Fear of depth and abyss (Batophobia): how to get rid of the fear of water

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 bathophobia

Personal negative experience. An accident on the water as a result of which the victim experienced severe fright or felt a serious threat to life.
The man had to witness the tragedy that took place on the water.
Loss of a loved one (through drowning).
Psychological reasons: lack of basic trust in the world around us, fear of the unknown.
Thanatophobia. Some psychologists are of the opinion that bathophobia is a form of fear of death.
Objective, but unconscious fear. In people who swim poorly, bathophobia may hide a subconscious fear of not swimming out of the depths or not swimming to the shore. In another case, it could be the fear of a shark attack. Bathophobia, provoked by similar reasons, is objective.
Congenital excessive anxiety and vivid imagination. In this case, the phobia is based on fictitious, unreasonable fears (fear of a sea monster hiding in the depths, a spontaneous spasm, or fear of numbness in the limbs). The development of fear of mythical creatures living in water is promoted by horror films or documentaries telling about the inhabitants of reservoirs unidentified by science. In such cases, bathophobia is characterized as destructive.

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.

Types of disorder

Fear of water - as it is scientifically called

Psychologists identify several variants of the disorder. Objective bathophobia appears in response to a real situation. A similar disorder can occur in those who cannot swim, or participants in water disasters: floods, tsunamis, etc.

Subjective phobia develops without reason. People with high levels of anxiety are prone to this option. Destructive bathophobia appears in people with a very wild imagination. They often read science fiction literature and watch disaster films. As a result, their imagination begins to generate terrible pictures.

The name of the fear of depth, “batophobia,” consists of two words: “bato,” which translates as “water,” and “phobia,” which means fear. Particularly impressionable people may suffer from hallucinations and clearly hear voices from the depths of the water surface.

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.

What is fear of depth

Anxiety and worry can arise for various reasons. Such feelings are normal for the human psyche. In the case of phobias, he develops panic attacks and disorientation. In this state, the individual has little control over his actions.

A phobia of depth can seriously darken life, as the patient will have problems accepting water procedures. A full bath can cause a panic attack. While relaxing by the sea or lake, problems will also arise.

Important! Phobias appear not only in childhood. In an adult, it can also develop after adverse events.

Not everyone knows what fear of depth is and what this disorder is called. Sometimes a person has no idea that something is wrong with him.

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.

Treatment of phobia

Any person can have a mild degree of bathophobia. The unknown is scary, and fear is a normal protective reaction of the body. Therefore, you should not run to a psychotherapist after experiencing a little anxiety on a long swim. The best solution would be to adequately assess the situation. If your anxiety continues to increase while swimming, a visit to a specialist may be a good idea.

Help from a psychotherapist

Psychotherapy is the most effective way to treat this disease. In some cases, it is enough for the patient to attend only a few sessions to objectively look at his own fears. Sometimes long-term work is necessary.

Therapy is selected depending on the specific situation. It could be:

psychoanalysis . It is most effective when the development of a phobia is caused by traumatic experiences. During therapy, the patient comes to understand all the roots of the problem, this allows him to change his attitude towards fear and defeat it;
group work . Recommended for people who feel that they alone are capable of experiencing such phobias. By communicating with group members, patients share their concerns and emotional release occurs. The influence of fear on a person’s life is significantly reduced;
emotional-imaginative therapy . Suitable for those patients whose horrors are clothed in a specific form. During therapy, the patient begins to recognize and better understand his fear, which turns from an enemy into a friend. Relief occurs literally after a few sessions;
functional training . Bathophobia can be easily treated “with practice”. After several therapeutic sessions, the patient begins to visit the pool. Swimming to the center and diving with breath-holds are practiced. Often the emotional background changes very quickly, and the need for treatment disappears.

In severe situations, pharmacotherapy may be used.

When the phobia seriously interferes with the patient's social life, tranquilizers with a sedative effect may be prescribed. The main goal of pharmacotherapy is to relieve anxiety so that the patient can work fruitfully with a specialist.

Self-training

A mild degree of bathophobia can be overcome on your own. This will require determination and regular practice. It is recommended to begin independent training by studying the underwater world. Special educational programs will help with this. It also offers water sports such as cliff diving.

People who don't know how to swim need to learn how to do it. It is best to choose classes with a personal trainer in the pool. Only after you feel safe in the pool can you move on to outdoor activities.

To begin with, you can limit yourself to walks near a pond and sit on the shore for a while. Later, when the view of the lake or sea ceases to frighten you, you can wet your feet and try to wander in the shallow water. It may take several weeks or months before such actions are no longer fearful.

During further activities, you may need the help of a loved one. He just needs to be there and support. The bathophobe should gradually go into the water up to his waist. Then you can sit down or put your hands in the water. It is important to capture the feeling that there is support under your feet and it is impossible to fall into the abyss.

At the final stage, you need to dive headlong into the water. To begin with, you can do this for a second and immediately emerge. In the future, it is useful to hold your breath and remain under water for several seconds.

If a person feels confident in his abilities, he is recommended to take up diving. This can only be done under the supervision of an experienced professional. For your first dives, you should choose those places where the underwater world is most picturesque and beautiful. Colorful underwater inhabitants will help you change fear into delight. This will help normalize the emotional background and give spiritual harmony. The underwater depths will begin to evoke not horror, but interest.

Prevention of bathophobia

It is much easier to prevent any disease than to treat it later. The same applies to phobias. To prevent the development of a negative condition, it is recommended to follow the following recommendations:

When in the water, it is extremely important to control your emotional and physical state. You need to listen to yourself and understand what thoughts and feelings arise while diving to depths or just swimming. Analyze possible risks to health or life;
Self-hypnosis plays a huge role in the process of overcoming fear. It is necessary to do everything possible to develop self-confidence;
Regular swimming training allows a person to feel safer when swimming in natural bodies of water.

Fear is the emotion that helps save life. But for people suffering from bathophobia, an attack of fear can cost their lives. It paralyzes their body and does not allow them to think soberly. Therefore, it is extremely important to fight your phobias. If a problem is noticed in a timely manner, you can solve it yourself. In case of a more advanced situation, contacting a specialist will help. Bathophobia is a condition that can be successfully corrected.

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.

Creepy Abyss

The fear of water depths dates back to ancient times.
Then man was unable to explain the terrible natural phenomena that threatened his life. Huge waves destroyed ships, tsunamis destroyed settlements, and deep monsters dragged people under water. Fear was a reaction necessary to preserve life. The feeling of fear helps modern man to survive. This emotional process must be generated by actual danger.

Unfortunately, quite often it arises due to imaginary, man-made threats. And over time, it can degenerate into real phobias.

Many experts agree that bathophobia is similar to the fear of death. A person is afraid of depth precisely because he does not see or feel the bottom. This means that there could be danger lurking in the darkness that could kill the swimmer. For example, a shark, a crocodile or a monster from a recently watched horror movie.

It is typical that fear of depth occurs mainly in people who are good swimmers. Since they are the ones who most often swim far from the shore. Having stopped to rest, a person suddenly realizes that there is a huge thickness of water under him, and several tens of meters to the bottom. Such a huge mass of water can hide a variety of dangers that can destroy a person in an instant.

In such a situation, the usual sense of self-preservation can develop into panic.

And this is a real danger to life. The swimmer loses control of the situation. Instead of calmly swimming to the shore, he begins to flounder vigorously and quickly becomes exhausted. Some try to find support and quickly choke. All this only aggravates the situation and significantly reduces the chances of salvation.

Causes of fear

To understand the causes of this mental disorder, it is worth considering that bathophobia is divided into two types:

Objective . It is caused by real potential danger. For example, a person swam far from the shore in a place where sharks or poisonous creatures were seen. For example, sea snakes, urchins, jellyfish or fish. In addition, the possibility of a swimmer getting caught under the blades of a sea vessel cannot be ruled out.
Destructive . Caused by irrational, negative expectations and thoughts. A person is afraid that terrible ancient reptiles or mermaids are hiding in the depths. And some are sure that the ocean is a living creature that hates humanity.

A mild form of objective bathophobia can be overcome on your own. Dealing with its severe and destructive form is much more difficult. First of all, a specialist needs to find out the root cause. The main factors are:

Features of the nervous system . Emotional, sensitive and easily suggestible individuals are more prone to panic attacks and phobic disorders than others.
Genetics . Prerequisites for the manifestation of various nervous disorders may exist according to heredity.
Family problems . Frequent conflict situations in the family traumatize the child’s psyche and lead to the development of complexes and phobias.
Bad experience . Some parents use rather harsh methods to teach their child to swim - simply by throwing him into the depths. This leads to psychological trauma for the baby, which will force him to avoid swimming in the sea even in adulthood.
Dangerous incidents in the water . A bad joke from friends or an accident can cause a fear of depth.
Fear of the unknown . It is impossible to see what is at depth. In addition to real predators, according to the bathophobe, monsters from recently watched horror films may also be hiding there.

Those close to the bathophobe need to take a closer look at him. Bathophobia is an irrational fear. If a patient claims that he is afraid of the abyss because he sees monsters in it or hears the voices of mermaids, this is a symptom of a much more serious disease. He may have paranoid personality disorder or schizophrenia.

Assistance in such a situation should only be provided by a qualified specialist.

Manifestation of the disorder

Fear of depth is a phobia that affects everyone differently.
Most often, the patient avoids traveling to bodies of water. And in those cases when he does find himself near the water, he finds any excuse not to swim and to stay as far from the shore as possible. If one of your friends decides to joke and begins to forcefully drag the bathophobe into the water, this may result in him losing consciousness due to the shock he has suffered. Children suffering from bathophobia may even be afraid of taking a bath. Parents often do not understand the seriousness of the situation, mistaking the child’s fear for an ordinary whim. Severe coercion to comply with adult demands will only worsen the situation.

Bathophobia can manifest itself with both physical and psychological symptoms. The main ones include:

cardiopalmus;
chills or fever;
dry mouth;
increasing suffocation;
nausea, vomiting;
loss of balance and orientation in space;
muscle numbness;
a sharp increase in pressure;
paralysis of limbs.

Bathophobes are afraid of losing control of the situation in the presence of strangers in case of contact with water.

And also go crazy when they realize that a trip to a pond is inevitable. In a critical situation they may lose their sense of reality. Mentally transport themselves to another time or place. Such phobias, even in safe situations, can provoke an inappropriate reaction.

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.

Methods for treating bathophobia

If there is a need to get rid of a phobia or reduce its manifestation to a minimum, you need to consider treatment methods:

psychotherapy,
pharmacotherapy,
functional training.

To combat such a phobia, the best option is psychotherapy. A simple explanation of the reasons why such fear arises may be sufficient. Sometimes long work is required.

If fear is associated with traumatic experiences, then psychoanalysis can help. In the process of using this technique, a deep understanding of the causes of the problem occurs, which helps over time to overcome fear.

If a person feels alone in his fear, then group work is used in such situations. Being in such groups of like-minded people, everyone can share their fear and share it among other members of the group. The influence of a specific phobia on a person's life is reduced.

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.

Psychologists about fear of depth

Psychologists often compare the fear of depth with the fear of death , since a person is sure that he can die, the depth will simply suck him in and he will not be able to get out. If you are serious about getting rid of fear, you need to start with a consultation with a psychologist who will help you understand the root causes of this fear. This is the most important stage in the fight against a phobia.

Psychologists also . To begin with, you can conduct classes in the pool, immerse yourself in the water. Of course, this is a real test, but without such training you will not be able to trust and be convinced that the water will not harm you, that it can be safe. Naturally, such exercises must be performed under the supervision of a specialist. An important component of such exercises is the ability to hold your breath under water.

It would be even better to move on to diving after training in the pool . Perhaps a closer acquaintance with the underwater world will arouse interest in you instead of fear. This will help you get rid of the fear of depth forever.

In addition, you need to work with a trainer who will teach you to relax and relax on the water, without concentrating on thoughts about the depth. It is necessary to study such issues as the properties of water and its benefits for humanity. Also watch reports on water sports - rowing, surfing.

It is important to form a positive image of water . Imagine a beautiful sandy beach, blue surface of water, foam of waves crashing on the shore. You can listen to audio recordings with the sounds of the sea. Realize how calming they act on the human psyche.

Positive statements about water, a kind of affirmations, can also help. Eg:

The ocean is so beautiful...
The underwater world is impressive...
I love water…
I love feeling its coolness...

Often, those who cannot swim are afraid of water . That is why it is worth contacting a good trainer who will teach you not only how to swim and dive, but also how to relax on the water. Training should take place smoothly, step by step, in a comfortable environment. First, lessons should begin in the pool, and then move on to ponds. The first swim to the depths should be done in a life jacket, so that you do not immediately panic and give up the idea of learning to swim forever.

Types of fear

Bathophobia can be objective and destructive.

Objective fears are fears caused by a fear of depth for the reason that a person is not a good swimmer or cannot swim at all. Often objective fears become an integral part of a person when he witnesses a tragic situation or learns from his own experience what it is like to be drowning. Objective fear is real fear, caused by specific fears for one’s life (being run over by a ship, drowning, being covered by a wave, being eaten by a predatory sea animal).

Often, objective fears arise unexpectedly, without cause: it is enough to just briefly delve into thoughts that you are in the middle of a bottomless space, where dangers can warn you at every step.

This type of bathophobia is characteristic of overly anxious, emotional and exciting people.

Destructive fears are fears caused at the mental-irrational level. A person imagines that there are many hungry, bloodthirsty monsters and deadly dangers in the water. In advanced cases, people suffering from destructive fears can hear the warning whisper of water, the voices of sea inhabitants, and the growl of dangerous predators. Destructive bathophobia has a much stronger hold on the human psyche than objective phobia.

Symptoms of bathophobia

Finding out whether you suffer from a phobia of depth is not difficult:

when you see water, your heart rate increases significantly;
dry mouth appears;
attacks of nausea and gag reflexes may occur;
slight or noticeable dizziness, rapid pulse in the temples;
asthmatic attacks even if the person does not have breathing problems;
anxiety, loss of control over oneself, one’s actions and speech;
fever and chills;
unpleasant tingling or numbness in the limbs and muscles;
thoughts associated with the fear of death or touching a drowned person.