A DEEPER DIVE ON THALASSOPHOBIA

WHY HUMANS HAVE A FEAR OF THE DEEP & UNKNOWN

By: Aman Medharamettla

Thalassophobia is defined as the irrational, persistent and intense fear

of deep bodies of water such as lakes and oceans. The term is derived
from the Greek word thalassa meaning “sea” and phobos meaning
“fear” - pretty straightforward. Thalassophobia can also be the
existential fear or dread of aquatic creatures, sea waves, or fear of
distance from land.

Thalassophobia can be centered entirely around the fear of unknowing

what can lurk beneath the surface of the water, or even just the fear of
not knowing what lurks in an unknown environment.

In my own belief and research I believe to have a reason for why humans
as a species fear the great blue. It could all stem back to the brain and
mind of the human being, as all things do; how we lust for knowledge
and the understanding of how anything and everything works and exists.
It is this same drive that has brought humanity this far, and will continue
to push us forward in the never ending cycle of discovery and
understanding. Furthermore, mankind is yet to explore a majority of the
ocean due to numerous roadblocks such as the crushing pressure at
extreme depths, which breathes life into the fear of the ocean.

We do not know what is down there, lurking in the deepest trenches and
caves. Our minds crave for knowledge and discovery but it simply is not
possible, not currently at least, and this feeling of not knowing what
horrors could possibly be down there is what breeds the fear of
thalassophobia.
 Furthermore, this fear may also harken back to evolutionary
factors: we humans may have avoided water bodies even
hundreds of years ago for reasons such as predators or hazardous
conditions, this could contribute to why the fear of large water
bodies exists.

Moreover, Thalassaphobia is often explained as a “primal fear”, as

humans are land mammals and we heavily rely on our sight to
hunt and thrive. If you were to close your eyes and have to rely
completely on your other senses, it would leave you heavily
incapacitated. Considering that the ocean is an environment that
humans have simply never evolved to be in, we are at a
disadvantage in comparison to the flora and fauna around us that
have spent millions of years evolving to survive in the harsh
conditions, as we can not see well and our other senses are
drowned out, quite literally.

To add on, thalassophobia is a fear that can be molded by Pop-

culture and Media that can invoke even more fear in us. There are
plenty of examples, such as “Jaws” (Created by Steven Spielberg
in 1975), which is considered one of the most influential movies on
the view of sharks and the ocean in general to the public or even
Avatar II(2022). To add on, some other pop-culture references
can be the many horror games and thriller videos posted online
based on the Ocean. “Subnautica” & “Dredge” are both
wonderful examples of video games that invoke fear and dread
of the ocean.
 Folklore is another major factor contributing to the fear of the
ocean, numerous myths and stories arising from every culture
and religion in the world regarding supernaturals or enormous
sea creatures that can summon thunderstorms just for the sake
of it. Religions or Mythology having massive unnatural creatures
that reside in the ocean can bring fear and terror to us. Vikings
from the 700s to 1100s having crossed the unforgiving ocean in
tiny boats claiming to see creatures that “even god fears” and
passing such sayings to their children and the children passing it
down to their own can form a strong belief in these entities or
supernaturals without any real proof.

Stories about a 200 foot deity taking down ships with just a
tentacle, stories and myths such as Cthulhu along with drawings
and art about these such clearly would have a significant
impact on why humans might fear the ocean.

Diving deeper into some probable causes of having

thalassophobia, there may be a past experience or even being
around people who express their own fear of the ocean is said
to influence people's view of the ocean. There could be a
chance that experiencing a near-drowning experience or
witnessing an event in the ocean that scares you develops this
fear as you would want to avoid the mistakes of the past the
best you can.
 However, there was another burning question in my head.
“Can thalassophobia be considered to be a combination or
amass of a multitude of different phobias?”

To this question, yes, I can consider thalassophobia to be a

combination of multiple phobias. thalassophobia is
considered the fear of deep bodies of water and can be
interpreted to be the fear of what lurks beneath the surface.
Take selachophobia, the fear of sharks, aquaphobia, the
fear of water itself, megalophobia, the fear of large objects
or animals and xenophobia, the fear of anything which is
perceived to be foreign/unknown. All of these phobias are
“present” in thalassophobia. Sharks live in the ocean, the
ocean contains water, there are plenty of examples of
animals and objects that are very large found in the ocean,
and as mentioned earlier, the ocean has barely been
explored/charted and can be considered “foreign” to us.

Apeirophobia, the fear of infinity, is a stretch but can also

be considered as to us tiny humans the ocean is so much
bigger it can feel like it carries on infinitely, especially when
you consider that the ocean covers more than 70% of the
Earth’s surface.
After writing and researching I have come to understand why
people fear the ocean, but at the same time I can see why
others are amazed and are attracted by it. Phobias are
denoted as an irrational fear of something, thus there could
be no exact reason for why a person does or does not fear a
certain something. I believe that we, as a whole, a single
human race, should look upon, or should I say down below, to
the ocean as a place, a habitat for so many different
species and is the reason for so much diversity in this tiny
rock floating in space we call our home, that should be
explored and further understood. Finally I would like to say
that whether you are deathly afraid of the ocean or are in
love with it, it is important to take care of it and have
interest in it, as we have not even tipped the iceberg on
exploration of this alien world in our own planet and we
should continue to chase that thirst and hunger for
knowledge as we discover even more.