Bathmophobia

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

Bathmophobia is the fear of stairs or slopes, a type of specific phobia.^[1] It is similar to climacophobia, except that climacophobics suffer symptoms when climbing or going downstairs, while bathmophobics suffer symptoms simply by observing stairs or slopes.

This fear is often caused by falling down stairs or a hill. The most prominent symptom of bathmophobics is vertigo, with a fear associated with it (illygnophobia). Bathmophobia can even be triggered from other phobia, acrophobia, due to height variations when using stairs.

Like climacophobia, bathmophobia can most commonly be treated using cognitive-behavioral therapy.