Fear of roller coasters

Such a fear is thought to originate from one or more of three factors: childhood trauma, fear of heights, and parental fears that "rub off" on their children. In addition, veloxrotaphobia may be intensified by underlying fears such as claustrophobia and illygnophobia.

Incidence

The enjoyment of roller coasters has been likened to a form of benign masochism. According to Rajvi Desai, "For something to be deemed benign masochism, the activity at hand needs to incite so little negative emotion as to be tolerable; if the negative emotion reaches or surpasses into intolerable, it won't be worthy of being indulged in." However, for those with veloxrotaphobia, roller coasters release high doses of the stress hormone cortisol, which may cause elevated heart rate, sweating, feeling faint, uncontrollable shaking, trembling, and tingling, fast breathing, and chest pain.

It is estimated that about five percent of the world's population suffers from an extreme fear of heights, however, no exact data has been published on what percent of people are afraid of roller coasters.

It is believed that individuals with lower natural levels of dopamine are more prone to being fearful of roller coasters.