Anyone heard of this phobia - fear of floor collapse?

[mom2ariana]

for as long as i can remember, i have had a fear of floor collapse. i think it started when i was little and read in the newspaper that  truck had been under a bridge that collapsed. that seemed to introduce me to the possibility. to find out that something you've trusted can fail at a young age can be somewhat traumatizing. now i am scared when im in homes, apartments, etc... my husband and i - despite my opposition - live in an apartment unit on the top floor. sometimes it scares me and other times it doesnt. i get terrified when i think about how heavy the couch is, or the fridge, or especially the washing machine when it's loaded and running. i get nervous bringing home heavy bags of groceries. we are moving into another unit soon and its also on the top floor. im scared of the move. scared to move furniture in. i dont know how to overcome this phobia, but sometimes it can really interfere with my happiness. the thought of buying a home is not as happy as it should be because im scared of the top floors. ive told my husband repeatedly that i want a ranch. anyone ever heard of this?

[artemesia2]

Phobia fear of floor collapse.  That a new one for me.

[brscaok]

I just bought a house on a crawlspace despite my wishes to be on a slab. It was affordable and really nice. Now I won’t take a bath, Im scared in the shower, I tell my husband not to jump or bang anything on the floors. I feel like my bed is going to collapse. Every creak in the hardwood flooring makes my gut sink. It’s getting out of hand. :(

[TheIntrovertedFox]

For me, it really puts a limit on things I can do. Because of it, I can’t go on a boat, go to a concert, go in a swimming pool, can’t go on a trampoline or even go to an indoor rock climbing gym without feeling like the floor and walls will collapse in on themselves while technically, I can do it if I have to but I get all nervous s as d can’t even enjoy what’s going on around me.  Another thing that I can’t do is take a shower at night. Doesn’t happen during the day though, which I find weird. And just recently, I felt rather than imagined the floor caving in on itself and I could feel the walls sloping downwards. The feeling it is for me is the floor caving in and I fall into the earths core and burn to death. My hometown is a great example of this. If you’ve ever been to or live in Regina, Saskatchewan, you might notice they have these really tall buildings. That’s part of it too. At this point, I’m willing to go as far as getting it hypnotized out of me because I know that my boyfriend wants to go to a Coldplay concert with me and because of my fear, that seems like a high impossibility.

[TheIntrovertedFox]

Update: it’s been awhile since I left this and I find it ironic how my Arachnophobia is getting better but this feat of mine is getting worse. It’s now starting to carry over into daytime showering as well and it’s now getting to the point where sometimes, barely though, I will simply turn on the kitchen sink- or any sink, and I imagine the entirety of my house falling onto its side. I know it may seem a ridiculous imagining but I simply can’t help it when it just enters my mind.

[specialmom]

So, I have a son with tremendous debilitating ocd. We are working on a specialized therapy called exposure response. Now, it's balanced with medication and talk therapy. But he he basically is learning not to avoid the things his thought ocd fears. And not do anything to try to solve the fear or pain. So, in your case, a little different. But what they'd likely do is have you try to desensitize .So, when you have the fear of the sink and everything collapsing. Sit and be uncomfortable. "saying, ya. This scares me. It's an anxious thought but is no more relevant than any other thought." Don't push it away. Don't try to do anything but feel the discomfort for a bit. Doing that makes your mind start to not recognize it as important. It loses it's power over you. It indeed becomes something that is just a thought. Does that make sense?

[TheIntrovertedFox]

Yea; I’ll try that and see how it goes

[specialmom]

Please do! I would love to hear if it helps you.

[bymon]

I have a fear of collapsing roofs. It started when my dad showed me a collapsed roof to warn me not to ignore leaks when i have to mantian my own home. It backfired and made me fear collapsing roofs, being scared i was under it when it happened and getting stuck slowly dying with no way to call for help. if you also have this fear please contact me.

[specialmom]

This seems to be a pretty common fear/phobia. But you have a real reason having lived through it.  Yours may be also a bit of ptsd from what had to be a traumatic event.  Like a house fire. You are never the same after it.  Have you done therapy for this?

[bbtgreen3201]

I can't believe there are others who suffer from this same thing. The fear is terrible. Not wanting to bring a lot of groceries in the house and definitely not loading down the fridge, having too many people in the house, floors creaking, putting dishes away in the cupboards, feeling the floor move if someone walks past me and on and on. Just looking at the heavy pieces of furniture in my home sets my anxiety on high! I can be at work and if I lift a heavy box, it immediately makes me think of if I bring one more heavy thing in the house, that may be it.... I go in the basement and examine the structures that I can visibly see like the joists and beams... I try to watch videos online how houses are constructed so that I can get some sense of contradiction to these horrible thoughts, but it does not help. I need help before I drive myself crazy.

[specialmom]

Hi there bbtgreen3201.  That's terrible.  Fear is so hard like this.  One thing I've learned a lot about is something called 'exposure ' or known as ERP therapy.  The fear, the obsession, the trying to prove to yourself with looking up housing construction, etc.  it all doesn't end.  But through exposure therapy, they say that you can indeed move on.  It basically involves thinking about it, talking about it, etc. to the point that your mind grows kind of numb to it and it doesn't bother you anymore.  My son has ocd that involves intrusive thoughts.  And the ritual or compulsion is researching it, asking for reassurance, etc.  When he researches and gets reassurance, he feels better briefly, but the intrusive thought almost always returns.  Right now, he is in the early stages of dealing with this.  Starting by naming it when it happens (the fear) "ocd intrusive thoughts' is powerful.  It makes the actual fear less meaningful because it is just an OCD intrusive thought and not a realistic fear. When he wants reassurance and research to feel better, it's suggested right now, instead he do another activity to distract himself. Next step will be to actually expose himself to the fear. In his case, instead of saying X can't happen, he has to picture if it did.  gulp. Sounds hard.  And but supposedly, it WILL make him get over the thoughts.  https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/exposure-therapy

[namannarnolia]

I have been experiencing the same exact thing for very long now. I thought it was only me who had this weird fear of jumping in my apartment (in 11th floor). I get scared even when my parents move furniture at home.
Today I randomly googled it to see if this thing even exists or not. I hope we will find a name of it soon!