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Has anyone successfully overcome an escalator phobia?

30 replies

MrsGrindah · 07/06/2020 14:35

I’m desperate for help as it is affecting my life. Especially with how some places are asking people to move around buildings at the moment. I usually just avoid them, but when I really make an effort to use them it doesn’t get any easier. It’s not as if you can practice! I know the theory is to just keep doing something till your Brian gets bored but I’ve had this since I was a child and it doesn’t seem to be working.Neither did hypnosis. Can anyone please tell me of how to beat this?

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latedecember1963 · 07/06/2020 14:49

I'm fine going up on escalators but can't go down.
Like you, I tell myself to be sensible and just do it, but as soon as I see the steps falling away I bottle out.
I'd love to know if anyone has overcome this and how.

MrsGrindah · 07/06/2020 15:46

I meant brain not Brian obviously!

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feelingdizzy · 07/06/2020 15:50

Oh,I have never met anyone else with this,I'm also much more afraid going down it's ridiculous. I'm mostly saved as I live in a rural Scottish town which doesnt have any. I would love to know if anyone has a solution as I'm terrified on them,imagine myself falling and being sucked up in it.Bizarre as I'm not generally a fearful person at all !

MrsGrindah · 07/06/2020 15:55

Yes I can cope with going up it’s going down that really panics me. I’m so envious of those women who saunter down them holding a cup of coffee in one hand and wearing high heels!

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MrsGrindah · 07/06/2020 15:57

I once saw a guide dog in training being taught how to lead someone up and down an escalator and thought “ I wonder if they would train me!”

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Shhhhh223 · 07/06/2020 16:00

Have you considered hypnotherapy? If not have a google it could help

Shhhhh223 · 07/06/2020 16:01

Sorry just read you tried it..can I ask was it general hypnotherapy?

GinWithASplashOfTonic · 07/06/2020 16:02

I have to really psych myself up to go down them. I'm ok going up. I will always try to find an alternative even if it takes much longer to do. Think avoiding specific tube stations and finding diversions.

I am getting better but if I have luggage and I feel like I'm over balanced.
For me it's about getting in the zone and no rushing. And planning how I'll get on and off

elizabell · 07/06/2020 16:03

Really interested to read this. I am fine on normal length escalators but anything slightly longer (tube/airports) I really panic, feel I have to cling on and am convinced I'm going to fall backwards and or pass out. I have found myself asking strangers to stand directly behind me and to catch me if I fall. Obviously I have never fallen but I think telling people and feeling like someone is aware makes me feel more in control.

thenightsky · 07/06/2020 16:09

I had a fear of them as a child and through into adulthood. One day I took myself off to a city centre M&S and just went up and down about 20 times.

I found it best to make that first step (going up) a huge stride so your foot doesn't land on the very first step, but the one ahead of that, so you then have a spare step behind you for your second foot... if that makes sense. Then, at the top, I do another huge stride when the step I'm on is 2 or 3 from the top. Don't wait for it to get closer.

Going down, take the first step that appears, so you aren't pitching forward too much. At the bottom, I leap off when its 2 or 3 steps off the end.

EatsShootsAndRuns · 07/06/2020 16:22

I was petrified of them as a child, as an adult I'm not particularly happy to use them but I had hypnotherapy for a fear of water and use a technique that I was shown during that if I do have to go on an escalator.

Branbleberries · 07/06/2020 16:24

Could you step on sideways somehow, so that you're not looking at the stairs falling away when you're going down, but facing the wall or the other escalator? Or close your eyes once you're on (with someone else with you to say when you're getting near the end) so that you get used to the sensation of moving but without the disconcerting visuals.

You might be able to find a nearly empty shopping centre now to practice on, or a large Boots or something, that is allowed to open. Or perhaps a first step, if the steps on the escalator look overwhelming, would be one of the conveyor type escalators that they have at some places like Ikea or big supermarkets, where you are going up but more gently, and you can hold on to the cart. Or even just the totally flat conveyors at airports.

Then gradually you could get used to little escalators. I know they'll be hard to find right now, but some places I've been have really short escalators - they're more for make sure places are accessible, so newly built buildings where there's a short flight of stairs, but they've put in an escalator as well for people who can't use stairs. That might be just long enough to get used to it.

Or somewhere like Debenhams on Oxford St, if you're anywhere near London, where the escalator is flat for the first 6 feet or so, and only then starts going up. It feels less weird to get on.

Obviously most of these are hard to do in lockdown, but as things gradually get back to normal, you might be able to find more of them, and practice at quiet times, over and over, til you get calmer. And you don't have to like them, ever, but just to be able to do them

I remember being a bit scared of them as a child, not so much as a phobia though, but didn't like that first step of getting on, for long enough to be old enough that remember it. I am fine now.

1forAll74 · 07/06/2020 16:27

I can cope a bit on an escalator, going up, but not down. My issue is lifts, I can never go in one at all. I know the reasons for my fear of lifts, but just avoidance for me now.

StCharlotte · 07/06/2020 16:28

Yes I have but I'm afraid it was simply "mind over matter" as I was living and working in London so I couldn't avoid them for commuting.

The down escalator was broken for months at Kentish Town - walking down the static escalator was hideous as the lines started blurring. But in the end I was indeed trotting down in heels Smile

You can do it!

SoftBlocks · 07/06/2020 16:34

I had trouble going down them as a child- I think I just forced myself to overcome it. Plus parents insisted I ‘stop being silly.’ Sorry I know that’s not very helpful. I still find them a bit scary.

woodlandwalker · 07/06/2020 16:36

I can manage some fairly short escalators. Up is easier than down but still difficult to get off. Mine has got worse with age as my balance and eyesight are not as good as they were. I now avoid the tube and some stations such as the new London Bridge which has very long escalators. It was fine before with ramps to the platforms and short flights of stairs over the platforms but now has open lifts as well as long escalators.

chipsandpeas · 07/06/2020 16:36

i did, had a phobia of them when i was younger, up until my mid 20s and ended up having to use them as there was no other options (couldnt manage the stairs)

Bluewavescrashing · 07/06/2020 16:38

My DH got trapped in one as a teenager and has only started using them again 20 years later. He started anti depressants for another reason and found they helped a lot with rational reasoning and reduced anxiety.

Scarby9 · 07/06/2020 16:41

When I was young, I didn't like escalators or lifts, so was kept quite fit using the stairs all the time. I wouldn't describe myself as keen now, but as PP say, I have just desensitized myself by going on / in them and telling myself millions of people do it every day.
I had a bit of a setback in my mid twenties when, in the same summer, I fell up one of the London Underground horrid massive escalators (lots of blood, total embarrassment and very painful shin for months), and then in an M & S got over confident and thought I could handle a buggy on an escalator. I left the poor child (not mine, I might add) on the ground floor as I sailed up to the cafe. Utter panic, but luckily a kind man brought the buggy and child up for me. Had to steel myself to come down in the lift... I still have to focus and concentrate on not panicking, but no-one would know now that I had any concerns.

MrsGrindah · 07/06/2020 18:16

Thanks all. I had hypnotherapy for this specifically but it made no difference.

Going up is fine, but going down I get dizzy too which makes me feel I’m more likely to fall. I can’t go down straits without holding on to something either. My eyes literally swim.

The worst ones are in big department stores where you are close to lots of them all going in different directions. It’s like my brain can’t cope.

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MrsGrindah · 07/06/2020 18:19

@Branbleberries Thanks. I think I do need to practice more in quiet times ( lockdown rules permitting) . Of course the added anxiety is all those people tutting behind you!

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MrsGrindah · 07/06/2020 18:19

Stairs not straits!

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Straysocks · 07/06/2020 18:29

I had a really dreadful as a child. I often stayed with an Aunt who would always take me on the train to town, which meant an escalator in and out of the station. Her method was to stop the nearest big fella to carry me. You may/not wish to try that method. I turned a corner when my older sister got too big to be carried up and helping her get on and off got me over my fear, ditto children getting me over acute arachnophobia. I realise there's no advice for you here, sorry but it can be done. Good luck

Straysocks · 07/06/2020 18:30

I had a dreadful FEAR as a child. Thankfully my children are pretty ace!

latedecember1963 · 07/06/2020 18:46

Thank you for all the helpful suggestions.
Once I'm on I'm ok, it's that leap of faith stepping onto a moving descending step.
I'm going to try and finally crack this when places start to open up again.
At least now I know I'm not the only one. Thanks MrsGrindah for starting this thread!