Fear of elevators: possible causes and symptoms of phobia, treatment methods, advice from psychologists

Modern man may experience many fears. Psychologists say that some of these fears are irrational. A fairly common manifestation of such irrational fear is the fear of elevators. Some people have an office or apartment on the upper floors, which is quite difficult to get to without a special lifting device. In this case, elevator phobia causes a person a lot of inconvenience. He cannot explain why he is afraid to take the elevator, but experts have identified several types of manifestations of phobia and developed methods for overcoming them.

Liftophobia refers to a person’s irrational fears

What could be the reason

Before solving such a problem, you need to understand what situation provoked the development of a fear of elevators. If this is the fear of getting stuck in an elevator, then it is important to determine what exactly scared you the most.

Finding out the root of evil is quite simple. Take a piece of paper and write down all your fears associated with the elevator, and next to it describe ways to solve the problem.

As an example, the following situations that could cause fear of using elevators are given:

1. Inability to get out of a stuck device. Today this is not a problem at all - using a mobile phone, which everyone has, you can call for help or contact the appropriate services.
2. Lack of lighting. People who don't want to stay in the dark can drive safely by taking a flashlight with them or using a phone with this function.
3. The possibility of becoming a victim of an attack by entering an elevator with strangers. In this case, it is worth going up to the upper floors while talking on the phone, or with a small group of familiar people. In this case, strangers will not pose an imaginary threat.

There are some techniques that help you gradually gain control of yourself while riding in an elevator and get rid of fear, which can become a serious obstacle in life. Their effectiveness has been tested and proven: by many people. having such a problem, used these techniques.

The inability to get out of a stuck elevator may be the cause of a phobia.

conclusions

Global urbanization leads to the emergence of more and more new phobias, completely unusual for people living in villages. The fear of riding in elevators is another example of this. Fear is inherent in a considerable number of people, although often in a mild form, when a person can cope with it on his own. Some people completely refuse to use the elevator, but these are rather exceptions to the rule. For them, therapeutic groups are recommended, which include people suffering from various phobias, and individual sessions with a psychologist.

1. Fear of pain: what is it called, how to get rid of fear
2. Anthropophobia or how to stop being afraid of people
3. Fear of the dark: nyctophobia, how to overcome the fear of the dark
4. Fear of men phobia

Fighting methods

An irrational feeling of fear of having to enter an elevator can manifest itself as panic attacks, like claustrophobia. In this case, deep, even breathing helps a lot. Full concentration on breathing rhythms and counting inhalations and exhalations helps to distract from the factor that causes a feeling of panic, restores clarity of thinking and allows you to quickly get rid of the oppressive feeling.

You need to smile before entering the lifting device. Even if it was just a mechanical action, the brain will decipher the sent signal. Gradually the panic will subside.

After the technique of dealing with panic has been mastered, it is necessary to begin to fight fear. Develop the habit of going through one floor using the elevator, then going up the stairs for two more floors. Over time, increase the time you spend on the device. Don't rush, work through each stage until the feeling of fear completely disappears. This is the only way to completely overcome the fear of going up to high floors in elevators.

Fear of using an elevator is classified by psychologists as an irrational phobia. You can overcome it gradually, using various methods of combating phobias, as well as controlling your emotional state.

The most important thing a person who is afraid to use elevators needs to do is to understand why he has such negative emotions and what exactly he is afraid of. The choice of treatment method will depend on this.

Sometimes a person cannot figure out the reasons for his fear himself, since they lie in long-forgotten events. In this case, it is better to contact an experienced psychologist who can use hypnosis to find answers.

If you've ever been stuck in an elevator and don't want to relive the unpleasant moments associated with that incident, think about what scared you the most. Write down the problems you encountered and then provide a solution for each one. For example, you can remind yourself that you have a mobile phone with you, which means calling for help will not be difficult. If you are afraid that the lights will go out in the elevator, keep a small flashlight with you or buy a phone with this function.

People who are afraid of being attacked in an elevator should travel either alone or in the company of 3-4 people who clearly do not know each other. In this case, the risk of becoming a victim of an attack is very low.

Normal fears vs. phobias and irrational fears

It is normal and even healthy to feel fear in dangerous situations. Fear serves a protective purpose by activating the automatic fight-or-flight response. With our body and mind ready for action, we can quickly react and protect ourselves. But with phobias the threat is absent or greatly exaggerated. For example, it is natural to be afraid of a growling Doberman, but it is irrational to be afraid of a friendly poodle on a leash, as might be the case if you have a phobia of dogs.

Normal fear

• Feeling restless when flying in turbulent conditions or taking off during a thunderstorm.
• Anxiety when looking down from the top of a skyscraper or climbing a tall staircase.
• Anxiety when seeing a pit bull or rottweiler
• Feeling slightly nauseous when receiving a medical injection or blood draw.

Phobia

• Avoiding necessary medical procedures or doctor's appointments because you are afraid of needles
• Walking away from parks because you might see a dog there
• Turning down a good job because it's on the 10th floor of an office building.
• Declining to go to your best friend's wedding because you have to fly there

How to get rid of the fear of elevators

Fear of elevators, like claustrophobia, is often characterized by panic attacks. Having learned with, you will learn to get rid of fear. Use deep, even breathing techniques. When horror comes over you, smile - even if you do it purely mechanically, the brain will decipher the signal, and the panic will slowly begin to recede. Do this every time before riding in an elevator.

If there are friends nearby, you can talk to them - this is a good distraction. Another option is to call someone and engage in a short conversation.

Once you've mastered the technique for quickly dealing with panic, get into the habit of taking the elevator one floor and then taking the stairs two floors. When this becomes easier, increase the time you spend in the elevator. Take your time, don’t push yourself – to achieve results, you need to act consistently

When you feel fear again, imagine your inner child and talk to him the way adults talk to kids. Think of short, calming phrases that you would actually say to your child. Repeat them to yourself to calm yourself before riding the elevator, and you will notice that the fear begins to gradually subside.

Fear is different from fear. Panic at the sight of mice is unlikely to complicate your life. But fear of people

can make it unbearable: after all, it is impossible to exist normally without communicating, without contact with others. You need to understand what caused your fear of people to develop and begin to overcome it.

Very often, the reason for such fear comes from childhood: if you were offended by your peers at school, teased in the yard, then you had to withdraw into yourself, protect yourself from communication. And still you expect from people

catch, trouble. Also, many are afraid of criticism and misunderstanding - this is due to low self-esteem and lack of self-confidence. Having withdrawn, having closed himself off from everyone in his own shell, a person loses communication skills and does not know how to behave in society. These problems only increase fear, a vicious circle arises that can be broken by forcing yourself to plunge into communication, like Baron Munchausen, pulling yourself out of the swamp of loneliness. Start your path to people with simple but very effective exercises. In any store, contact a consultant with a question about any product. Talk about the pros and cons of the product, discuss it from all sides, and then refuse to buy it. This way you will not only practice communication, but also learn to express your opinion and insist on your choice. You can use your phone as an assistant: call any possible places, find out about the prices of theater and cinema tickets, train schedules, conditions for employment. If it doesn’t turn out smooth and slender right away, don’t worry. After all, you can always end the conversation by hanging up. It’s important here that you don’t think about how you look, don’t watch your facial expressions, gestures - for starters, it’s easier to communicate this way. On the street, ask passers-by what time it is, how to get somewhere or get there. Ask in detail, clarify details. Strangers will only be pleased to do you a small favor, and you will acquire everyday conversation skills and gradually feel that communication can be positive and bring joy. It is important to realize that people first of all think about themselves, about how they look from the outside, and not at all about your precious person; they often experience uncertainty and shyness - just like you. Try to come to their aid, conduct the conversation kindly, openly, interestedly - only, if possible, not feignedly, but from the heart. And the fear will gradually pass, new opportunities will open up in your personal life and professional sphere. If you feel that you cannot overcome your fear of people alone, contact a specialist: a psychologist, a psychotherapist. He will help you understand the problem, find its causes and eliminate them.

Video on the topic

Almost every person sooner or later has to experience fear to one degree or another. This could be a fear of dogs, going to the dentist, taking exams at an institute or driving school, fear of heights, confined spaces, darkness and much, much more. In short, there are plenty of different phobias. There is only one question: how to deal with them? In fact, it is possible to overcome fear (and moreover, it is necessary!).

Instructions

Try to draw your fear. Psychologists believe that in the fight against a wide variety of phobias, art therapy can be one of the best helpers. After all, drawing allows you to cleanse, throw out emotions and fears on paper. So, take a big blank sheet of paper, imagine your fear and try to draw what it is.

Learn to switch from your fear to good, positive emotions. As soon as you feel that the phobia is making itself felt, think about the best that can happen. For example, you are afraid of closed spaces, but you are stuck in an elevator. Under no circumstances should you think about the darkness and cramped space in the booth!

Remember the most positive emotions for today, week, month. Think about your upcoming vacation, an exciting trip. Imagine yourself having a pleasant shopping experience. Believe me, negative emotions will gradually fade into the background, the main thing is not to concentrate your attention on them.

Use special breathing exercises. Are you afraid that you won't be able to perform at a presentation or exam? Straighten your back, exhale all the air from your lungs and take a deep breath. Imagine that as you exhale, you release your fear, and as you inhale, you gain courage. And most importantly, don’t be afraid, you will succeed!

Video on the topic

Some people may have a fear of heights, and this doesn't just apply to being on skyscrapers and airplanes. Such fear can arise even from ordinary descent, for example, from the stairs.

Instructions

Become aware of the fact that fear of heights

- this is an acquired experience of the brain; a person is not born with it.
A child encounters it between the ages of six months and a year, when he learns to walk and begins to fall and hurt himself painfully. Many people live quietly with this fear throughout their lives, overcoming it as needed. But there are times when the nervous system fails. Then a normal, healthy fear of heights
, which is associated with self-preservation, turns into a painful phobia.

To get rid of this fear, you need to determine its nature. Concentrate on your worst fantasy. What do you feel or see with your inner vision? This may be a return to childhood memories in gaining the experience of the first steps. You can see pictures of falls, injuries. You may also experience feelings of panic, terror and fear when under stress, depression, etc.

Don't ignore evidence that you are afraid of injury or are stressed. The fact is that the brain can simply block your possible wrong actions associated with climbing to any height with fear. And in a state of stress, all possible attempts to translate your subconscious self-aggression into real actions, which are often associated with falling from a height,

.
If a person tries to escape from solving a problem that makes him depressed, a combination of fear of enclosed spaces (claustrophobia) and fear of heights
(acrophobia) often occurs. A person begins to be terrified of elevators, subways, trains, airplanes, etc.

Do not delay consultation with a specialist. Depending on the cause of such fear, he will offer you the necessary training and recommendations. Currently, there are various methods of dealing with fear. There are even techniques for combating fear of heights.

directly on the plane, where an experienced psychologist helps overcome this complex.

Relaxing music, reading, meditation, physical activity, rest, etc. help to get rid of any stress and fear. Return to that childhood state when you were not afraid of heights

. Take your time, become aware of this feeling in real time, remember it. You can give this experience your own image or color. Take advantage of every opportunity for training. Finding yourself at a height that may not be more than 30 cm, experiencing a rush of adrenaline, remember your inner state during relaxing activities, the image or color with which you indicated your state without fear.

Fear of communication

– the problem is quite common. Many people feel embarrassed in situations where they need to approach a stranger and start a conversation. This condition can only be overcome experimentally – through daily training and experimentation.

Instructions

First of all, cultivate in your mind the idea that fear of communication

– this is a complex that must definitely be gotten rid of. All arguments about modesty have no basis in practical usefulness. More precisely, you should not confuse modesty with shyness. It is the latter that prevents a person from achieving a lot in life.

Self-doubt is a constant companion of fear of communication

. Fighting two problems at the same time is unlikely to be successful, so just forget about the fact that you are imperfect for a while. Never try to read the thoughts and emotions of your interlocutor, do not scroll through your head with ideas about how poorly he thinks of you now. Forget about how you look, what you are wearing - go deeper into the topic of conversation.

Radical methods of dealing with fear of communication

Not suitable for everyone. But you can try, where you have to communicate a lot and for a long time with different people. Sign up for a foreign language course, dance class, or a sports club - you will just have to communicate with new people, and in such conditions you will soon forget about your fears.

Increase your sociability. Many people do not have enough time for meaningful communication

– family, work, study, children. Take every chance to talk - chat with someone in an elevator, consult with a salesperson (even if you don't need advice). At the same time, you'll get the workout you need and have a little fun.

Never make a communication

to the level of a universal catastrophe. In fact, you won't lose your capital, job or professional skills, so don't pay too much attention to the little things. Get rid of isolation gradually, playfully - start making acquaintances on public transport, contact people asking for help, etc. Gradually, you will notice that communicating is not so scary, and the process proceeds naturally and unnoticed. When approaching someone with the aim of starting a conversation, remember that the interlocutor is the same person with his own weaknesses and fears, so there is no need to be afraid of him.

Feelings of anxiety, like fear, are a completely normal state of the body that helps the nervous system prepare for danger. The problem is that often such an unpleasant feeling occurs in situations in which there is no danger or it is far-fetched. Like any feeling, anxiety

It can be overcome, you just need to master a few techniques.

Instructions

Take a break, think about something extraneous, for example, about plans for tomorrow, remember a couple of funny stories or anecdotes, etc.

Video on the topic

Fear is the body's natural reaction to possible danger. The feeling of fear is based on the belief that a person cannot cope with certain life circumstances. In order to achieve success in life, you will have to learn to overcome this feeling within yourself.

In modern society, the emergence of irrational fears, in other words, phobias, is increasingly observed. Such a disease can be caused by absolutely ordinary things and phenomena. One of the most common is the fear of riding in an elevator. At first glance, it seems that panic attacks can be avoided without using the subject of your fears. Indeed, walking up the stairs has a positive effect on health. By not paying enough attention to your fears, you risk developing even more mental disorders.

Normal fears in children

Many children's fears are natural and tend to develop at a certain age. For example, many young children are afraid of the dark and may need light to sleep. This doesn't mean they have a phobia. In most cases, this fear will go away as they get older.

For example, the following childhood fears are extremely common and considered normal:

• 0-2 years - loud noises, strangers, separation from parents, large objects.
• 3-6 years - imaginary things such as ghosts, monsters, darkness, sleeping alone, strange noises.
• 7-16 years - more realistic fears such as injury, illness, school performance, death, natural disasters

If your child's fear does not interfere with his daily life or cause him problems, then there is little reason to be unduly worried. However, if fear is interfering with your child's social activities, school performance, or sleep, you may want to contact a qualified child therapist.

Causes

One of the most important stages in the fight against a disease is to determine the factors that triggered its occurrence; your further treatment depends on this.

Experts identify several main reasons.

1. Often fear is discovered after a person has already had an unpleasant experience associated with an elevator, getting stuck in it.
2. Fear of falling and breaking. The culprit of this fear is cinema.
3. For many, the reason is the need to be in close spaces with strangers. The questions arise: if you get stuck, what can you expect from other passengers? Fear of the unknown is triggered.
4. Loneliness. It's scary to be left alone with your experiences and emotions.

Unpleasant personal experience is the reason

Symptoms of the disease

It's amazing how our mental state can affect our physical health.

The most unpleasant thing about phobias is panic attacks. When you see your fear, you lose control over your body and emotions.

People with a fear of elevators may feel:

• dizziness and fainting;
• increased sweating;
• chills;
• tremor of the limbs;
• lack of air;
• nausea;
• obsessive feeling of anxiety;
• cardiopalmus.

Treatment of fear

Depending on the depth of the fear and sensitivity, it will take a certain amount of time to deal with it. For some, fear subsides as soon as they rationally explain their fear, while for others it will take much longer. All phobias are curable.

For mild forms of the disease:

• study how elevators work and their security system, thereby breaking stereotypes;
• think over an action plan in case you get stuck, write down the dispatcher’s phone number, put a flashlight in your bag;
• learn to control your fear, even if panic has taken over, try to breathe deeply through your nose, count to 4 and exhale, relax your shoulders and chest as much as possible, repeat the exercise several times, this will help you relax;
• fears are aggravated by other stress, fatigue, lack of sleep: the easiest way is to eliminate these factors, but if the pace of life does not allow you to slow down, include meditation or yoga in your schedule.

Specialist help

There are cases when a phobia penetrates the subconscious and a person is unable to overcome his problems on his own. You should consult a psychologist. Having studied the nature and characteristics of your fear, the specialist selects appropriate therapy.

Group therapy against liftophobia

It can be:

• individual conversations;
• group classes (patients first share their fears and then their successes in combating them);
• art therapy (recreating your feelings with the help of poetry, music, dance, as well as sublimating your fears onto canvas, clay or any other available objects);
• hypnosis (one of the most effective methods: by putting the patient into a trance state, the specialist pulls out information from the subconscious that the person would not be able to remember in a normal state, in the same way the real cause of the disease is determined, and the correct attitudes are gently suggested);
• drug therapy.

The presence of phobias has long become the norm. You need to realize that your fear is a disease that can deprive you of many of the joys of life and even destroy existing benefits. Don't ignore your fears.

You must clearly define your fear of elevators. Are you afraid of being in an uncontrollable environment? Or is it a fear of closed spaces (claustrophobia)? Is your fear based on the sensation you get when going up or down an elevator? You're probably imagining something bad will happen, like the possibility of getting stuck between floors and becoming trapped. The better you identify the thoughts and beliefs associated with your phobia, the faster you can overcome it through energy exercises.

What it is

A phobia is an intense fear of something that actually poses little or no real danger. Common phobias and fears include closed places, heights, highway traffic, flying insects, snakes or needles. However, one can develop phobias of almost anything. Although most phobias develop in childhood, they can also develop later in life.

If you have a phobia, you probably understand that your fear is irrational, but you still cannot control your feelings. Just thinking about a dangerous object or situation can make you feel anxious. And when you are in a situation that you are afraid of, fear appears automatically. This experience is so difficult that you may do anything to avoid it - inconvenience yourself or even change your lifestyle. For example, if you are claustrophobic, you may turn down a lucrative job offer if you have to take an elevator to get to the office. If you are afraid of heights, you can drive an extra 20 kilometers to avoid the high bridge.

Understanding your phobia is the first step to overcoming it. It's important to know that they are common. (Having a phobia doesn't mean you're crazy!) It also helps to know that they are very treatable. You can overcome your anxiety and fear, no matter how uncontrollable it is at the moment.

Fear of air travel

This disorder is very similar to fear of elevators, but several other factors come into play. You must work through every possible cause of the phobia, such as fear of takeoff, landing, uncontrolled environments, air turbulence, confined spaces, or thoughts of disaster. Although most of you think that fear of flying is similar to fear of heights, these types of phobias are very different from each other. Many people who suffer from a fear of heights are surprised to find that they feel no anxiety when looking down from an airplane window. This is because in this case they do not see converging lines of perspective (which is the main cause of this disorder).