Fear of Lifts

[Dickyboy199]

Hi,

Just curious. Does anyone have a phobia of lifts? I can't seem to find it among the posts under phobias and am surprised because I thought it was more common.

I developed this phobia when I was about 12 I think after playing in a department store lift with my friend and then I think it either got stuck or the manager told us off and said he would make it get stuck. (Can't really remember but I know we were going up and down no problem) But soon after I couldn't go in one.

I am now 43 and I still cannot go in them! Over the years I have tried hypnotherapy many times and anything else to try and beat it but still failed. It really rules my life because if I have to go anywhere with work or go on holiday the first thing I have got to find out is what floor have I got to go on and if it's not the first floor are there stairs. Even this is not enought because I then worry my self sick with the thought of being embarrised among my work colleagues by having to admit that I don't like going in lifts!!

By the way I also suffer from ectopic heart beats which I have had since 19 and still hate them and get anxious about them. I am a bit of a hypochondriac, I don't like motorway driving or having to be away from home, even going on holiday with my wife and children is a big worry for me.
I also have a sort of dependancy about my wife and worry about her when she goes out or she is away from me!!!

Well that's me all sewn up I guess. Not a lot of hope really is there! Anyway any thoughts that may be helpfull I would welcome.

Best wishes to you all and this is a great site. Makes me feel I am not quite so nuts after all!

Regards

Rich

[bexy1970]

hi,
dont worry, u wouldnt get me in a lift for love nor money!!! feel bad as its rubbing off on my little girl too, but hey stairs betta 4 yor bum!!! i think its a very common one hun xx

[bexy1970]

hi again,
i wont do motorways either chux, really think its an anxiety, i work in a department store and told everyone from day one that YOU WONT GET ME IN A LIFT!! and they were great x

[bluesparkle]

yes very common
i will not go in a lift for love or money either.
i remember my parents forcing me into one when i was young and thats it wont go near them.
i know what you mean about being embarrased with work etc though but dont be . . . i went back to work two years ago and we take the students on outings my first thought was oh my what about the lifts. . . i never used to be able to do escalators either now that was awkward but have over come that.
anyway i just tell them . . . yes thats fine but i cant do the lift we either have to walk stairs or take anouther member of staff. .. . i am not and wont worry about it living with panic/anxiety is hard enough as it is. . . i think if you speak up you will find no one laughs and many people feel the same.
oh and welcome to nmp! this is a great place to be
rach
x

[Piglet]

Rich exactly the same happened to me and my sister as kids and from that day on I was just the same as you.

I did have a few years in my early 20's when I started going in them again, mainly because I worked in a tall storey building and all that stair walking got too much which made me overcome my fear temporarily. However I don't go in them at all now and haven't for years.

I would say that was my very first phobia infact, so you are most certainly not alone in that one at all.

Love Piglet :flowers:

[samc100]

I can do lifts but escalators - oh no..... So Dickyboy I don't think we'd be much good in a big department store together....

Hope you find some support on this site - it will certainly make you feel less lonely x

[mtatum4496]

I have been spared this one, but my best friend has a terrible time with lifts and avoids them at all costs, choosing stairs every time if at all possible. He has been this way all his life. I have been with him when he had no choice but to take a lift and he will slip into a panic mode during that brief delay between when the doors close and the lift actually begins to move. The reaction he has is very much like the one I have when the confusion and "crazy thoughts" begin to bombard me at the beginning of a panic attack. As soon as the lift reached the proper floor and the doors opened, he immediately began to return to normal.

[Carla08]

Hi Rich!
Just read your message. I have a fear of lifts as well as other fears, birds and also fear of flying...however they go hand in hand with the social anxiety that I get and the agarophobia *I can never remember how to spell that word!* that I get. I read somewhere that if you suffer with social anxiety there is also a good chance that you will suffer with fear of enclosed spaces and for me this is absolutely true ~ altho I am not sure what having a fear of pigeons is about! haha...I always use the stairs if I cannot bring myself to get in one, on my 'not so brave days' and pass it off as keeping myself fit when people mention to me about why am I not using the lift or I just say I cant stand using lifts. I have had a few people tell me that they hate using lifts and there are plenty or people who dont like motorway driving. I think thats quite common and not surprisingly so. At the moment I am trying my hardest to get over my fears by confronting them continually and sometimes it is absolutely traumatic but I refuse to back down and at least with the agarophobia it is helping a bit. I really think this is the only way to tackle such issues along with therapy.

[Dickyboy199]

Gosh what an amazing response!

It makes me feel so much better reading all your replies! Thanks so much for that. I know that I should just tell people right from the word go that I just don't do lifts but I think its a kind of man thing :) I end up worrying so much if I have to go somewhere with work about how to get out of going in a lift without looking like a coward. So I usually end up cancelling going if I can get out of it. My immediate two work colleagues are aware that I don't like lifts but I don't think they realise that I just cannot go in them and I don't think they understand.

I turn down really interesting trips because of this and it really annoys me! The other day we had a trip to the new Heathrow tower just before it opened. But of course I turned it down. It would of probably taken me all day to walk up and I don't think they would of put up with that!!!

My wife is really good and supportive and she just says tell them you don't do lifts and anyway the stairs are better for you and if they don't like it tough!!!

I did start going in them in my thirties because I was getting fed up with having this phobia and I was also having hypnotherapy for it but it didn't work. The problem I get is as soon as the doors shut I start hyperventilating and my legs go like jelly. The feeling of being trapped in there is overwhelming. As soon as it gets to the floor and the doors open I feel so relieved but I am still shaking and feeling crap for at least half an hour later with a racing and missing hearbeat too!!!

I guess if I was 100% sure that no lift would ever get stuck then I might be able to start coping with the short time that you are in them but I know that if ever one did get stuck I would not remain calm and I would definitely panic BIG TIME!! Also the feelings of not being able to get back home and see my family come into it too. I guess that's the BIGGY as well about travel because I always feel that I'm going to get stuck somewhere either on the motorway in a plane or hotel lift!

Nuts I know! But thanks for the support. This is a really great site and lots of great people too.

Thanks again

and best wishes to you all

Rich

[Janieb]

I have to contribute to this because I used to have a huge fear of lifts after getting stuck in several over the years....until I worked for a lift company!

now, unless the lift is old I have no panic about it because I know how they work and when I was here for like the 3rd day they took me into the lift well, on top of the lift car and showed me around. At first I was kaking in my pants but then after the explination I was fine.

Basically all new lifts and well most lifts for some time have a fail safe braking mechanisim, so if one half of the brake fails there is another section which will work, and if that fails then something called an over speed governor kicks in and ensure the lift is clamped into place.

Lifts are usually fitted with a curtain of light, which are like red lasers like in the movies which detect people and the doors are tested to ensure the public are not harmed when they close, I have to say it is so different to how they show it in the movies.

The lifts are roped up and have to be roped in a certain fashion, where the ropes have a safety feature of 12:1 so if 1 rope broke or snapped you could happily lift the full weight of the lift car on just a couple of rope if not only one.

Sorry to bore you with the technicalities but this has seriously calmed my fear of lifts sometimes I have to get on top of them and in the pitts to survey on site thats the only really scary part is when they are putting them in as accidents do happen on site because it's installation stage before everything is roped up and set up properly, however saying that there has only been 1 fatality in the UK with regards to our company in 5 years. It has to be low as the Health and Safety exec would be on our backs. Oh and if you ever get stuck in a lift there is normally a 2 way connection it is within the regulations that this is put in, so just sit tight and wait for the rescue :)

ok sorry to bore however I hope my insight has slightly helped!

Next thing I near to cure is my fear of flying...thats going to be a tough one!

[bottleblond]

Nope, you won't get me near on either. they terrify me. It's would have to be the stairs for me every single time. eeeeeek!!


Lisa
xxx

[jodie]

yep me to i hate em lol

i would not even get in one when i was going in to have my little girl and i was in so much pain but still took the stairs :wacko:

jodie xxx

[Tom_M]

I do not like lifts, i'll go in them, but don't feel comfortable in them.
I remember when a teenager and riding in a lift that broke down. It just stopped and all I could see when the doors opened, was bricks :ohmy:. Well I wasn't having any of that, so I climb out of the inspection hatch at the top and managed to find my way to the next floor - very dangerous. I guess everyone is frightened of being trapped in a lift. I seen a video recently where the camera in the lift recoreded a guy who was trapped in one for two days:wacko:.

[billywhizz]

ive never been stuck in a lift, and as a kid me an a friend often went to the local multi-storey car park and played about in them (oh the joy) lol

i now cannot go in a lift, maybe i over did it as a kid, i dunno, its a strange one that, im ok until the doors shut an then its suffocation.
i also hate the feeling wen i get outta a lift, my legs feel like im still goin up or down.

[Cathy V]

Hi Rich, i'm new to this forum myself but when i read your comments i had to smile because i#m finding more and more people with the same fears and anxieties as myself. Ive had ectopics since my 20's and i'm now 54, and they can still floor me! i'm in the middle of a prolonged spell of them having had them this time for about 3 weeks.

I'm an anxiety sufferer like most of us here and don't like lifts, or any confined spaces (have to have a large vodka whenever i fly back to england from germany to vist my family!) I hate train journeys because of the packed carriages (have been known to sit in 1st class and then pay to upgrade to avoid a panic attack!) I will happily go on holiday but there are limitations to places I visit (no wonderful underground caves for this girl!) I could go on but I think we all know what i'm talking about anyway.

I don't know why i became so anxious, nothing major ever happened to trigger it, but my mum says i was always a bit of a worrier as a child:unsure:

Cathy V

[stuart39]

i hated the things as a kid! I was always hunting for the stairwell whenever i had to venture north of ground floor! i think i grew out of it when I landed a job in a tall office block. we were on the 16th floor so there was no way i could run the stairs every day so over time i just got used to the lifts. a lot of the time other people were in them too which may have helped initially.

looking back though-i ask myself what was i frightened off? It wasnt the possibility of the lift falling. For me it was being left in this little metal box for ages. Clearly if the lift does get stuck a) it wont fall down the shaft and b) nobody is going to leave passengers inside to die!

When all is said and done I still remember that as a kid nobody could tell me any different-I wanted to use the stairs.......

[lorac]

You wouldn't get me in a lift either, I don't care how many stairs I would still rather climb.

Carol

[noonoo]

I'm terrified of them, I avoid using them as much as possible. I have a fear of it breaking down or the cables snap.

So even if i'm in a hotel and have to walk up 7 flights of stairs, i'd rather do that.

[pooh]

When I was at college in 1995 I was pregnant. I had to use the lifts to access the floors of the building and I felt every time I stepped in, some woman would get on reeking of Dune perfume. It made me feel sick and suffocated. And I went off lifts very quickly (and Dune perfume, can't stand the smell of it to this day). If my anx is through the roof I don't like them or will avoid them, but mostly I'm ok even on my own as long as it's no higher than the 4th floor lol