When someone fears sitting, they may actually have anxieties about being trapped, or being unable to sit still. The fear of sitting is known as Cathisophobia.
Reasons For This Phobia
Sitting may become the source of anxiety because it is painful or uncomfortable for a person. Various health conditions involving stiffness and muscle soreness can make sitting difficult.
Often, the elderly may be forced to sit for longer periods of time than younger people, simply because they are not as ambulatory.
The Elderly May Be Prone To This Phobia
For this reason, many elderly people may become anxious about sitting. For them, it can represent the loss of freedom and the loss of movement. If you’ve ever visited a retirement home, you’ll know that many of the elderly people there are confined to wheelchairs, etc.
Sitting Can Make Young Children Feel Trapped
For younger people, the fear of sitting is often connected to the fear of feeling trapped. Young people have a tendency to rebel against control, and sitting still in a classroom can often be the primary trigger for Cathisophobia in children and teens.
Fidgeting and hyperactivity can coexist with this phobia, exacerbating its impact. Sometimes, treating a child for the underlying medical conditions can ease the impact of the phobia.
Temporary Triggers
Fear of sitting can also happen after childbirth, when a women experiences a lot of pain from stitches and the other side effects of a natural labor. Most women do go through some pain and suffering after typical procedures such as episiomities and similar procedures.
It can be very painful sitting down shortly after childbirth – stitches tend to pull, and many women are still dealing with bleeding and healing. For some women, Cathisophobia is a temporary phobia that is created out of real pain and discomfort. In almost every case, this phobia will lessen and disappear when pain goes away and the body heals itself.
People with this phobia will do whatever they can to avoid sitting. Obviously, sitting is a part of life. Attending classes, working in an office or most other environments, and generally doing just about anything will require sitting. Therefore, living with this phobia can really impact career choices, the ability to ride in or drive a car, and even something traditionally pleasant, such as watching a movie in a theatre.
Dealing with feelings of tension and physical discomfort may require some form of treatment for phobias. Often, the brain can be retrained to view things in a different light. With a phobia like this one, that will impact every part of life, considering treatment can be a wise decision.
The fear of sitting is also referred to as:
- sitting fear
- afraid of sitting
- sitting phobia
