Phobias are mental health conditions that produce strong feelings of worry, anxiety, and fear related to a specific trigger. Thalassophobia, the fear of water or deep bodies of water, can negatively impact the life of people with the disorder. Fortunately, mental health experts successfully treat thalassophobia, and other phobias, with a combination of therapy and medications.
What Is Thalassophobia?
On the surface, thalassophobia is a fear of water, but the situation is not so straightforward. People with this condition will not be afraid of all water in all situations, so taking a shower or getting a drink on a hot day will not create an anxious response.
“Anxiety is a normal part of being human and certain situations naturally cause anxiety for many people. This is evolutionary; the more anxious humans in prehistoric days were more likely to be cautious and survive, compared to anyone who did not have enough anxiety to make safe decisions,” says Dr. Patricia Celan, psychiatry resident at Dalhousie University. “Unfortunately, this very natural fear of dangerous situations can become exaggerated and take over a person’s life. Compared to a normal fear of deep water, someone with thalassophobia is so terrified of deep water that it causes distress out of proportion to the situation and negatively impacts that person’s functioning.”
Rather than having their anxiety sparked by water in all situations, people with thalassophobia will feel fearful primarily around large or deep bodies of water. Oceans are the best example of the fear-provoking water bodies for people with thalassophobia, but there are others.
According to Dr. Holly Schiff, PsyD, “The intense fear those with thalassophobia experience is usually disproportionate to the situation and causes extreme distress and impairment. The difference between natural fears and a phobia is that the latter involves unreasonable and excessive fear of a specific stimulus – in this case, deep water – and a consistent and immediate anxiety response.”
Some of the best examples of fear of bodies of water include:1
- Deep lakes
- Rapid rivers
- Large ponds
Thalassophobia will create a powerful and irrational response when the trigger is present.2 In this way, thalassophobia is similar to other specific phobias people experience like:
- Fear of insects
- Fear of heights
- Fear of death
- Fear of blood
In the case of thalassophobia, the person may believe that they will drown, regardless of their swimming skills, or that they will be attacked by a shark, even though the risk is minimal.
Because not everyone with thalassophobia will have the same experience or triggers, some people with the condition could note feeling fearful around swimming pools or water parks. If the fear becomes too widespread, though, it could indicate that the condition is not thalassophobia.
To clarify a potentially confusing situation, thalassophobia should not be confused with:
- Aquaphobia: A person who reports high levels of anxiety around more sources of water could have aquaphobia. With aquaphobia, nearly any source of water, even toilets and bathtubs, may produce the unwanted stress and anxiety.
- Hydrophobia: Not classified as a mental health condition, hydrophobia is a symptom experienced in rabies-infected people that leads them to avoid drinking water.
Signs of Thalassophobia: What It Looks Like
Perhaps more than other phobias, a person with thalassophobia will show no outwards signs of the condition for the vast majority of their days. In some cases, their closest friends and family members will have no indication that their loved one suffers from a mental health condition.
People with thalassophobia may be able to succeed in school, perform well at work, and have healthy and thriving relationships with the important people in their life. The possibility of seeing the signs of thalassophobia may not occur often.
If the fear of deep waters is strong enough, the person with thalassophobia cannot tolerate even watching shows or movies about the subject. Media that includes images of people drowning, getting shipwrecked, or encountering a sea animal could trigger an anxious response. Still, these stimuli are easily avoided.
The full extent of thalassophobia may not emerge until there is pressure to visit a deep body of water. For example, a spouse may persistently ask a person about a family trip to the beach, which triggers high anxiety. The person may make many excuses to avoid going and quickly change the subject, but due to the shame of admitting their phobia, they agree to the trip.
When the family approaches their destination, the person with thalassophobia begins displaying increasing signs of anxiety like fidgeting and restlessness.
As they step foot on the beach, the person could become:2
- Irritable
- Anxious
- Defensive
- Suspicious or secretive
- Panicky
The phobic person may quickly escape the beach and spend the remainder of the trip in the safety and security of the hotel room or beach house. They seem angry, hostile and resentful towards their spouse for pressuring them into the trip, but they may still hide or deny their thalassophobia.
Children with thalassophobia may present as defiant, resistant, and moody. They may cry, tantrum, and be especially clinging when presented with the stressor of deep water.2
A person who lives in a landlocked area with no ambitions to visit large bodies of water could lead a perfectly happy life free from any signs of thalassophobia. On the other hand, people who receive regular triggers could appear very despondent, and some will attempt suicide as a way to cope with their distress.2;
Symptoms of Thalassophobia
Specific phobias are commanding forces in a person’s life due to their ability to produce negative outcomes. Though a fear of heights, fear of blood, and fear of deep bodies of water will all have different triggers, the symptoms will be very similar due to their ability to create fear, worry, and high stress.
There is one essential symptom of thalassophobia – high levels of fear or anxiety about a specific situation, thought, or location involving deep or large bodies of water. The reactions will be powerful and disproportionate to the actual danger of the situation. 2
This heightened rate of fear and anxiety could result in:
- Nervousness
- Worry
- Poor concentration and difficulty making decisions
- Inability to sit still
- Feeling sweating and shaky
- Agitation
- Full panic attacks marked by fear of dying, trouble breathing, and other intense physical and mental symptoms
These symptoms will likely present and increase as the person comes closer to their trigger. People with severe thalassophobia could note significant distress when thinking about the ocean, even if it is not physically close.
Another essential feature of all phobias is avoidance. 2 The person will do their best to avoid and escape away from the source of their stress by extreme measures. As someone becomes so apt at avoidance, they may feel no stress due to the lack of contact.
Another aspect of thalassophobia involves the amount of distress the trigger causes. Someone with an ordinary fear of the ocean could feel very anxious when facing a large body of water, but the person with thalassophobia will present with an intensity, frequency, and duration far above ordinary fears.
Additionally, a person with a phobia will have symptoms that seem overly sensitive and reactive. Even minor cues can spark huge reactions.
To meet the diagnostic criteria for thalassophobia, the fear must last for at least 6 months and create significant issues for the individual at work, home, and school. Because thalassophobia is so easy to avoid, people’s lives may be minimally affected, which makes proper diagnosis challenging.
Causes & Triggers of Thalassophobia
Currently, experts are not certain what causes some people to have phobias. There is a strong belief that a combination of negative life experiences, genetics, environment, brain functioning, and learning patterns could create thalassophobia.
Dr. Celan notes, “Anxiety tends to run in families, and phobias can as well. A person’s genetic vulnerability can combine with a negative life experience that works as a catalyst, leading to a fear that is significant enough to be considered a mental disorder. For example, if someone has a tendency to be anxious and then witnesses a close friend drown in the ocean, that person may begin to overvalue the idea that the ocean is unsafe. Over time, that fear magnifies to the extent of causing enough distress or impairment to be considered a phobia.”
Possible causes and triggers of thalassophobia include:3,4
- Young age: Anyone can endure a phobia, but children are more likely to report the symptoms of these disorders.
- Direct or observed life experiences: A person who personally has a negative experience involving an ocean or other large water body could develop a phobia. Likewise, those who see scary situations, in person or through some media, may note a phobia.
- Informational learning: Rather than experiencing or observing scary situations, some people could see their phobia develop from the information provided by others. If a parent or trusted adult tells a child about the dangers of deep water, the child could become phobic.
- Genetics: Family history of anxiety and phobias can create an increased risk for others. It seems that there is an unidentified genetic component to specific phobias.
- Brain function: Researchers are investigating the way anxiety disorders affect a person’s brain and the way the brain influences anxiety disorders as a connection seems present.
A person with a strong family history of anxiety who was taught to fear the ocean will be more likely than others to develop an irrational fear of the ocean. The risks are even greater if the person lacks healthy coping skills and supportive loved ones to relieve their stress.
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Treatment of Thalassophobia
At times, mental health treatments may offer limited efficacy for certain psychological disorders, but professional phobia treatments, like psychotherapy and medication management, can provide quick and effective results with symptom reduction. Paired with helpful lifestyle changes, treatments for thalassophobia will restore a person’s health and well-being.
Therapy
Psychotherapy is the practice of meeting with a trained therapist to address and resolve the symptoms so the person is no longer fearful. Therapists, like psychologists, counselors, and social workers, will meet with the client in individual, group, or family sessions to provide coping skills and therapeutic interventions that diminish anxiety and restore control and power to the person’s life.3
Therapy sessions for thalassophobia can occur in a variety of settings like schools, mental health agencies, private practices, and doctors’ offices. Since thalassophobia is triggered by the ocean, therapy sessions could even take place on the beach or in the water to address the source of the issue, though this practice would not be necessary.
Common Type of Therapies
Whether it is blood, bugs, heights, or large bodies of water, one therapy type stands above others in the treatment of phobias. Called exposure therapy, this specific form of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is based on the notion that one must confront and face their fears directly to shrink their symptoms.5,6
Dr. Schiff states, “The gold standard for phobia treatment is exposure therapy. The individual is exposed to their feared stimuli in increasing levels of intensity until fear extinction is reached. In the case of thalassophobia, an individual might start with looking at photos of the sea, then escalate to watching videos of the ocean or deep water and the exposure would culminate with a trip to the ocean or a pool in person (called in vivo exposure). Through this controlled exposure, the individual learns that the feared stimulus is not in fact dangerous, and they can start to associate it with more positive outcomes.”
Any form of exposure therapy is challenging and uncomfortable for the client because the situations will trigger their stress. The person will learn, though, that they can overcome the stress and not be controlled by fear.
Exposure is a wonderfully effective therapy for phobias, but it is not the only option. Some other psychotherapies for thalassophobia include: 7
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): Without the specifics of exposure therapy, CBT can help people recognize the irrational aspects of their fear and set out to complete healthy behaviors without the influence of their phobia.
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): A form of therapy that helps people find acceptance by living in the moment with a nonjudgmental approach while also committing to needed changes to shift away from certain thoughts and feelings.
- Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT): A therapeutic form based on CBT principles that focuses on helping the individual by improving their mindfulness, communication skills, distress tolerance, and emotional regulation.
Not everyone will have a positive response to therapy for thalassophobia, but phobias are one of the most treatable mental health conditions. With consistency and a trust in the process, a person will see their stress drift away.
Intended Treatment Outcome & Timeline
When therapy for thalassophobia works, it should work quickly and thoroughly. After a person has successfully moved through exposure therapy, CBT, ACT, or DBT, they can expect a complete remission of their phobic response, which means family trips to the beach could finally feel fun, not dreadful.
Effective treatments delivered by an experienced therapist can rapidly resolve symptoms with some people noting benefits in as little as four hours of therapy.5 In a broader sense, phobia therapy can improve the condition in around 12 sessions, so just a few months of therapy can separate people from less stress.7 Therapy sessions can be done in person, but people can also find very experienced therapists offering DBT, ACT, and CBT sessions online.
Lifestyle Changes
Someone with thalassophobia, or another phobia, will likely explore a range of lifestyles to manage their symptoms. Even though lifestyle changes may seem unimportant, they can do much to either encourage or discourage recovery from thalassophobia.
Some of the best coping skills for thalassophobia include:5,8
- Healthy intake: The food and drink one puts in their body has a direct effect on their physical and mental health. Eating a balanced diet full of whole, nutritious foods can help reduce anxiety, while sugary foods and caffeinated drinks can boost stress.
- Healthy output: All forms of exercise and increased physical activity can help a person who is dealing with anxiety. Experiment to test the type of activity that produces the most stress-reducing impact.
- Make time for sleep: High stress is exhausting, but it can also make it harder to achieve restful sleep. People should plan to wind down sufficiently at night to create a helpful routine to sleep in a cool, dark, distraction-free space.
- Keep it real in relationships: With phobias, lying, omitting, or avoiding talking about the source of stress is easy but never advisable. Fight back against shame by telling trusted friends and family members about the phobia and how they can help.
Following through on these lifestyle changes will improve the efficacy of psychotherapy and create lasting happiness.
Medication
Many people will use therapy to fully eliminate the symptoms of thalassophobia. Still, others will need a combination of therapy and medication to adequately address their condition.
Fortunately, prescribers, like psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, and primary care doctors, have several types of medications to assist the treatment process. Some of the medications commonly used include:5
Antidepressants
For a number of depressive disorders, prescribers regularly recommend selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) or serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs). These medications help modulate brain chemicals to produce an antidepressant effect, and they can also shrink phobic symptoms.
Some examples of SSRIs and SNRIs include:
- Citalopram (Celexa)
- Escitalopram (Lexapro)
- Fluoxetine (Prozac)
- Paroxetine (Paxil)
- Sertraline (Zoloft)
- Desvenlafaxine (Pristiq)
- Duloxetine (Cymbalta)
- Levomilnacipran (Fetzima)
- Venlafaxine (Effexor)
Other Antidepressants
If the above antidepressants are ineffective, medication specialists may transition to older forms. These medications could produce symptom relief, but they may create more unwanted side effects.
Some other antidepressants used for phobias include:5
- Tricyclics like clomipramine (Anafranil) and imipramine (Tofranil)
- MAO inhibitors like phenelzine (Nardil) and selegiline (Emsam)
Benzodiazepines and Other Antianxiety Agents
Antidepressants are helpful for anxiety, but benzodiazepines are medications experts prescribe specifically for anxiety disorders. This group of drugs helps regulate a brain chemical called GABA to induce feelings of calm and relaxation.
Benzodiazepines have the benefit of working quickly and producing powerful results, but they carry risk as well. These medications are habit-forming and can result in addiction and physical dependence, even when used as prescribed. Ideally, benzodiazepines are only to be used in the short-term.
Some examples of benzodiazepines include:5
- Alprazolam (Xanax)
- Lorazepam (Ativan)
- Clonazepam (Klonopin)
- Diazepam (Valium)
Buspirone (BuSpar), is another type of antianxiety medication that works differently than benzodiazepines. Buspirone can help to manage anxious symptoms effectively without the high abuse potential of benzodiazepines, but this drug can take up to three weeks to spark wanted results.5
It is important to remember to seek medical evaluation and advice before starting any medication especially since what may successfully help one person may not the be the ideal choice for another person, even if both are being treated for phobias.
Dealing With a Thalassophobia-Induced Panic Attack
Phobias have the power to create incredibly high levels of stress and anxiety. When these symptoms emerge and go unchecked, panic attacks can surface.
Panic attacks are discrete periods of high anxiety that lead to significant physical and mental health effects like:2
- Heart pounding and palpitations
- Sweating
- Shakiness
- Chest pain
- Nausea
- Feeling disconnected to the body or the surroundings
- Feeling dizzy or light-headed
- Fear of dying
Treatment can help deal with a thalassophobia-induced panic attack in two ways:
- Teaching new relaxation techniques and coping skills to respond more effectively to panic symptoms
- Address the underlying symptoms of depression and anxiety that contribute to thalassophobia
By combining prevention with damage control in therapy, a person can lessen the chances of panic attacks while becoming better able to react when symptoms start emerging.
How to Get Help for Thalassophobia
To get help for thalassophobia, the person must begin by no longer working to avoid and escape their symptoms. When the person is able to admit their issue and see the benefit of treatment, they can seek the needed assistance from mental health professionals.
By calling a mental health agency, a primary care doctor, a trusted friend, or the insurance company, a person can begin the process of getting treatment for their phobia.
How to Get Help for a Loved One
Getting help for a loved one is much of the same process. Work to help your loved one see the negative impact thalassophobia is having on their life and how therapy can assist with these symptoms.
Prepare for the conversation with helpful resources the person can use to contact available treatment providers. Always offer to be part of the treatment process.
How to Get Help for a Child
Children have some of the highest rates of phobias, so many parents may experience the need to find treatment for their children.
A trusted pediatrician can start the process, or you can contact other parents that have had successful stints of mental health treatments. Make sure the child knows that they are not doing anything wrong or bad. Instead, you are just doing what they need to have a happier, lower-stress life.
Thalassophobia Statistics
Because there are so many forms of specific phobias, the group of disorders is well-studied by experts.
The most noteworthy statistics associated with specific phobia include:2,5
- Roughly 8% of all people in the U.S. have a specific phobia each year
- Age 10 is the average age of onset for specific phobia
- Among children ages 13-17, 16% will have a specific phobia
- Women with specific phobias outnumber men by a 2:1 ratio
- Due to high stress, people with phobias are around 60% more likely to attempt suicide at least once
Coping With Thalassophobia
With some mental health disorders like depression or bipolar disorder, it may be impossible to find complete relief from your symptoms, but this does not have to be the case. No one will have to live with thalassophobia long-term if their treatment and follow through is appropriate.
The best ways to cope with thalassophobia include:1
- Stick with the treatment plan as prescribed: Exposure therapy for thalassophobia will have plenty of uncomfortable moments, which might make someone want to quit. Instead, persist to realize the benefits exist.
- Avoid negative coping: Negative coping skills may seem like the easy way to deal with your symptoms. They never live up to the promise, though. Alcohol, drugs, shopping, excessive video game playing, and sex may seem like great solutions, but they only create bigger issues later.
- Reach out to loved ones for support: No one should confront a mental health condition alone. When managing your phobia and receiving treatment, get as many of your trusted supports involved as possible. Together, your support can make fighting thalassophobia more fun and more successful.
- Explore relaxation techniques: Yoga, meditation, and other forms of relaxation can go a long way to aid the recovery process. Explore options to find one that works for you.
Thalassophobia Tests, Quizzes, and Self-Diagnosis Tools
If you happen upon a link or internet site promising a test, quiz, or self-diagnostic tool to quickly identify your thalassophobia, avoid it. These sites can never replicate the kind of careful consideration a trained mental health clinician provides. Always seek out a professional opinion and treatment for thalassophobia.
For Further Reading
So many people are regularly affected by specific phobias, and every day, wonderful organizations aim to improve identification and treatments.
Organizations doing invaluable work for these disorders include:
