Top Tips For Overcoming Your Phobia of Lifts

Being afraid to use a lift can have a huge effect on your mental health and make your day to day life a lot harder. Whether you experience mild anxiety or extreme panic attacks, it’s important to tackle the problem sooner rather than later.

Here are some top tips that can help.

Break down your fear

To overcome your fear you need to have a deeper understanding of the problem. What is it that truly makes you feel scared about riding in a lift? More often than not, lift phobias are not a fear of the lift itself but the way it makes you feel. If you don’t like being in an enclosed space then this could be claustrophobia. Make a list of everything riding in an elevator entails and rank each step based on how frightened it makes you feel, once you’ve done this you have a starting point.

Rationalise your fear and expose yourself

Think about the most fearful steps of riding a lift, think about the reason it scares you and rationalise it. If you’re worried about getting stuck, for example, consider the likelihood of this actually happening. Exposure is a technique that many people find useful when trying to overcome fear. Avoidance will only reinforce your fears, but gradually facing your phobia will be very scary at first but each time it will get easier and your mindset will change.

Stay calm

It may be easier said than done, but staying calm will stop you from feeling overwhelming and letting your thoughts run wild. Try the following tips:

●Using the lift with someone you trust who can provide support until you feel comfortable enough to do it alone.

●Standing straight and focusing on your breathing.

●Try using the lift at quieter times so you aren’t in a crowd.

●Practice mindfulness and meditation.

Here at ADL Lift Services , we design, install and maintain lifts across Scotland. Whether you’re looking to modernise your current elevator or you want to make your building more accessible by installing a wheelchair lift, we can help. With a combined expert experience of over 80 years, our team is on hand to meet your requirements with excellent service. Get in touch today for more information.