Astraphobia

Fear of thunder/lightening




Also known as astrapophobia, brontophobia, keraunophobia, or tonitrophobia, or nicaduranaphobia, is an abnormal fear of thunder and lightning, a type of specific phobia. It is a treatable phobia that both humans and animals can develop. Astraphobia has been derived from Greek word “Astrape” which means lightening.
It is present among 15% of the world's population. Which puts it third to Arachnophobia and Ophidiophobia in the top phobias of the world.

Many people love to go outside and watch the rain fall down along with the rumbling thunder and lightning bolts. While the nature’s demeanor might be a matter of pleasure for them, some might secretly hold an unexplainable fear of this thunder weather.

Symptoms

• Intense and constant fear during thunder, rainstorm and lightning
• Distressed and anxious whenever any thunderstorm is anticipated but not really occurring
• Realization that the fear is irrelevant and excessive (except in children)
• Increased alertness and checking weather forecasts before going anywhere outside
• Trying to avoid the weather by any means such as hiding in a closet, covering with blankets or not leaving the house at all
• Clingy behavior towards a loved one and guardians (only in children)
• Panic attacks accompanied by physical signs such as trembling, abdominal pain, trouble in breathing, heart palpitation, chest pain, frequent urination, numbness around limbs, feeling of being out of control, nausea and sweating

Release the stress

Experiencing excessive stress due to storms can be embarrassing and awkward. However, there are ways that astraphobia can be controlled through exercises that you can do at home. To alleviate your fear of storms, you can:

• Create a Calming Mantra Many therapists who deal with clients with agoraphobia recommend coming up with a calming phrase to repeat to yourself during a storm to bring you back from panic to reality. Tips: think of a mantra that involves people or objects that make you feel happy and calm, and make it rhyme so that it’s easier to remember in an emergency.

• Controlled Breathing Exercises Practicing controlled breathing will help you to stay as in control of your body as possible when you are confronted with storms. Zen and yoga exercises can help you to practice this and teach your brain that your conscious mind is in control, rather than your instinctive fears.

• Erase and Replace Negative Thought Patterns Try and figure out what you usually think to yourself during storms. Writing during a storm, pretending to write during a storm or writing about how you feel about storms are good ways to do this. Once you know, try and replace those negative strings or cycles of thoughts with positive strings or cycles that can help you ride out your fear rather than escalate it.

• Be Calm Before (and During) the Storm The next time you experience a storm, take the time to very consciously and purposefully put your newly learned skills (your mantra, your controlled breathing, and your new thoughts patterns) into action. See if you can achieve total calm amidst the storm before it ends. This will help train your brain to stop responding to storms with excessive fear, and instead to expect to feel calm and relaxed when storms happen.

If you practice positive thinking and relaxation techniques during enough storms, your brain will finally learn that there really is nothing to be afraid of, and you’ll find that your fear of storms has passed for good.
You can also try what's known as "systematic desensitization," which is a bit difficult with something like storms, but still an activity you can do yourself. It involves getting used to various components of storms until they don't cause you fear. For example:

• First you think about storms on purpose until you don't fear the thought.
• Then you look at photos of storms until you don't fear the photos.
• Then you watch videos of storms until you don't fear the videos.
• Then you play sounds from storms loudly for hours on end until you don't fear the sounds.

Normally you would follow this up with exposing yourself to storms, but obviously that's not always possible.