aquaphobia
How to overcome the fear of water
Aquaphobia: The fear of water in any form.
© andrei pol / Adobe Stock
Aquaphobia – the fear of water – not only restricts during the holiday season. What this fear is all about and how you can deal with it.
As a child I probably suffered from aquaphobia – the irrational fear of water. I don’t have an official diagnosis, but a look at my parents’ holiday photos from back then shows a child who was anything but enthusiastic on the beach. While my peers built sand castles around me and splashed in the shallow water, I stood in front of it, red-faced and streaming tears, screaming my heart out. It was particularly bad when my parents went into the water, as my mother told me years later. I couldn’t be calmed down at all.
A near-death experience aroused my fear of water at times
Whether it was aquaphobia or not, I was terrified of the water. As it turned out later, for good reason: I once almost drowned in a bird bath (actually even a “funny” story, but it has no place here). Apparently, this near-death experience had a very negative effect on my relationship with the cold water – at least for a time. At some point I became the mermaid again that I was as a baby and that I am to this day.
But not everyone can do this, especially without outside help: aquaphobia makes it almost impossible for people who suffer from this fear to approach water of any kind. For them, the few summers that I didn’t even want to go near the sea are years of everyday life.
Aquaphobia: When fear becomes overwhelming
A certain respect for water is only healthy: After all, water can have enormous destructive power, as the flood disaster in NRW in July 2021 showed. People can drown in the water if they are not careful or get swept away by currents. But in and of itself, water does not pose a danger; on the contrary, it is even necessary for human survival.
Yet individuals who have an irrational fear of water see danger in many water sources—be it the ocean, the pool, the lake, or even just the sink. An estimated 19.2 million people suffer from this specific phobia in the US alone, with women being affected twice as often as men. As with many phobias, the symptoms of aquaphobia usually develop in childhood or adolescence. And fear is not always limited to just looking at it: In a study treated an elderly man who developed his phobia because drinking made him feel like he was drowning.
How the fear shows People who suffer from aquaphobia usually can hardly stand being near water © simona / Adobe Stock
Whether it’s a river or a puddle – for some people with aquaphobia, the mere sight of water is already oppressive, although the amount usually doesn’t matter. Just the thought can cause anxiety and panic for some people.
This phobia is particularly stressful during the holiday season: While friends and family are cooling off in the water, those affected can usually not even go to the beach without suffering from heart palpitations, nausea or even fainting spells.
How to overcome aquaphobia
While my fear of water subsided by itself in early childhood, some people are not so lucky: it sometimes accompanies the aquaphobia into adulthood. The good news is that aquaphobia is treatable. This is a “specific phobia”, i.e. a pronounced fear of a specific object or situation, be it dogs, blood, heights or water.
Such phobias can be treated – for example through cognitive behavioral therapy, in which patients learn to question their thoughts and fears about water and strategies are developed to deal with the thought patterns and fixed beliefs.
Sources used: healtline.com, tagesschau.de, bptk.de