Spacephobia, or the fear of space, is not new. However, many people may not relate to it because it is more common to see humans stargazing, having dinner under the night sky, or looking into space with a telescope than talking about how they fear what is above and beyond.
We have created this comprehensive article on space phobia to clarify things and help you understand the possible causes and ways to manage it.
Understanding the Concept of Spacephobia
The enigma of the stars and outer space may have fascinated many over the centuries.
This explains why some people spend their entire lives studying planetary bodies and trying to understand how the stars affect people’s destinies and lives (horoscopes and zodiac signs).
However, while celestial bodies are fascinating to a large population of humans, certain people find things of this nature overwhelming and even develop an irrational fear of space.
This fear may be persistent, mostly irrational (this is common with phobias), and severe enough that it becomes a disorder known as spacephobia.
The basic definition of Spacephobia or astrophobia is an intense and irrational fear of things that concern outer space.
This involves the deep fear of stars, the moon, other celestial bodies, aliens, and outer space.
However, this phobia is commonly related to the fear of aliens and space travel. Just the mere thought of outer space and planetary bodies can make the sufferer start having fearful thoughts concerning death.
Many times, the sufferers realize that these fearful thoughts are irrational but are still unable to control it.
Connections of Spacephobia to Other Fears
This phobia may be associated with other common fears, such as fear of being alone, fear of the dark, or fear of being away or far from home.
Most films depict the outer space as a cold, dark, and limitless emptiness. This means that a person who is scared of the dark, scared of being alone, or scared of being far away from home would find such movies disturbing or scary.
Again, watching movies and reading books that lay out the real-life dangers of space travel, possible uncontrolled technical issues that may arise, the possibility of getting stuck in outer space, possible explosions, exaggerated stories of alien abductions, and spaceship attacks, etc., may promote the development of space phobia.
Possible Causes of Spacephobia
It is crucial to investigate and identify the cause of any phobia to apply the right treatment method and achieve the desired results.
Unfortunately, just like most phobias (specific or not), there is no single identified cause of spacephobia.
Scientists think that various factors contribute to the development of spacephobia, anxiety disorders inclusive.
The following are some of the factors that can cause this condition:
1. Trauma
Many phobias are a result of traumatic experiences that have affected the sufferer sometime in the past.
This particular phobia is no different; an experience that has caused an unpleasant trauma to a person may have the person develop this condition, for example, a child who may have had a close relative or parent who worked as an astronaut and then got stranded or died in space may be severely traumatized by the news which can, later on, develop to spacephobia.
Again, some people may just read or see the news about stranded or the death of an astronaut or astronauts and become severely traumatized, which in turn may result in space phobia.
2. The Media
The media has always been a tool of influence and promotion. However, some people get affected by the lies and exaggerations that come with the media.
Books, films, cartoons, memes, and pictures may depict aliens as intelligent life forms outside of our planet with more advanced technology that they can use to attack and conquer our world.
This kind of thing causes irrational fear towards aliens and outer space, thus developing this condition.
Again, reading, watching, and viewing things about space and space travel that paint space as an inhabitable, limitless, and dark vacuum may cause people with other phobias, such as fear of the dark, being left alone, and being away from home, to develop this disorder.
3. Background upbringing
Caregivers and parents who are highly anxious may out of their protective nature, coupled with anxiety, may unintentionally narrate stories or fill the children’s head with irrationally fearful ideas towards things about space. This makes a child develop spacephobia.
4. Gene
Sometimes, the cause of some phobias is genetic. If your biological parents were the anxious types, and because that information may be in your genetic make-up, then you are more prone to develop this disorder as well.
Although scientists may not have come to an agreement concerning a single cause of this disorder, they collectively agree on one thing, and that thing is that phobias are acquired and learned behaviors.
No one is born with a phobia, especially spacephobia. Individuals who are irrationally afraid of outer space and everything related to it are not born with the condition. Still, the condition may result from factors such as trauma, background upbringing, and the media.
When individuals persistently associate their object of fear with unpleasant feelings of fear, panic, shame, and insecurity, spacephobia develops.
Symptoms
Persons with this disorder tend to go out of their way to avoid seeing or reading anything relating to aliens, space bodies, or space.
Just mere thinking of aliens, space bodies, and spaceships can cause a person with this disorder to experience a full-blown panic attack.
This can also cause the individual to avoid looking at the sky at night to avoid seeing the stars, the moon, and the wide-open dark sky.
Imagining, reading, or seeing anything relating to outer space, spaceships, stars, astronauts, or celestial bodies can trigger an individual to experience the following symptoms:
- Increased heart rate
- Shortness of breath
- Sharp chest pain
- Sweating
- Hot/cold flashes
- Shaking
- Screaming
- Feeling like escaping from objects of fear
- Fear of losing control or embarrassing oneself
- The feeling of being disconnected from reality
- Lightheadedness
- Tiredness
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Loss of appetite
- Anxiety
- Panic attacks
- Feeling of terror
Frankly, many people do not understand this type of phobia. Most people do not even know that space phobia is a real condition, and they are actually people who experience this unpleasant disorder.
However, individuals who suffer from this disorder prefer to keep it to themselves for fear of being laughed at or teased because most people do not know and understand this condition.
This is a very unhealthy coping mechanism as they tend to lose control when they come in contact with their objects of fear.
This can severely affect the social life of the sufferers as they would prefer to be socially isolated to avoid embarrassing themselves when they come in contact with their object of fear.
Having spacephobia also means that you have persistent and uncontrolled fear and anxiety at the mere thought of anything relating to space, and this adversely affects normal daily activities.
Depending on the cause of your phobia, you will likely go out of your way to avoid watching films about outer space, space travel, meteor strikes and showers, aliens, and invasions.
You might develop obsessions with conspiracy theories concerning the space, sighted Unidentified Flying Object (UFO), and claims from certain sources claiming that the government is trying to keep interaction with aliens classified.
However, showing interest in such a topic does not mean you suffer from spacephobia. But when this innocent interest becomes an obsession that disrupts your normal daily lifestyle, then you ought to see a mental health professional to obtain help.
Treatment of Spacephobia (Fear of Space)
Spacephobia can be treated like the way others phobias are being treated.
The main focus in treating this disorder is to help the sufferer throw away all the negative beliefs concerning space bodies and outer space.
The sufferer will be filled up with healthier beliefs and proper coping skills to help the sufferer avoid and handle panic attacks better.
Fortunately, most phobias are curable. Sometimes, only a single session of therapy can be effective enough to have a person with this disorder cured, especially in mild and moderate cases.
The following are treatments that can be applied to get the desired results:
Self-help
Moving to help yourself overcome this disorder is the most basic step. Various techniques can be used to achieve this:
First, you can start by writing down the fears that pull you down. Then, write down at least one positive belief for each fear you encounter.
Yoga practice, Meditation, positive reinforcement, and deep inhalation are all self-help techniques that can be applied to overcome phobias.
Studying healthy information about space, aliens, and spacephobia can also help.
Sadly, spacephobia has not been extensively studied in the medical and psychological fields. Therefore, there have not been any registered clinical cases yet.
The method is known to be effective to some extent. Still, if it does not produce any results, you are advised to seek professional help, especially if this condition adversely affects your normal daily lifestyle.
Therapy
This is when your doctor refers you to a professional who can help you overcome this condition.
Generally, there are five therapies known to be very effective in treating phobias and will definitely help in the treatment of spacephobia.
These therapies include the following:
- Cognitive-behavioral therapy: This type of treatment involves you and your therapist working together to influence the way you think gradually. It rules out your perception of outer space and everything related to it as associated with harm and danger, which results in a persistent fear response.
- Cognitive-behavioral therapy teaches you to counter negative thoughts with positive ones.
- Psychotherapy: This involves traditional analytic thinking with your therapist.
- Behavioral therapy helps in behavioral modification by Reinforcing preferred behaviors and attitudes while eliminating unwanted ones.
- Desensitization and exposure therapy: This disorder is characterized by avoiding anything about space, including twinkling stars. This method suggests that you can only overcome your fears by facing them head-on.
In this case, the term “head-on” is an exaggeration, because once you are being exposed to the object of fear “head-on,” you are definitely going to experience a panic attack, which is an unpleasant experience.
This method involves the gradual exposure of the object of fear, in this case, anything that pertains to space.
Little by little exposure while gradually increasing the exposure will help you feel less threatened by each encounter.
This is why it is also called “desensitization.” The more exposed you are to objects of fear, the more fear diminishes and the less sensitive you are to them.
This is done under a controlled environment and observation.
You may be asked to draw stars and what you view space to be. Then, you are asked to read and sing children’s poems about stars before you are allowed to ask questions and read about space, celestial bodies, and stars.
Eventually, you can leave under the dark sky at night to observe the stars scattered in the sky.
All this is harmlessly presented to you until there are no panic attacks or fear responses.
- Hypnotherapy: Hypnotherapy should be the last option considered in therapy if every other option did not give desired results. It reprograms the subconscious mind to root out the condition’s cause. You are put into a deep relaxation state until your subconscious mind is open to the thought that will convince you there is nothing to be afraid of.
- Relaxation techniques: The focus is on a healthy lifestyle, including adequate dieting, proper exercising, enough rest, deep breathing, and relaxation. All of these play a huge role in reducing anxiety.
- Meditation: Medications may be prescribed to treat anxiety. This may help when used with other forms of therapy to treat spacephobia.
Medications for Space Phobia
Just like most other phobias, no medication has been created specifically for the treatment of spacephobia.
There are a few medications that may be prescribed to help manage anxiety, but they are not a form of cure for your phobia.
The only way to manage or completely get over the fear of space phobia is to seek professional help from a mental health professional or therapist.
When Should I Seek Help for Spacephobia?
It is also common for people with rare phobias such as astrophobia or spacephobia to keep their fears to themselves out of concern that others will mock them.
This feeling usually arises from knowing their intense fear of planetary bodies is irrational.
Nevertheless, we encourage people with any form of phobia to speak up and seek help if they have experienced such intense fears for more than six months.
Talk to a certified and trusted doctor, therapist, or mental health professional. Make all information about your symptoms and how they affect your daily life and activities available.
It is also helpful to find a focus group with people who have rare phobias or the same phobia as you. This may provide emotional support for you through your recovery process.
