The fear of water, often known as aquaphobia, is a very common phobia. Similar to many phobias, the degree of intensity varies greatly from person to person. Some people, though, are simply afraid of deep water or strong waves, while others are actually petrified of bathtubs and swimming pools.
Some people can’t take the sight of a large body of water, while others are terrified of it. Aquaphobia can be triggered by even a tiny splash or mist in some people.
What Is Aquaphobia?
The majority of us struggle to get over our fear of the ocean. Most of the time, we get through these worries or develop coping mechanisms. A severe instance of ongoing anxiety that prohibits a person from ever approaching the water is the hallmark of aquaphobia, often known as a fear of water. One such phobia is aquaphobia. This worry is unfounded because the situation is low-risk. Aquaphobia is a severe dread of all bodies of water. This could be a pool, lake, ocean, or even a bathtub.
Symptoms Of Aquaphobia
To be clear, the amount of water present determines whether or not an aquaphobe activates by something. Aquaphobics may experience fear when they are around water, whether it is in the ocean or the sink. The water in this area is the primary cause of the primary trigger.
When the person comes into touch with water, a variety of symptoms could appear. These signs may limit a person’s ability to function. The neuronal network of the brain becomes busier.
The following are some of the most typical symptoms of aquaphobia:
- Severe phobia of water
- Having a fear of water or thinking about it
- Panicking
- Must stay as far away from the sea as possible
- Sweating
- Unsteady Heartbeat
- Nausea
- Dizziness
- Chest and muscle tension
- Having trouble breathing
When a person is having physical symptoms, they do not go away when they come into contact with water. The physical symptoms are accompanied by a number of alterations. People who are near or around water experience unfavorable cognitive changes that cause them to think adversely. People frequently have terrible notions about what will happen when they are near water. The person regularly questions their capacity to confront their anxiety.
Aquaphobia, or a fear of water, may have a noticeable impact on a person’s behavior. Avoidance and emigration are the two primary behaviors of hydrophobic organisms.
A pattern of behavior employs frequently to avoid coming into contact with water is avoidance behavior. It might be significant, which would unquestionably have an impact on how well the person performs. Escape behavior cannot be used to shut out inputs in a person. We shall make every effort to leave these circumstances as soon as we can. The way someone acts and how scared they are both intimately related.
Causes Of Aquaphobia
Aquaphobia in humans has a mysterious beginning. However, both an individual’s environment and genetic makeup may have a considerable impact on how this illness develops in them. For instance, if there is a family history of mental illness, especially anxiety disorders or certain phobias, a person may be more susceptible to acquiring aquaphobia. This might be due to their general hereditary susceptibility to mental diseases.
Someone with this DNA may only require one traumatic incident to develop severe aquaphobia. Finally, if a person has the right DNA, any emotionally upsetting event that somehow involves the many issues connected to aquaphobia may be sufficient for them to develop this illness.
Aquaphobia’s precise causes are unknown, however, most mental health specialists agree that environmental and genetic variables play a significant role in the emergence of any mental illness. Therefore, by paying closer attention to these two unique criteria, you could determine if you are at risk of getting aquaphobia.
How To Overcome Aquaphobia
You may help everyone you know who is frightened of swimming avoid it for the rest of their lives by passing along the following three recommendations. When a friend, relative, or swim instructor is present, remember to follow these rules.
Deal with the panic
By cautiously stepping into a pool and giving your body time to grow acclimated to the sensation of the water, you can overcome your fear of the water. When entering the knee-deep portion of a pool, exercise caution. Consider how the water feels against your skin once you are in the shallow area of a pool. Go around the room gently after the initial stress, panic, and anxiety have subsided. Work your way up to waist-deep, then chest-deep, until you are at ease in knee-deep water.
Face the water
Squeeze your nostrils and slowly lower your face into the water while holding onto a handrail or the edge of the pool with one hand. Dip your face repeatedly in the water once all dread and hopelessness have vanished. Once you feel comfortable immersing your face, try blowing bubbles without pinching your nose. Being gentle to oneself is crucial since it will greatly aid in conquering aquaphobia.
Get comfortable with the deep end
Remind yourself to be patient with yourself and wait until you’re ready to enter the deep end of the pool. Becoming proficient at floating or treading water takes years of practice. As soon as you’re prepared, extend your legs into the water while clinging to the side and float in. Focus on how it feels to hold your body upright in the water while clutching to the edge as you practice kicking.
Aquaphobia can be overcome by adults or infants using these strategies, but swimming lessons are the most effective approach to learning how to tread water and swim safely.
Treatments For Aquaphobia
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) for Aquaphobia
DBT is a highly successful form of therapy for those who struggle with emotional regulation. It is widely used to treat patients with a borderline personality disorder. However, it might be quite beneficial for someone who suffers from an anxiety disorder like aquaphobia. This allows you to learn a variety of coping skills in a DBT group. These groups typically last for six months and might include two too many members, depending on how many individuals join.
Half-smiling is a powerful DBT technique for assisting someone with aquaphobia. You are considered to be “half-smiling” when your mouth corners rise as you consider something that makes you feel uneasy or uncomfortable. It is crucial to make an effort to manage any unpleasant feelings that your particular phobia may cause; simply visualizing your anxiety while uncomfortably grinning is not enough.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for Aquaphobia
A psycho-social intervention with the goal of enhancing mental health is CBT. Patients with anxiety disorders, such as OCD and generalized anxiety disorder, are routinely treated with this method. Aquaphobics may also benefit from CBT because it will enable them to comprehend why their irrational fears lead to the way they feel and act.
Since the symptoms of aquaphobia occur automatically, CBT can be quite beneficial for those who experience it. People who suffer from aquaphobia, for instance, virtually always have an instantaneous subconscious reaction when exposed to water. Someone with this ailment will probably suffer a great deal because they don’t know themselves. With CBT, you might take a step back and consider your anxieties more thoroughly than you would without it.
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) for Aquaphobia
For those struggling with anxiety, stress, depression, and other sorts of mental suffering, MBSR is an 8-week, evidence-based program that provides rigorous, secular mindfulness training. Because mindfulness meditation has been demonstrated to be extremely helpful for persons who feel anxiety, MBSR may be particularly beneficial for someone who has aquaphobia. Aquaphobics may anticipate gaining knowledge of a variety of skills in such a planned program that will diminish the extreme anxiety related to their particular fear.
Exposure Therapy for Aquaphobia
One of the most popular methods for treating anxiety disorders like aquaphobia is exposure treatment. To help the patient get desensitized to their particular problems, it might function well. In any case, the therapist using it on their patient needs to be skilled at doing so. For instance, exposing a patient with aquaphobia just a little bit could not be very useful because the patient may require a higher level of exposure to truly make any kind of positive impact.
Yoga for Aquaphobia
Many different yoga positions may be very helpful for people who have aquaphobia. This is partially due to the fact that regular yoga practitioners frequently experience a meditative state of mind. Yoga is similar to meditation while walking. You can focus on something more uplifting while practicing yoga, which may help reduce some of the anxiety related to aquaphobia.
Exercise for Aquaphobia
Exercise has been shown to be quite beneficial for people with anxiety disorders, such as aquaphobia. Cardiovascular activity in particular significantly reduces stress. Aerobic exercise has been found to be more effective in releasing feel-good neurotransmitters like endorphins into the brain, but this does not imply that weight-resistance training would not be helpful for someone with anxiety.
You can control your aquaphobia symptoms by engaging in activities that raise your heart rate and blood pressure, such as swimming, biking, skiing, walking, and jogging. Playing sports like tennis, soccer, basketball, racquetball, and many more can help you stay in shape and offer a number of benefits. Over time, regular exercise might help ease some of the discomfort connected to aquaphobia.
The Ending Note
Aquaphobia can develop after a painful or emotionally taxing experience in or around water. The phobic response that a youngster has observed in a parent or other adult may be picked up on by them.
However, aquaphobia can be successfully treated. Exposure therapy and CBT are successful therapies for reducing fear, anxiety, and panic symptoms in people with specific phobias.