Terror of the water before heading out. Aquaphobia: why it occurs and how to overcome the fear of water

13.02.2024

The science fiction film “The Shape of Water” will be released in Ukrainian theaters on January 18. Realist will tell you what you need to know about this amazing film from Mexican director Guillermo del Toro before you see the film on the big screen.

The film takes place in the 60s, the plot unfolds against the backdrop of the confrontation between the USA and the USSR in the Cold War.

The main character, Eliza the cleaner, works in a secret military laboratory in Baltimore. She is a very modest and inconspicuous woman; due to the trauma she suffered as a child, Eliza remained mute.

One day, a new object is brought to the laboratory for study, the existence of which is kept in the strictest confidence. It turns out to be an amphibian with the appearance of a humanoid, to which Eliza gradually becomes attached. The woman watches him and gradually sympathy arises between them.

When the laboratory management decides to kill the amphibian, Eliza tries to organize an escape.

Filming lasted only 12 weeks. But the process of creating the amphibian took almost 9 months. When the image and costume were ready, certain difficulties still arose with the aquatic creature.

Actor Doug Jones, who played the role of a humanoid amphibian, spent three hours every day to take on the appearance of his character.

"I wanted to make Michelangelo's David look like an amphibious man, so we designed a Greek nose for our monster."

“If you immediately show that the monster is charming, it will be boring. That’s why in The Shape of Water he first seems threatening, then pleasant, then dangerous again.”

The Shape of Water was supposed to be released in black and white, but due to budget differences, the creators' plans changed.

“When the film was planned to be in black and white, the budget was $12 million. Then Fox Searchlight said, ‘Listen, if you shoot it in color, we’ll give you $19.6 million,’” said the film’s production designer, Paul D. Austenberry.

The soundtrack, written by French composer Alexandre Despl, gave the film a magical atmosphere.

In 2015, Despl received an Oscar in the category “Best Original Score” for his score for the film “The Grand Budapest Hotel.” Alexander also created compositions for the films “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, “The King’s Speech!”, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”, “The Danish Girl” and dozens of other famous films.

When actress Sally Hawkins was offered the lead role in the film, the script for The Shape of Water was not yet ready. Then the artist’s agent told her that “it’s a story about a woman who falls in love with a merman,” and Hawkins agreed.

Interestingly, at this moment Sally was working on the script for a short film about a woman who did not know that she was a mermaid.

Guillermo del Toro dreamed of filming The Shape of Water for seven years, so the director approached the filming process with special trepidation.

In the first days of working on the film, he brought a huge box of paints to the studio, which contained a palette with 3,500 colors. So a special tone was chosen for the film, reminiscent of the underwater world.

According to psychologists, most people who have at least once encountered an accident on the water will suffer from bathophobia or fear of depth. The panicky feeling of fear that a person experiences at great depths can lead to drowning. This is explained by the fact that in a moment of uncontrollable horror in front of the underwater abyss, even an experienced swimmer can lose control of himself. Experts believe that the phobia of fear of depth is similar to the fear of death, since far from the shore there is a high probability of drowning.

Causes of bathophobia

There is a misconception that in order to get rid of bathophobia it is enough to learn to swim well. This is not entirely true; sometimes even excellent swimmers experience fear at great depths. Having covered a great distance, sometimes it is enough to peer down to experience the fear of the unknown lurking in the depths. To get rid of this phobia, it is necessary to identify the reasons for the fear of endless water.

The reasons for fear of the depths of water vary:

Poor swimming ability. If a person really assesses his capabilities and understands that his skills will not be enough to overcome large water distances, he has a fear of running out of strength and drowning.
Bathophob witnessed an accident in which a person drowned.
Watching films that described real accidents involving large expanses of water.
A rich imagination, in which in the abyss of water there are sharks, sea monsters that are capable of tearing an unfortunate swimmer to pieces.
Heredity. It turns out that at the genetic level, various phobias can be transmitted from parents to children.
Bad experience in the past. The occurrence of seizures or the possibility of drowning gave rise to fear of the possibility of their recurrence.
Unsuccessful attempts to teach how to float and swim. Many parents simply threw their children into the water, thus wanting to teach them to swim. The instinct of self-preservation had to work in time, and the child thus acquired swimming skills. This barbaric method can forever scare a child away from water and the desire to swim.

In the medical literature, fear of depth is divided into two types:

The first type is called objective bathophobia. In this case, a person is afraid of the abyss of water because of a real danger: fear of drowning due to poor swimming skills, the possibility of getting entangled in algae, or stumbling upon a big fish.
The destructive type of bathophobia is based on a person’s rich imagination. The further the distance from the shore, the greater the horror of the views of endless space under water. Bathophobes imagine mermaids, sea monsters, mermen and other fabulous inhabitants of the depths. Sometimes it seems to him that underwater inhabitants make sounds.

How does fear of depth manifest itself?

People living at great distances from large bodies of water rarely experience the fear of abyssal water. If swimming occurs exclusively in a pool, where the bottom is clearly visible, or in a river, where the water does not even reach the knee, such people will not understand the sensations of bathophobes. The greater the depth, the greater the storm of emotions these poor creatures experience:

The heart rate increases;
There is a tingling sensation in the temples and dizziness appears;
The mucous membrane in the mouth dries out, the tongue becomes rough;
The breathing rhythm becomes confused, asthmatic suffocation is possible;
A gag reflex appears;
There is a feeling of unreality of the events taking place;
Muscles tingle and go numb;
There is a fear of losing self-control;
Bathophobia throws oneself into the heat and then into the cold;
The fear of imminent death is terrifying and leads to partial paralysis of the limbs.

Every person can suffer from the initial stage of the disease. Fear of the unknown is considered a normal protective function of the body, so you should not run to a psychologist at the first slight anxiety on long-distance swims. Sometimes it is enough to objectively assess the situation, understand that there is no hidden threat lurking in the depths, and anxiety will disappear. It is advisable if during the swim there is a reliable person nearby who can calm you down and, if necessary, provide assistance. If panic horror accompanies every visit to deep-sea rivers and lakes, it doesn’t matter whether you swim on your own or use a boat, a visit to a psychotherapist will not be superfluous.

How to overcome your fear

Depth phobia requires an integrated approach to treatment. There are certain techniques by which you can overcome your fear. Here is an example of one of them:

Find out more information about water resources

This can be done by watching special programs about the depths of the sea or about the inhabitants of local rivers and lakes. The underwater world is beautiful and diverse, and you shouldn’t be afraid of it. Watching water sports taking place in deep water is also recommended.

Presenting a positive image of the body of water

Viewing landscapes with a beautiful shore and calm water surface should evoke only positive feelings. It’s a good idea to put such a screensaver on your work computer and admire the magnificent views in your free time. Gradually, your attitude towards water will begin to change in a positive direction.

Direct water development

When experiencing a phobia of depth, you need to approach solving the problem gradually and intelligently. First of all, people who cannot swim must learn to float with the help of a trainer in a pool where the bottom is clearly visible. In your first lessons, you need to learn that water “holds” the body well, and you don’t need any special skills for this. The main thing is to relax and not panic.

There is no need to rush things, let the lessons bring you pleasure, and the anxiety from contact with water will gradually recede. The next step is to get used to shallow depths in real conditions. Once you learn to swim, you shouldn’t immediately swim long distances. Swim along the shore where the bottom is clearly visible.

It is important to find a reliable person nearby who will lend a shoulder if necessary. At this stage of adaptation, it will be enough if the water reaches your shoulders. If you feel confident and the depth no longer causes such horror, you can increase the distance from the shore during swims.

Help from a psychotherapist

If you cannot cope with the problem on your own, and the very name of water evokes only negative emotions, it’s time to seek help from a specialist. After a conversation, an experienced doctor will select an individual therapy program, help identify the very cause of fear of depth, and then ways to get rid of it. If conversations with a doctor are not enough, hypnosis is often used for therapeutic purposes.

In psychology, there is a type of fear of depth called buttophobia. Unlike bathophobia, this phobia is a fear of any large body of water. It is not the depth itself that frightens a person, but the lakes, rivers, and seas themselves.

Bathophobia most often affects people who cannot swim. This condition does not allow them to fully enjoy their vacation near bodies of water; boat trips induce panic. Often the cause of fear of depth is improper swimming training in childhood, or an accident on the water. You can get rid of bathophobia on your own, by constantly working on yourself, or with the help of a specialist.

Typical picture.
A Russian tourist arrives at the beach. Every day of your vacation counts (and costs hundreds of dollars), and here on the beautiful white beach of Varadero, red flags are waving in the wind. Like, you can't swim.

The tourist, of course, spits on this and climbs into the water. So what, what about waves? Immediately 150 meters ahead waist-deep. On the contrary, it’s great to feel the power of the ocean waves covering you headlong.
But it was not there. From the ocean, Rousseau drags the tourist by force (precisely force, without any figures of speech) back to the river by a local Cuban rescuer. No arguments in Russian or English help. You can't, that's all.

After some time, the tourist learns that a Cuban lifeguard, if a vacationer gets hurt on his section of the beach, will be imprisoned for 3 years without talking and attributes his behavior to fear of prison. Cursing the repressive system, he goes to splash in the pool.

A new day is coming. The sea has calmed down. There are almost no waves. But there are red flags on the beach again! They're dragging me out of the water again!! This doesn't fit into any corners anymore. The tourist swears at the rescuer, and in response he hears only an incomprehensible tongue twister in Spanish, where the word “Portugal” is guessed. Like, next time go for a swim in the Atlantic in Portugal, the tourist decides and in impotent anger he goes to drink another mojito, completely unaware that the lifeguard quite possibly saved him from long days of painful agony.

But lifeguards stand every 100 meters only on the beaches of Varadero. In Guanabo, 30 km from Havana, the beaches are chosen exclusively by the local population. And since Cubans do not swim in the sea in winter (from their point of view it is cold), there are almost no lifeguards around.

We first saw red flags on the beach in Guanabo. We remembered the stories of tourists in Varadero about the atrocities of rescuers. We were glad that here no one would stop us from feeling the power of the waves. And I happily climbed into the water.
There was a clear storm at sea, which is why the usually crystal clear water was a muddy yellow suspension of sand. The bottom was not visible. Either pieces of boards or a bunch of seaweed hit my leg. We also found stones at the bottom.
It became a little alarming. Well, how can the next wave, from the onslaught of which you can hardly stay on your feet, give you such a stone to the head. So, after spending no more than two minutes in the water, I climbed back out, deciding that that was enough for today. He advised his wife not to go into the water at all, but after looking at the muddy waves, she herself didn’t want to.

This is not a jellyfish, as Western guidebooks mistakenly call it (blue jellyfish). This is a siphonophore - an invertebrate organism close to jellyfish.
Its scientific name is physalia, but among the people everyone knows it as the “Portuguese man-of-war”

From the outside, it looks like an inflated fish bladder, blue with a purple stripe, which it floats along the waves. It is along the waves that a bubble inflated with air (scientifically called a pneumatophore) is held above the surface of the water. And under the water the most interesting thing is the long, thick blue tentacles.

The tentacles can reach up to 50 meters, but in adults they are usually 10 meters long. We saw, apparently, young individuals - 5-6 meters was the record, but it was still impressive.

Tentacles are thin strands of stinging cells that burn those who touch them with strong poison.

It is unlikely that you will die on the spot from a Portuguese man-of-war burn. But getting an extremely painful burn is certain. The poison can cause paralysis. If the tentacle passes along the spine, then there is every chance of drowning, because... paralyzes.

But I stood in the waves that covered my head. Accidentally entangle such a creature's head...

The entire coast was littered with Portuguese ships. Sand like laser beams in a bank vault crossed their spread threads.
And it was lucky that they were wet and the wind was not so strong. Sometimes the wind blows these threads through the air - as a result of what was called the "purple wind" in 1974 in Florida, up to 400 people received serious burns.

The next morning the sea calmed. But apparently the storm was so strong that it carried too many ships out of the open ocean. Before our eyes, the already calm waves continued to throw new individuals ashore.

Lifeguards walked along the beach, methodically bursting blue bubbles (we tried it ourselves - if you throw a stone at it, it explodes joyfully like an inflated bag).
But there were too many of them. From large to very tiny - Zhenya still stepped on one of the little ones. The foot instantly became swollen, but... There was very little poison in it, everything went away in 2 days.

Usually the “season” for such ocean gifts is August-September - the time of storms. But even in winter it sometimes happens...

And most importantly, they are beautiful devils. They just move too frighteningly. An incomprehensible gelatinous mass slowly wriggles, rising at one end, as if trying to get a better look at you. (There is a video on the camera, but I don’t know how to put it online :))

It is not surprising that many come specifically to look at them

(count how many individuals are lying around your friend)

In general, I warned you.

Although some crazy Cubans do bathe. Even with children. But they don't go far. However, in a calm sea the boat can be seen from afar...

Fear of water is one of the most common phobias. A person standing confidently on the ground finds himself almost completely at the mercy of the elements in water. Some are afraid to swim in open water, others are terrified even at the thought of boarding a ship. What is the reason for the fear of water? Who is more afraid of water - adults or children? And is it possible to cope with a phobia?

Causes of fear

Aquaphobia, or hydrophobia, is the fear of water, as it is called in psychiatry. Both names are correct and have common roots. However, there are many types of aquaphobia. A definition is necessary to make it easier to identify the causes and cope with fear. There are the following types of fear of water:

Lymnophobia affects those who are afraid of large bodies of water;
Thalassophobia is typical for people who are afraid of the sea;
bathophobia is the fear of depth;
anthlophobia is inherent in those who are afraid of floods and various floods;
Ablutophobia is the fear of any contact with water.

The causes of aquaphobia can be very different. They can both originate in childhood and appear in an adult. Often, fear of water appears after an accident, when a person, for example, fell overboard, drowned, was hit by a wave, etc. An adult acquires a phobia precisely after such an incident. However, fear of water may be a consequence of childhood psychological trauma.

When we learn to swim, we are always scared. Sometimes it is enough for a child to take a sip of water or accidentally dive for the body of water to subsequently cause horror. When bathing in the bathtub, you can slip, fall and get hurt. Then the fear of water will be associated with painful sensations during bathing. In addition, parents themselves often contribute to the development of aquaphobia in their baby, reacting to a child falling while swimming with a loud cry and negative emotions. As a result, the child gets scared and begins to experience fear of water.

Rarely, there are cases when aquaphobia develops from birth. The reasons may be pathologies during fetal development, birth stress, puncture of the amniotic sac, etc. Overly impressionable children refuse to swim after watching a film or cartoon that showed dangerous incidents in reservoirs, floods, shipwrecks, etc. Even Unpleasant situations with other children while swimming in the sea or river can cause a child to be afraid of water.

Often children's refusal to bathe is associated with whims and a little fear. Many children do not like to wash their hair, douse themselves, etc. Such behavior is not aquaphobia. Such fears often go away with age. But if an older child has not stopped feeling afraid of water, then you should think about solving the problem, because advanced aquaphobia will not go away on its own, but will only get worse.

How to get rid

Before learning to swim, it is common for adults and children to be afraid of bodies of water. This occurs due to the inability to control the elements. Learn to swim, feel that the water element can be subdued a little, then the fear of water will quickly pass. However, people often complain: I’m afraid to learn to swim, I’m afraid to drown, etc. To make contact with water as comfortable as possible, choose a calm body of water in some picturesque place for your first swimming lessons. To begin with, you can simply relax several times on the shore of a beautiful lake, pond or river.

A parent should help the child during bathing, calming him down and setting him up for positive emotions. Adults can take a friend or relative with them who is a good swimmer. A close person and a reliable swimmer is nearby and will provide moral support and help in case of an unforeseen situation. Your fear of water will immediately become much less.

If you are afraid to even approach a body of water, you cannot do without psychotherapy. A popular method is to “feel” fear. During therapy, the patient imagines himself entering a pond, swimming and bathing. Moreover, this process must certainly be accompanied by positive emotions. Through such a virtual experience of phobia, real water scares a person less.

Of course, an aquaphobe can simply avoid bodies of water, not go to the sea or relax on the coast. However, people who are afraid of swimming deprive themselves of great joys in life. In addition, aquaphobia, which is not treated, often takes on a complex form when a person not only refuses sea cruises, but stops skiing, walking in the snow, experiences severe stress during a thunderstorm, is afraid to take a bath and even drink water. Symptoms of severe cases of aquaphobia include:

fear of water in any of its manifestations - swimming in a bath, pool, open reservoir, getting caught in a downpour, etc.;
anxiety before drinking liquid from large containers;
discomfort upon contact of any liquids with the skin;
when thinking about swimming, dizziness, nausea, headache begins, and blood pressure rises;
When entering a body of water, convulsions, panic attacks, and loss of consciousness occur.

You can stop being afraid of water in advanced cases only with the help of a good psychotherapist. A specialist will determine the type of aquaphobia, identify its cause and determine a strategy for getting rid of fear. Most often, two methods of combating hydrophobia are used in practice - hypnosis and the contact method. Hypnosis is excellent at identifying and eliminating children's fears. When using the method of contact with the object of fear, the patient gradually changes his attitude towards the phobia and gets rid of the fear of water.

Psychiatrists call pathological fear of bodies of water hydrophobia or aquaphobia.

A person experiencing this fear fears that water may enter his lungs and he will choke due to lack of oxygen. Hydrophobia is often one of the symptoms of rabies.

At the same time, the patient is afraid not only of open bodies of water, but even of drops of liquid on his own skin. With rabies, a person experiences a strong spasm when trying to swallow water. This makes it possible to distinguish rabies from hydrophobia, which is psychological in nature.

Causes of aquaphobia

Most often, the main contribution to the development of this disorder is made by experiences experienced in the early years. The child could either find himself in a dangerous situation, where he risked drowning, or be frightened by his parents’ stories about the merman or drowned people.

It is worth noting that aquaphobia can also develop in adults, for example, after experiencing a shipwreck, flood or tsunami. In addition, the fear of water can be caused by the sight of a drowned person or even a disaster movie. Of course, such factors can provoke the development of a phobia only in very impressionable, vulnerable people.

Aquaphobia can occur in a person who cannot swim when swimming in a natural or artificial body of water. In this case, fears are due to a completely natural instinct of self-preservation.

Fear of water manifests itself with varying intensity: from mild anxiety to a state resembling a panic attack, accompanied by a loss of self-control and the ability to make rational decisions.

The most common symptoms of hydrophobia are the following:

There is no need to force your child to bathe: just water him from a watering can when he stands on the shore.
Hydrophobia is often expressed as a fear of liquid getting on the face. Therefore, it is worth practicing putting your face under water. Prove to your child that he is not risking his life and cannot choke. After your baby stops panicking, teach him to hold his breath.
This can be done by pouring water on your head from a mug or ladle. Of course, all this needs to be done in a playful way: by forcing a child to do what he is afraid of by force, you risk aggravating his neurotic experiences. As soon as you understand that your child has stopped feeling afraid, you can go to the beach with him.
Talk to your child more often about his fears. Perhaps he is experiencing something hidden from the eyes of adults. It is advisable to consult with a child psychologist who will teach you how to talk to your baby correctly and gain his full trust.

Most often, children drown who do not experience the slightest fear of open water. Many parents try to scare their children by telling them stories about drowned children who disobeyed mom and dad.

In this case, the child can become “infected” with parental anxiety, as a result of which a phobia develops that can greatly ruin life in adulthood.

Therefore, psychologists advise abandoning attempts to intimidate a child. Why? It's very simple: a phobia can cause drowning even in a shallow body of water. Indeed, because of his fear, a person loses the ability to think rationally, and the body ceases to obey him in the literal sense of the word.

It is better to enroll your child in the pool, teach him to swim and explain where he should dive and where he should not dive.

Baby in the pool

You can start learning with an exercise called “Float”. Go to a depth where the water will reach the baby's chest. Ask him to take a deep breath and tuck his legs. If you bend slightly after this, it is impossible to drown: the air in your lungs will be held on the water.

The fact is that the density of the human body is less than the density of water. Drowning occurs due to loss of self-control: a phobia provokes panic, which can result in choking. Staying on the water does not require any physical effort or special skills.

Only people who are afraid to take a sip of water can get tired quickly. They try to raise their heads as high as possible, as a result of which the center of gravity shifts and the body goes to the bottom.

In order not to feel tired and get rid of the horror of water, you should learn to dive. After this, you can move on to the next step: master the skill of swimming underwater. Children under one year old who do not yet have fears of water can do this quite easily.

Phobias related to water

There is a classification of phobias associated with water, based on objects that cause a person to feel fear. Often fear is not associated with the body of water itself, but with some of its inherent characteristics:

Limnophobia. This term refers to the horror of lakes, swamps and ponds. At the same time, the individual is afraid of what may be hiding under the water surface.
Term "potamophobia" derived from the Greek word "potamos", which can be translated as "stream". A person is afraid of moving water, whirlpools and waterfalls, feeling his own weakness in the face of stormy elements.
Thalassophobia represents fear of the seas and oceans.
Bathophobia denotes fear of depth. It occurs in cases where a person cannot understand what distance separates him from the bottom of the reservoir.
Antlophobia- fear of the possibility of flooding. Typically, such fear is experienced by people who have survived a flood or encountered those who have suffered from the elements.
Chionophobia denotes the fear of getting caught in the snow. In this case, the person experiences a pathological aversion to snow.
Ombrophobia- a term derived from the Greek word "ombros", meaning rain. Naturally, people suffering from ombrophobia are terrified of rain. Often this phobia is associated with a fear of humidity, which can cause increased proliferation of pathogens, such as mold.
Ablutophobia- fear of any contact with water. A person who suffers from such a phobia may not only refuse to swim in natural bodies of water, but also postpone necessary hygiene procedures.

Treatment of hydrophobia

There are two ways to cope with obsessive fear. You can seek the help of a psychotherapist or try to get rid of hydrophobia on your own.

Independent struggle with phobia

These tips will help you cope with your fear:

Learn to swim. Find a good trainer and, under his guidance, try to “build a relationship” with bodies of water. There is no need to follow the advice of those who recommend jumping into the water, overcoming your fear, and trying to swim out on your own: a phobia can provoke a panic attack.
Choose the most comfortable place for yourself where you will fight fear. It could be a swimming pool, a river or a picturesque lake. The main thing is that you feel inner peace and feel safe. First, walk along the shore, then try to go into the water.
Try art therapy. Start drawing seas and oceans, as well as other bodies of water that cause you horror. Let the pictures be bright and optimistic. Write poems and stories about water: this will also help overcome inner fear.
Try to make water evoke pleasant associations. Take a walk with friends near the pond, ride a boat or catamaran, or go to the river to have a picnic.
These methods will gradually reduce hydrophobia and help you get real pleasure from swimming. It is worth preparing for the fact that it will take some time to overcome a phobia. There is no need to despair: your efforts will certainly yield results.