Causes
What is the phobia called fear of depth?
This mental phenomenon is known as “batophobia” and is considered one of the most dangerous obsessive states that can develop in a person. Once in the water, people who are afraid of the depths panic, quickly lose touch with reality and may begin to drown. At the same time, fear of depth does not apply to people who are poor swimmers. Because in this case, the fear of the depths has a specific basis. Fear of depth is a phobia that develops for the following reasons:
- Genetics – a person may have prerequisites for the development of bathophobia according to heredity.
- Bad experience when learning to swim: often a child unfamiliar with water is immediately thrown into the depths, trying to activate the instinct of self-preservation. In such a situation, the child may experience psychological trauma, which will force him to avoid visiting bodies of water in adulthood.
- Dangerous incidents while swimming: if a person felt the risk of drowning, experienced fear of convulsions, this could subsequently serve as the basis for the development of bathophobia.
- Negative associations: fear of depth is often a consequence of losing friends or loved ones on the water.
- Fear of the unknown: manifests itself in the feeling of the abyss, the infinity of the water column.
- Fear of the inhabitants of the deep: in the creation of a person, so-called emotional anchors are formed. The prerequisite for their education is most often watching horror films. When certain parts of the brain are activated, a person may imagine monsters that supposedly inhabit a body of water.
Causes of fear of depth
- This phobia can be passed on genetically from parents .
- Fear of depth often arises against the backdrop of a bad experience learning to swim . For example, if a person was thrown into the water in order to quickly learn to swim. This approach is fundamentally wrong and creates severe psychological trauma, especially in childhood.
- Sometimes a phobia of fear of depth occurs after cases where a person is seized by limb spasms in the water , the risk of drowning, or something in the water simply frightened him greatly.
- Impressionable people with unstable psyches experience fear of the abyss , imagining that the watery infinity can drag them in or they see monsters. Even watching a horror film about the water element can lead to this phobia.
- Another reason may be a person's innate anxiety . It is often associated with an unfavorable situation in the family, which leads to distrust of the world in general.
Types
There are several types of bathophobia:
- Objective – the individual feels fear due to the presence of a real potential danger to health and life. For example, a person susceptible to manifestations of bathophobia may not be able to dive and rise to the surface independently.
- Destructive – fear of the ocean, of depth, the root of which lies in negative irrational thoughts and expectations regarding the upcoming stay in the water.
What is the disorder and its types?
Experts call fear of depth a mental disorder that is associated with fear of open bodies of water and their depth. The feelings of fear that arise with this disease are so strong that people are sure that the water can swallow them up or that a dangerous creature will appear from the watery abyss.
Psychologists are confident that such fear is very similar to the fear of death: a person, while in water, cannot control his emotions and drowns. Since a person cannot control his physical and mental state, such a phobia is one of the most dangerous in the whole world. When wondering what the fear of depth is called, it is worth paying attention to the fact that it is divided into several types:
- destructive look,
- objective view.
The peculiarities of destructive bathophobia include the fact that such fear arises due to negative irrational thoughts that arise in a person when he swims in a body of water. He may not have enough information about the inhabitants of the seas and oceans. A phobia, which is called objective, implies that a person has a potential threat to life, for example, he simply does not know how to swim.
Features of behavior with bathophobia
Now we have found out what the fear of depth is called.
Next, we will consider what kind of behavior is demonstrated by individuals susceptible to such an emotional disorder. Most often, the phobia manifests itself in the fact that a person prefers to find excuses for swimming while relaxing in a pond or swimming close to the shore. If comrades decide to jokingly drag someone prone to bathophobia into the depths, the consequence of such actions can be panic, hysteria, a state of shock, even loss of consciousness. Such cases often lead to a person completely refusing contact with water.
Children who suffer from bathophobia actively protest against going to the beach and swimming in the bath. Most often, parents perceive this behavior as ordinary whims, without attaching much importance to it. If adults show excessive persistence, then the feeling of threat may not leave the child for many years.
How to deal with the fear of depth
There are three ways to get rid of the fear of depth, which is called bathophobia:
- Psychotherapy.
- Pharmacotherapy.
- Functional training.
Let's take a closer look at these techniques.
Psychotherapy is the best and most effective way to deal with fear . Sometimes, by talking with a psychologist and finding out the cause of the fear, you can quickly and easily get rid of this phobia. Group trainings are often used in psychology, when people with the same problem get together. Then the person realizes that he is not alone and the reasons for fear sometimes seem ridiculous and groundless. This helps you realize that fear is simply caused by negative thoughts that you have created for yourself.
As for functional training , this method consists of immersing a person in water, teaching him to hold his breath and fight fear in direct contact with water.
If a phobia prevents a person from living, he experiences constant tension and cannot get rid of obsessive thoughts about death associated with water and depth, then he is prescribed drug treatment . Drugs with sedative, anti-anxiety effects, antidepressants.
Physical manifestations of the disorder
If there is a fear of water depths, a person exhibits specific symptoms at the physiological level:
- increased heart rate;
- dryness in the mouth;
- development of nausea, vomiting;
- pounding in the temples, dizziness, loss of balance and orientation in space, headaches;
- muscle numbness, tingling in the body;
- fever, chills;
- a feeling of increasing suffocation, intermittent breathing.
Psychological manifestations
As for the emotional state characteristic of bathophobia, it is worth noting here, first of all, the fear of losing control over one’s own actions when surrounded by strangers if contact with water is necessary.
People who suffer from this disorder begin to fear going crazy when they realize that in the near future they will have to dive or swim across a body of water. Other psychological manifestations of bathophobia concern the self. A person with a disturbed psyche may not feel the reality of what is happening while in the water, and subconsciously transfer himself to another place and time. Such conditions often lead to the most inadequate reactions to seemingly simplest, absolutely safe situations.
Symptoms of bathophobia
Among the symptoms indicating a fear of water, it is worth paying attention to 2 components: anxious and phobic symptoms. Anxious symptoms arise in situations where a person has no contact with water, but phobic symptoms appear when water opens up in front of a person. Somatic symptoms of fear of depth include:
- constant attacks of chills or fever,
- rapid pulse,
- feeling of thirst and dry mouth,
- trembling of the body, which is accompanied by a feeling of cold,
- a feeling of tingling and numbness in the extremities, especially the legs,
- throbbing pain localized in the temples,
- increased blood pressure and facial redness,
- interrupted breathing,
- nausea and slight dizziness.
Among the psychological symptoms that may occur with this anxiety-phobic disorder are:
- feeling of loss of security,
- the feeling that the situation happening around is unreal,
- complete loss of control over your own emotions,
- depersonalization, when a person has a feeling that he is an unreal object.
The emergence of a huge number of symptoms and causes gives impetus to the fact that a person refuses to swim in bodies of water of any size. When such a disorder occurs, it is necessary to look for ways to help overcome fear.
How to avoid developing bathophobia?
There are a number of recommendations that, if followed, will help avoid the formation of a negative state:
- Physical and emotional self-control is extremely important when in the water. You need to carefully analyze: what thoughts arise during swimming and diving to depth, whether there are real risks to life and harm to health.
- Self-hypnosis allows you to overcome your fear of the depths. If a person tries to do everything possible to develop self-confidence, then the need to learn swimming will not become an insurmountable obstacle for him.
- It is necessary to decide in advance how important it is to learn to swim, what benefits can be obtained by mastering the skill.
Symptoms of bathophobia
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A person does not always understand that something is wrong with him or his loved ones. Bathophobia can manifest itself with certain characteristic symptoms that allow the disorder to be correctly identified.
The patient simply refuses to engage in any activity
How to recognize bathophobia
Fear of depth is accompanied by problems on the part of the body. A person’s blood pressure rises, pulse and heart rate increase. In severe cases, nausea, vomiting, headache and spatial disorientation appear.
Sometimes the phobia of deep water does not only appear near a lake or sea. It is enough for the patient to look at the corresponding photographs or videos.
Signs of the disorder may develop while in a boat or on a yacht. The person will be bothered by feelings of anxiety and panic.
Features of behavior with bathophobia
If the patient is afraid, he will refuse to swim, or he will not go far from the shore. If his comrades decide to play a joke on such a person and forcefully drag him into the water, he will develop a state of shock.
Important! A sharp rise in blood pressure can lead to problems with the cardiovascular system.
Children with bathophobia will refuse to go to the beach. In severe cases, each bath will begin to be accompanied by hysterics. Parents mistake such behavior for whims, since they do not know what real bathophobia is.
Physical and mental manifestations
The patient may be afraid not only of drowning, but also of losing control over his actions. He forms a distorted picture of the perception of the world around him. In his imagination, he imagines situations where he stands in the middle of the ocean or sea and encounters the inhabitants of the depths. After which the person is overcome by a panic attack, anxiety and restlessness. He wants to quickly leave the place or scream.
Important! Physiological manifestations depend on the individual characteristics of the organism.
The body temperature may rise, the patient will feel chills and dizziness. During a panic attack, sweating increases. Changes in blood pressure are recorded with a special device - a tonometer.
How to deal with bathophobia?
The fear of depth can potentially be eliminated by taking water procedures in safe, maximally transparent and shallow or artificial reservoirs.
To reduce the intensity of panic, just sit on the shore, wet your feet, and wander through the shallow water. Over time, you can go into the water up to your waist, relaxing your body or plunging your relaxed hands into it. In this case, it is extremely important to capture the feeling that the limbs are supported. In general, the decisive importance here is the sustainable formation of the awareness that water will not allow you to drown.
In the fight against panic states with bathophobia, creating a positive image of the depths in your own mind helps. This is facilitated by watching videos about wildlife and the beauty of the oceans, and pictures of wonderful beaches. Regular concentration on such moments will, over time, help you develop a positive attitude towards water.
If the above methods of dealing with a phobia do not bring the expected results, you should consider seeking help from a psychotherapist or making an appointment with a psychologist. An objective view of a specialist from the outside will allow us to identify the root causes of the disorder and develop an effective strategy for eliminating the negative physiological and emotional manifestations of the pathological condition.
Reasons for the development of bathophobia
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Being afraid of heights, the dark, or anything else can be due to mental illness. With certain disorders, a person perceives the world around him too sensitively, and any irritant will cause fear.
Bathophobia is the result of a negative experience. If a child or adult was taught to swim incorrectly or created traumatic situations, this will lead to a fear of depth.
Parents do not always attach importance to how they accustom their baby to water procedures
Sometimes bathophobia appears against the background of a high level of sensitivity. As soon as a person watches films with a small number of disasters, he begins to transfer them to real life.
