

Medication

 

In cases of severe symptoms, a doctor may prescribe medication to help you cope with daily life. This medication must be taken consistently and at the appropriate times. When you can manage better, the doctor will reduce your dosage over time with the eventual goal of eliminating the need completely.

 

How to Avoid Zemmiphobia

 

Zemmiphobia treatment includes facing the source of your troubles. If you don’t have this phobia, you could avoid developing this fear by seeing moles as harmless and interacting with them regularly. You could also consider helping people overcome their fear. Doing so will strengthen your confidence with mole rats.

 

Conclusion

 

Your experiences are valid. Mole rats ARE scary if they cause you to feel symptoms of fear. However, you can take specific steps that will enable you to overcome that fear, and once you succeed, you’ll feel more courage in other things, too. With some effort and professional help, you may be able to move zemmiphobia to the bottom of your list of concerns.

 

 

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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