BATOPHOBIA (fear of depth): symptoms, causes and treatment

It's summer, it's hot and you feel like taking a bath. Luckily, you have traveled and you have the beach nearby. It had been a long time since you decided to relax in a maritime destination, not very touristy, so you decide to take the opportunity to go for a swim at night. You approach the shore and you see how the immensity of the ocean begins to overwhelm you, you wet your feet and when you are convinced to get into complete a strange sensation begins to invade your body, you feel cold sweats, different from those you felt when you were at home for the heat.

Your heart starts beating faster and faster. You go deeper and deeper. Suddenly, you find yourself with your whole body covered in water, you see absolutely nothing of your body impregnated with water. You notice how your thoughts begin to go a thousand miles per hour and, finally, you run away. You don't understand what just happened, you just know you don't want to go back in there, at least not now, not tonight.

This short story could be an indicator of bathophobia, so if you want to know what it is. In this Psychology-Online article, we will talk about the

Index

1. What is bathophobia
2. Symptoms of bathophobia
3. Causes of bathophobia
4. Treatment of bathophobia

Based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Ed. 5 (DSM-V)^[1], we would classify bathophobia as a specific phobia, that is, a specific object or situation that causes intense fear or anxiety in the person. But to what, specifically?

The word bathophobia is a combination of two Greek words: bathos, which means "depth" and phobos, which means “fear”. When we talk about it, therefore, we are not only referring to the depth, for example of the sea, but also to structures heights or buildings as well as to any place that is capable of making the bathophobic feel uncomfortable or scared for objects or spaces of great depth.

If you search for the term bathophobia on the net, you will surely find the two interpretive aspects of bathophobia explained as follows:

• fear of depth: the vast majority of web pages refer to its most etymological meaning, since bathos/bathy means depth. Something similar is also collected in the dictionary of the Italian language where it describes the word as irrational fear of emptiness.
• Fear of tall buildings: Caused by a degree of unease that people feel when standing next to a tall structure, which can lead to fears that it will fall on them.

How do I know if I have bathophobia? Some of the symptoms that allow to identify bathophobia, and that usually manifest in most phobias, are the following:

• Negative references to those situations in which the person cannot see the interior of the place where they are.
• excessive avoidance and escape from these stimuli.
• Hyperventilation and palpitations.
• intense anxiety in the face of erroneous estimates of threat, that is, in the face of the meanings attributed to the stimulus and the evoked response of fear.
• Appearance of other disorders derived from this phobia
• You can experience from mild anxiety to a panic attack, through nervous sweating, eyestrain and dizziness. In these situations, if you don't know what to do when you have anxiety, we recommend you consult this article.

The cause is not only a stressor or an experience, or the biological predisposition of the individual, but we will always keep in mind the interaction between genetics and the environment. The subject suffering from bathophobia surely has a widespread biological vulnerability which, together with the stress experienced, will create a false alarm sensation, which will end up becoming a learned alarm, generating a psychological vulnerability.

This vulnerability is influenced by learning, either directly or vicariously, from other real alarms. This cycle leads to the appearance of anxiety disorders and phobias.

The key to curing bathophobia is repeated exposure to the feared stimulus specifically, such as sailing in the interior of the ocean, snorkeling or even scuba diving, and the generation of a new learning in which the feared stimulus becomes harmless.

To begin the treatment of bathophobia, it is important to acquire anxiety control skills and relaxation, as well as creating a safe environment within the framework of an appropriate therapeutic alliance to be able to continue moving forward. From here, as with all phobias, the best treatment is exposure therapy or systematic desensitization.

exposure therapy

According to Wolpe, systematic desensitization works by associate or generate an opposite response, such as relaxation, to which it would be initially generated, such as fear and anxiety. The efficacy to cure bathophobia with exposure therapy lies in preventing avoidance from becoming a safety signal.

This therapy can be carried out in the following ways:

• Live (gradual or inversive): expose yourself directly to the situation that generates the irrational fear of the depths.
• symbolic: through associated visual or auditory stimuli or through virtual reality.
• In a group: thus increasing social support and motivation and adherence to therapy.
• interoceptive: provoking the bodily sensations typical of the moment of appearance of fear.

Other cognitive behavioral therapies

There are other techniques that work with some phobias such as narrative therapy and eye movement desensitization and processing (EMDR). All these therapies mentioned are included in the cognitive behavioral therapyTherefore, according to scientific evidence, it is the one that has proven to be more effective.

As always, the choice of The most appropriate treatment will depend on many factors., personal, social, and environmental, which will make one type or another work better. Regardless of the type of treatment chosen, the keys to success in curing bathophobia are:

• That the therapist has knowledge of the conceptual model that he applies.
• A good therapeutic relationship has been established.
• That a consistent logic of treatment be transmitted.
• That the different exposure modalities be implemented effectively.

If you think that you could suffer from bathophobia and you notice that this is interfering with your daily life and causing you discomfort, it is It is important that you go to a psychologist who can do the relevant tests and carry out the treatment that best suits you. to your case.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to Bathophobia: what is it, symptoms, causes and treatment, we recommend that you enter our category of Clinical psychology.

1. American psychiatric association, (2014). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM – 5. Madrid Spain. Pan American Medical Publishing.
2. Duran, S., (2019). Bathophobic Vol. II. Final degree work. Malaga University. Recovered from: Durán López, Salvador.pdf

• Belloch, A., Sandin, B., Ramos, F., (2009). Manual of psychopathology, volume II. Madrid. McGraw Hill / Interamericana de España, S.A.U.
• Labrador, f. J., (ed.) (2008). behavior modification techniques. Madrid. Pyramid.