Where does the fear of touch come from and methods of treating Haptophobia

Consequences of the disorder

Such a person cannot feel comfortable in society.
An elementary ride in an elevator with other passengers makes you nervous every time. Psychologists note that to build trusting relationships, people need physical contact. Trainings to increase the level of trust in a team are popular, in which colleagues lead the subject blindfolded through an office building or street. Letting someone become your eyes is very difficult, just like falling backwards into the arms of your colleagues. Such exercises make healthy people who are not afraid of being touched nervous. Such trainings exaggerate life situations, revealing the essence of relationships between people, last no more than an hour, after which all participants return to their normal lifestyle. For a patient with haptophobia, everyday life in society is more difficult than collective sessions with a psychologist, which raise the level of trust.

Such people most often have no personal life. Only a union of two people with a developed fear of hugs can be ideal. However, a person with such a diagnosis does not at all strive to start relationships, even friendly ones.

Haptophobes tend to be alone

Important! Not only physical touch, but also emotional invasion of personal space drives the patient crazy. Anyone who knows from personal experience what haptophobia is does not even have the desire to build a personal life together with someone

Only living alone, without outside interference, can provide emotional peace and peace of mind

Anyone who knows from personal experience what haptophobia is does not even have the desire to build a personal life together with someone. Only living alone, without outside interference, can provide emotional peace and peace of mind.

A person with this disorder will not be able to build a career as a successful doctor, dancer or manager. Any profession that involves direct contact with people becomes torture for a person with a mental illness. The same applies to situations in which such a person needs medical assistance, but he cannot survive the examination procedure. There are often cases when a patient chooses physical suffering from illness instead of qualified medical care. Therefore, haptophobia is considered by doctors as a phobia that threatens human life and health.

Treatment methods

Almost all phobias are treatable.
When you discover a problem, the main thing is not to isolate yourself and find the strength to turn to a specialist. In particularly severe cases, such as sexual violence, talking alone will not be enough. A specialist may prescribe antidepressants. It is necessary to take medications under the strict supervision of a doctor and only with his permission. Self-medication in this case is ineffective. Medicines are sold only with a specialist prescription.

You can get rid of fear on your own. If the phobia is not very pronounced, then it is enough to remember the situation in which it arose and “scroll” it in your head with different, invented outcomes. Perhaps a positive end to the history of the past will give a positive beginning to the future. The method is only suitable for mild manifestations of fear. If panic attacks occur during a phobia, a trip to the doctor is mandatory.

Diagnosis of fear of touch

In order to correctly diagnose haptophobia, those who cannot stand being touched by others and experience hostility at the same time need to consult a specialist. To prescribe the correct treatment for haptophobia, the doctor first needs to find out the true causes of the disease and only then can he prescribe the appropriate treatment, which is always determined individually, based on the patient’s situation. Diagnostic measures for haptophobia mainly use history taking, analysis of the information received, psychological tests and blood tests.

Causes of phobia

The cause of fear of touch can be two types of factors: internal and external.

Internal factors include:

• Increased disgust. This quality can develop into aversion to people who seem to the haptophobe to be unclean or carriers of infections, which will lead to a fear of close communication.
• Racist, nationalist beliefs. An individual who has a persistent dislike for representatives of another race or nation will experience a feeling of disgust when communicating with them.
• Asexuality caused by serious hormonal imbalances. Such people have no sexual desire, and therefore close communication with the opposite sex is unpleasant for them.
• Personality characteristics. In very modest or reserved people, due to their isolation from society, unsociability can develop into haptophobia. Overly impressionable, emotional, distrustful and suspicious people are also predisposed to its appearance.

External factors that contribute to the fear of other people’s touches include:

• Experiencing violence or sexual abuse at an early age is a fairly common cause of fear. Men experience phobia for this reason more often and experience it more severely than women. Sometimes the cause of psychological trauma in a child, which gradually develops into a fear of contacting other people, is the emotional coldness of the parents and indifference on their part.
• Puberty. Boys who are in adolescence are often afraid of the touches of girls, fearing that the subsequent sexual arousal will become noticeable to her or others. In essence, this is the fear of being an object of ridicule, which is especially acute in adolescence.
• Personality disorders such as obsessive-compulsive. An individual suffering from this disorder may be constantly haunted by the thought that he is not pure enough. He is afraid of getting dirty or getting an infection, fearing to touch surrounding objects or people.
• Features of the profession. Some people, such as doctors, volunteers or police officers, due to their duty, have to deal with antisocial individuals who are very unclean and suffer from various kinds of skin diseases. Gradually, the hostility experienced when interacting with such people spreads to others and even relatives.
• Nervous system disorders. People susceptible to psychasthenia or obsessive-compulsive neurosis often avoid any contact with others, trying to remain alone.
• Intellectual development disorder. Mentally retarded children or autistic children are very wary of intrusion into their personal space. This often causes them to become aggressive.

Those who are exposed to antisocial elements as part of their job may develop touch phobia

Symptoms

Haptophobia manifests itself as anxiety during possible contact with others. A person, thinking that he will have to shake hands with strangers, experiences fear and tries to avoid contact at all costs.

Initially, a person who is afraid of touch reacts this way only to strangers. Touching loved ones does not cause a negative reaction. As the disease progresses, the person increasingly strives to isolate himself. He forbids anyone from entering his room and stops contacting others. The result is complete isolation. A person can no longer tolerate living together, even with loved ones. Breaks all social contacts.

Main symptoms of haptophobia

In large cities, people are forced to use public transport almost every day. If you have a phobia of people touching, it will be unbearable for a haptophobe to ride near other passengers. They are experiencing a storm of emotions.

Such an individual’s pulse immediately quickens, his body trembles, and nausea appears. Breathing gradually becomes difficult, and the lack of oxygen begins to be felt more and more acutely. The cause of fainting may be dizziness. If haptophobia is not treated, it will worsen the patient’s mental and physical condition every day.

When the owner of a phobia touches a place where another person has been, he feels the need to immediately wash his hands and wipe them with an alcohol wipe.

Fear of being touched by strangers is often associated with a burn or feeling like a piece of ice has touched bare skin. The body is instantly covered with goosebumps. It is quite easy for others to identify a phobia by the disgusted facial expressions of its owner.

Haptophobes try not to openly demonstrate their hostility towards other people, especially when their personal space is invaded. He tolerates hugs and kisses from his family, but experiences negative feelings. Some of them resort to demonstratively wiping their hands with a napkin immediately after shaking hands. This is how they show the degree of their hostility, demonstrate their fear of the touch of strangers.

Haptophobe has a special way of life. Such a person becomes more withdrawn and is not interested in communicating with others. Aphephobia can also be a consequence of other phobias. For example, a person is afraid of sexual harassment, he has a fear of contracting an infectious disease.

What is haptophobia?

A mental disorder that is accompanied by a fear of tactile contact has several names:

• haptophobia;
• aphenfosmophobia;
• thixophobia.

Aladdinia is also a phobia, which is accompanied by a fear of being touched, but due to the fact that physical contact causes physical pain to a person.

Regardless of what the fear of touch is called, it must be diagnosed in a timely manner, the cause of its origin must be determined, and all necessary measures must be taken to solve the psychological problem.

Treatment

If an individual is able to cope with his shyness or isolation on his own, then it is impossible to fight a pathology such as haptophobia alone. It is worth contacting a psychotherapist. During the interview, the doctor will understand the causes of the phobia and prescribe treatment. The patient’s main task is to be extremely frank and not hide anything.

Often, fear of touch is treated by attending personal growth groups. Patients are also recommended to do yoga and couple dancing. The individual fights his fear and gradually overcomes it.

Some haptophobes are advised to treat their illness more radically: travel during rush hour on public transport. This is a kind of shock therapy.

In cases where the phobia is caused by psychasthenia or neurosis, psychotherapy and medications may be prescribed. Patients are prescribed sedatives, antipsychotics or antidepressants. In cases where hapnophobia is triggered by hormonal imbalance, hormonal therapy is prescribed based on test results.

Treatment of haptophobia and overcoming emotional stress

One of the biggest challenges to overcoming haptophobia is avoiding the situation that causes the fear.
Treatment aims to help the person cope with the anxiety associated with their fear and gradually overcome this obsessive fear.

Effective treatment for haptophobia includes:

Psychotherapy or talk therapies

There are many types of therapy that can help a person cope with or overcome haptophobia.
These include:

• Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
  can teach a patient new behaviors and thought processes to help cope with the irritation they experience when touched.
• Exposure therapy
  is where a patient is gradually exposed to their fears in a safe, supervised environment over several weeks or months. Such therapy begins with the activation of imaginary touch and with further, now physical, touch, as if placing the patient in a crowded space.
• Virtual reality exposure therapy
  allows you to safely control exposure to phobic objects or situations without the risk of being near the object or situation.

Medications

Medicines such as beta blockers or antidepressants may also help relieve symptoms of anxiety and panic in haptophobia. These drugs are often used in combination with psychotherapy.

When to see a doctor

Particular concerns can be extreme, especially in children, but they often go without medical attention.

Fear of touch is a crippling fear that is difficult to overcome due to the cultural and social expectations of touch that are constantly surrounding us.

If this fear persists for more than six months and leads to a distorted perception of everyday situations in the mind, beginning to negatively affect personal or work activities, a person should definitely contact his doctor.

Phobias are highly treatable. Using daily coping mechanisms can reduce the impact on the patient's life and help them cope with the phobia in the long term.

Haptophobia is a painful reaction to tactile contact with acquaintances or strangers, expressed in the form of a phobia, an irrational fear of third-party touches. Otherwise, the phobia is called aphenphosmophobia, aphephobia, haptephobia, haphephobia, thixophobia, haphophobia, hapnophobia.

Tension and internal fear provoke other people's touches in people with autism, but the phobia itself is not a congenital pathology. This condition is considered rare, often accompanying the population of megacities. A phobia can develop under the influence of minor circumstances and due to serious traumatic situations.

Uncontrolled fear of this type leaves a serious negative imprint on a person. And it can lead to adverse consequences for the haptophobe if the pathology is left unattended. It is impossible to eliminate this fear on your own. To get rid of it, you need to carry out corrective work together with a specialist according to a developed individual plan of psychotherapeutic influence.

Haptophobia can occur at any age and regardless of a person’s gender. The presence of certain personality traits, which include suspiciousness, emotionality, disgust, isolation, distrust, a tendency to “get stuck” and the development of obsessive states, is fuel for the rapid formation of pathology.

In small settlements, cases of such a phobia have practically not been recorded. This probably happens because the degree of tension and distrust towards strangers in large cities is much higher than in villages or towns.

Main reasons for development

Often the root cause lies in psychological trauma received in childhood. Violence of any form, aggression directed at a child, coldness and indifference on the part of parents seriously affect a person and often become the basis for the formation of an irrational fear of touch. In this case, fear can also extend to tactile contact with the immediate environment (family, friends).

The next reason is the negative attitudes created in the human mind, aimed at other people of any gender. They are formed due to intimidation and total control of parents. Against this background, fear of sexual violence can develop.

Separately, it is necessary to highlight the physiological cause, which is the basis for the occurrence of hapnophobia. If hormones are not produced correctly in the human body, a condition such as asexuality can develop. With it, there is no need for intimate and simply close tactile contact with another person, libido is reduced, and there may be a disgusted attitude towards other people’s touches and immediate fear.

Additional reasons include:

• subconscious fear of contracting some disease;
• internal attitude that strangers can offend and hurt;
• serious injuries sustained in childhood or adulthood, resulting from the fault of other people;
• neurosis, in particular manifested by various obsessions, psychoasthenia, some personality disorders can be both a consequence of thixophobia and the basis for its occurrence;
• excessive isolation, careful attitude towards one’s personal space and pathological control of the comfort zone.

In a number of cases, pathology is noted on the basis of a negative attitude towards people with a different skin color, a different nationality, people with disabilities, and representatives of informal groups.

Impaired social interaction

Haptophobia can occur in medical workers and police officers. Some people at work very often have to deal with alcoholics, drug addicts and homeless people who lead an antisocial lifestyle and do not observe basic rules of personal hygiene. In the future, the fear of human touch spreads to family members and close friends.

Very often, others perceive this phobia as ordinary disgust, resentment and misunderstanding arise, they react negatively to fear, and do not help overcome it with their support.

Symptoms of haptophobia may be one of the signs of a person’s asexuality. Some patients have low levels of thyroid hormones, estrogen (in women) or testosterone (in men), they are absolutely not interested in people of the opposite sex, they have no sexual desire, and any touching of strangers leads to emotional irritation and causes a feeling of disgust .

People who experienced physical or sexual abuse (or attempted rape) as children have a very strong fear of human touch. They regard any tactile contact as a manifestation of physical or sexual aggression. They remember what happened for the rest of their lives and are afraid that it might happen again. Sometimes they consider unsociability to be the best “shield”.

The appearance of haptophobia is common among medical workers and police officers. Such people often encounter at their place of work someone who leads an antisocial lifestyle (does not follow basic hygiene rules). This phobia is then passed on to other family members; to others it looks like disgust. There are grievances and misunderstandings with family, loved ones, and friends.

Another symptom of haptophobia is a person’s asexuality. The main reason is low levels of thyroid hormones. In women, estrogens are responsible for this function, and in men, testosterone. It turns out that those with such a phobia are not interested in people of the opposite sex. They irritate them emotionally and cause a feeling of disgust.

People who work in medical institutions and the police often fall into the risk zone. Lawyers are also susceptible to haptophobia.

An irregular menstrual cycle and the onset of menopause provoke the appearance of a phobia. Malfunctions in the functioning of the endocrine system and possible problems with the thyroid gland are also included here.

Autistic people also dislike being touched by other people. They find affection and hugs unpleasant. They have their own world, communication with others is not interesting. The penetration of a stranger into their inner world has a negative impact.

Additionally, haptophobia is diagnosed in patients who suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder and psychasthenia. Such people do not understand what personal space is. They are demanding that other people respect their boundaries and do not like physical contact. Over time, the patient may develop an uncontrollable reaction.

Some patients do not perceive the phobia as something serious. They try to discuss the topic of haptophobia as little as possible, since it affects their mental state and provokes neurosis. Not only strangers, but also a person’s loved ones can fall out of favor. For this reason, it is important to talk as much as possible about the consequences of fear with the owner of the phobia.

Typical symptoms of haptophobia

Typical manifestations of fear of hugs are when:

• After touching someone else's body, a person unbearably wants to “wash his hands of the dirt.” Therefore, haptophobia often occurs together with - an obsessive fear of becoming infected with germs;
• For many people with touch phobia, the desire to “wash themselves” arises even after indirect contact with others. For example, a person suffering from a fear of the slightest touch has an irresistible urge to rinse his mouth if he takes a couple of sips from the bottle with which he just drank;
• The haptophobe chooses closed, “monastic” clothes—even in hot weather, he will prefer a long-sleeve shirt to a light T-shirt, and trousers to shorts.

For a person with a fear of hugs and touches, the most ordinary manifestations of politeness and good manners cause real physical torment. When the hand of a person suffering from the disorder is touched, it seems to him that he has been doused with boiling water, dipped in freezing cold water, or “shocked” with an electric shock. This is why a “haptophobe” withdraws his hand or abruptly walks away when someone approaches him to say hello or ask a question.

Where does pathology come from?

Fear of touch has become widespread due to dramatic changes in society over the past century. Residents of villages where “everyone knew each other” began to move en masse to the cities. Alienated individualistic life in a metropolis, where there are “strangers” all around, has sharply increased the number of people suffering from pathology.

Fear of touch has the following psychosomatic and psychoemotional manifestations:

• tachycardia, a sharp increase in pulse;
• tremor (involuntary trembling) of the arms and legs;
• I feel unbearably dizzy and feel sick;
• severe nausea and vomiting appears;
• there is a sharp loss of strength;
• severe shortness of breath caused by a panic attack;
• dissociation - the person suffering from fear ceases to “be here and now”; it seems to him that what is happening is a bad dream.

In severe cases, people with touch phobia begin to fear any strong, sharp impacts on the body:

• strong gusts of wind;
• water (showering, swimming);
• tight, overly-fitting clothing;
• haircuts, shaving.

Symptoms of the disease

People suffering from haptophobia avoid touching and hugging not only from strangers, but also from family and friends. Haptophobes are very sensitive to physical contact with others. Haptophobes often tremble, experience headaches and nausea, they also experience a feeling of disgust and immediately after physical contact they want to wipe the area of ​​contact with a napkin, wash their hands, or take a shower.

Many haptophobes experience heart palpitations, hands begin to shake, they lack air, shortness of breath and panic fear appear. With haptophobia, patients perceive touch as either cold or burning. Upon physical contact, the haptophobe's facial expressions and facial expressions change; fear and hostility can be seen in the eyes. They become more aggressive, it is noticeable in appearance that the current situation is unpleasant for them, they experience a feeling of anxiety and excitement at the time of haptophobia.

Haptophobes try to quickly leave a room where many people are present and thereby protect themselves from the possibility of touching or colliding with other people. People suffering from haptophobia try to wear long shirts and closed dresses in order to exclude as much as possible the possibility of contact with other people. Haptophobes also do not experience pleasure from any manifestations of tenderness and affection. Children with this diagnosis do not even experience pleasure from the kiss of their mother and father. In adult life, haptophobes do not experience pleasure from sexual contact; they try to avoid it or reduce the duration of sexual intercourse to a minimum due to haptophobia. A person who loves affection and sex will never be able to be in a relationship with a haptophobe for a long time.

Haptophobes avoid crowded rooms and events, and riding public transport. Haptophobes choose a job and specialty with minimal contact with other people.

How fear manifests itself

Haptophobia can occur at any age, in both men and women. In addition, fear of touch can spread not only to strangers, but also to close people. Some haphephobes feel a “burn” at the point of contact, others are thrown into the cold, and still others shudder from an unexpected, uncontrolled increase in the point of contact. The fear of getting dirty (germ phobia) can be triggered here; in this case, the person washes their hands or wipes the area of ​​contact with a damp cloth, and this already makes the disorder similar to obsessive-compulsive syndrome.

Fear of being touched by strangers can manifest itself as avoidance. Thixophobes begin to lead a reclusive lifestyle, prefer not to travel on public transport, avoid getting into crowds and reduce interaction with people to a minimum. This indicates problems in the social interaction of people.

Haptophobia is an unusual and not well-known fear. However, it has a number of similarities with other common phobias today. About different types of fear and causes of phobias in this video.

At the somatic level, at the moment of touch or before it, a person may feel the following symptoms:

• dizziness;
• nausea;
• tremor of the limbs;
• lack of air;
• cardiopalmus;
• panic attack.

How to recognize a person with this phobia

Typically, haptophobia manifests itself as excessive disgust. A haptophobe is ready to do everything possible to get as far away from tactile contact as possible. Moreover, in the most advanced cases, it may react too painfully to accidental touches (for example, while standing in line or being in a crowd). The reactions of sick people to the factors described above often manifest themselves as a desire to immediately clean their hands or wipe them with wet wipes. In the case when tactile contacts are made purposefully, the haptophobe acts aggressively and in every possible way excludes the fact of bodily touching.

Among the other signs of a haptophobe are the following:

• A person wears quite a thick one even in the summer.
• Haptophobe avoids excessive crowds of people (we are talking about public transport, shopping centers, and so on).
• Even the slightest tactile touch causes inappropriate reactions.

The symptoms of this fear appear in cases where a specific stimulus is applied - in this case it is tactile contact. The phobia manifests itself in signs of both a psychological and physical nature.

Haptophobe faces a destructive reaction, accompanied not only by incomprehensible behavior, but also by unusual sensations such as itching of the skin, tingling in the area of ​​touch and pain in the same place).

In the most severe cases, panic attacks occur due to tactile interactions, and a nervous breakdown may occur. During tactile contact, the patient may experience vomiting or nausea, increased heart rate, breathing, changes in facial expressions, dizziness or headache.

External factors in a phobia

Medical and social workers have a fear of being touched by others. Every day they have contact with drug addicts and unkempt homeless people. Gradually, more and more fears regarding disease and dirt appear. They have an obsession that people carry bacteria and viruses. A mild form of disgust easily turns into a phobia.

In addition, phobia is one of the symptoms of mental retardation and autism. Fear of touch is closely related to a focus on one's own inner world. They perceive aggressively the attempts of others to penetrate their comfort zone.

Fear of other people's touches is diagnosed in people with nervous disorders. For example, these may be obsessive states and psychasthenia. They don't want to come into contact with strangers or even relatives because they think they might pick up bacteria. For such individuals, it is important to monitor their own hygiene and cleanliness. They always have wet wipes and antiseptics with them, so they react quickly and sharply to dirt and stains.

For some people, the smell of the interlocutor acts as an irritating factor. It can be repulsive and cause negative emotions. The aroma often evokes associations with the past. You just need to stop communicating with such a person for a certain period of time. There is no need to be too nice and polite.

Causes of the disease

There are quite a lot of factors that cause the development of haptophobia. They can be divided into two equal groups. Let's look at them in more detail. Psychologists include the first group, external factors that cause fear of other people’s touches:

1. Disorders of the nervous system and various mental disorders (neuroses and obsessions).
2. Violence experienced by a person in early or teenage years. This can be either sexual pressure or physical pressure from an adult on a child. The phobia is especially acute if the victim is a man who had a homosexual relationship in childhood.
3. Mental retardation. Often, haptophobia is an accompanying factor in other diseases, for example, autism, when the child perceives the people around him acutely and painfully, as well as any of their touches.
4. Professional activity. The phobia can easily develop among medical workers who have to deal with various infections and diseases. Law enforcement officers are also at risk. In their work, police officers deal with homeless people, drug addicts and other categories of citizens who lead an antisocial lifestyle and do not maintain personal hygiene.
5. Puberty. Fear of any stranger's touch can appear in a child when he enters adolescence and begins to actively change physically. Girls will shy away from the touches of adult men, and boys will be embarrassed by girls.

Internal reasons related to personality development also influence the formation of such fear:

1. Personal characteristics. Closed, uncommunicative, shy people who do not like to communicate with others and do not tolerate when their personal space is invaded may not notice that they have developed haptophobia. For such people, a comfort zone is important, and they will refuse to undergo treatment until the last moment in order to get rid of their fears.
2. Increased disgust and fear of getting any kind of infection can easily turn into a phobia.
3. Asexuality. Due to disrupted hormonal levels, a person develops intolerance to touching of a sexual nature. Any contact with the opposite sex is disgusting.
4. Nationalistic or racist views may cause a person to become afraid of being touched by others.

What problems can be confused with haptophobia?

In some cases, haptophobia may be hiding other problems. Fear of people's touch may be part of autism, psychasthenia, or mental retardation.

What else could be hiding behind the mask of haptophobia:

• paranoia and schizophrenia,
• avoidant disorder
• agoraphobia,
• psychosis,
• asexuality.

However, fear of touch is not always masked or part of other psychological problems. Sometimes it can be confused with personality traits, for example, when a person has too wide a personal space. Authoritarianism and perfectionism can also look like haptophobia.

What are the reasons for haptophobia?

The phobia described above arises as a consequence of emotional upheavals and even minor circumstances. This is about:

• Experienced physical violence. When a psychological shock occurs, any touch on a subconscious level is perceived as the beginning of aggression and is associated with it.
• Experienced sexual violence. Victims of pedophilia and even people who have experienced violence in adulthood often face this fear.
• Instilled attitudes on the part of parents. First of all, these are intimidation and warnings, leading to the fact that any physical interactions with outsiders are perceived as a threat.
• Specifics of professional activity. The above-described phobia often overtakes doctors, social workers and law enforcement officials. This is due to the fact that every day they come into contact with those who live asocially. The desire to make tactile contact with absolutely everyone around you, including relatives, disappears.
• Puberty. This reason is more relevant for teenage boys. Haptophobia in this case is associated with the fear of an erection noticeable to a representative of the fair sex when touched.
• Autistic disorders during which communication skills are lost. Autistic people are constantly closed in their inner world and do not want to interact with others.
• The cold and indifferent attitude of mom and dad, as a result of which the child does not get used to contacts of a tactile nature.
• Disgust and fear of catching something.

• Asexuality. When hormonal levels are disrupted, all gentle and erotic touches cause only complete negativity.
• Excessive desire to protect personal comfort zone. All tactile acts at the subconscious level are perceived as a gross violation of the boundaries of personal space.
• Personal beliefs and intolerance towards certain groups of people. For example, this can be hostility towards a certain nationality or race, fat people, or those who have physical disabilities.
• Serious injuries resulting from careless actions on the part of other people.

When central nervous system disease is present, the risk of developing the phobia described above increases significantly during obsessive-compulsive disorder. Also, fear is often formed in people with a suspicious, distrustful and withdrawn character.

How to interact with hapnophobes

When examining the question of what haptophobia is, it is worth mentioning the existence of a number of simple rules that greatly simplify interaction with hapnophobes. First of all, you shouldn’t hold a grudge against those people who avoid close contact. The desire to wash your hands after shaking hands or open requests to avoid physical contact are not always a manifestation of a negative attitude. Such behavior may be mistakenly regarded as impoliteness and bad character, but it should be understood that the need for physical contact can cause physical pain in a haptophobe.

It should also be understood that the lack of physical contact is a demonstration of strict boundaries of personal space. An ordinary person can easily hug a stranger, but will not offer to use his toothbrush. In the case of haptophobia, the comfort zone has clearly defined boundaries, which are not recommended to be crossed.

It is important to pay attention to the fact that the degree of manifestation of the disease varies from person to person. This circumstance indicates the need to understand the behavior of a hephephobe.

How to get rid of haptophobia

A psychotherapeutic conversation is used for diagnosis. During the conversation, the psychologist collects anamnesis, studies the client’s childhood history, looks for possible psychological trauma and causes of phobia.

During diagnosis, it is important to differentiate phobia from other disorders and fears. Based on the diagnostic results, the doctor selects treatment

Self-deliverance

To get rid of fear, you need to face it. Try taking a dance or acting class. It is necessary to visit crowded places more often, such as shopping centers or concerts. Pre-master self-regulation techniques, such as breathing exercises, and use them when fear occurs. You can tell your loved ones about your problem and ask for help in dealing with the phobia.

Psychotherapy

Fear of touch is a violation of social interaction. For treatment, psychotherapy, group classes and medication are used (if the phobia has a complicated course or has developed against the background of another disorder, as well as against the background of hormonal imbalance). In addition, cognitive behavioral psychotherapy, hypnosis, and psychoanalysis can be used.

In individual or group sessions, patients talk about their fears and emotions, their vision of the causes and course of the phobia. The psychologist asks leading questions and, if necessary, conducts additional testing. Gradually the patient is brought closer to frightening situations.

Treatment with pharmaceuticals

Fear of being touched can be caused by asexuality. This disorder is often accompanied by hormonal imbalances. The thyroid gland and adrenal glands do not produce enough hormones that cause sexual arousal, as well as the desire to communicate and make contact. In such a situation, the patient cannot do without special hormone replacement therapy.

If the problem is caused by general anxiety or some kind of personality disorder (obsessive-compulsive, avoidant, paranoid), then the specialist will prescribe tranquilizers that calm the psyche, as well as antidepressants (if symptoms of depression are present).

Irrational fear of other people's touches is a serious problem that cannot be eliminated without a specialist. Together with a psychotherapist, a person will be able to overcome fear and will again begin to enjoy close contact with other people.

How to overcome the fear of everything in the world

Treatment of panophobia is a long and painstaking process that requires a professional approach. It is impossible to overcome the fear of everything in the world on your own, because the patient cannot find his own point of support, with the help of which he can change his way of thinking.

As a result, a psychiatrist or psychotherapist becomes this point of support for him. After several months of regular psychotherapy sessions, treatment can be supplemented with home methods, but the main emphasis is on professional help.

Many techniques are used in therapy, five of them are the most common. The choice of direction of psychotherapy depends on the patient’s receptivity to a particular method.

Exposure psychotherapy

This is a rather traumatic treatment method for the psyche, which is used only when the doctor is confident in the patient’s resilience. The essence of the method is that during a session a person moves from a state of complete relaxation and harmony to a phase of strong mental tension and stress. This is done through a conversation with a doctor.

First, the doctor introduces the patient into a state of complete relaxation through conversation. When the person has finally relaxed, the psychotherapist begins to simulate a stressful situation, bringing the tension to the maximum, and then carries out sensitization again.

Such “emotional swings” teach the patient to cope with fear using the method of distraction. In other words, if this direction of psychotherapy is successful, over time the panophobe will begin to simply brush aside his fears or switch to other experiences.

Cognitive behavioral psychotherapy

Step by step, the doctor will get to the root of the problem

This technique is the gold standard of psychotherapy and consists of changing a person’s associative chains and imaginative thinking. The psychotherapist discusses in detail with the patient the situations in which he encountered panic fear. During the conversation, all aspects of the event are examined and new attitudes are formed that allow a critical assessment of what happened. The result of successful cognitive behavioral therapy is the ability to look from a different angle at any event, situation or object that may cause a feeling of fear in a panophobe.

Desensitization in hypnotic trance

The method is that a person is put into a hypnotic trance, and then the doctor corrects the bodily sensations of fear. The effectiveness of this method lies in the fact that, experiencing horror, a person begins to contract certain muscle groups. Impact on these muscles during a hypnotic trance causes them to relax. As a result of such an effect, the next time at the time of a panic attack, the person will be able to restore balance, since there will be no bodily symptoms.

Adrenaline injections

Panic attacks and pathological fears are accompanied by the release of norepinephrine. At this point, a person loses control over his thoughts and muscles due to the action of this hormone. The result is numbness, a feeling of derealization and a loss of touch with reality. Some patients with panophobia are helped by injections of adrenaline, which increases the overall tone of the nervous and cardiovascular systems and helps to gain control over the situation.

This method has a number of contraindications, so it is used with caution.

Eastern techniques

Redirecting energy to suppress fear is an alternative method of psychotherapy, much like spiritual practices. Kundalini yoga, hatha yoga or yoga nidra will help you gain control over your subconscious and overcome fear. The disadvantage of this method is that it takes a beginner from six months to several years to master yoga practice. All this time, a person will continue to be afraid of everything in the world, and his psyche will be constantly under tension. In this regard, energy methods of combating phobias should be used in addition to psychotherapy.

Causes of erotophobia

As a highly personalized fear, erotophobia can have countless causes. In some cases, it may be difficult or impossible to determine the specific cause.

However, some people may be at higher risk due to past or current events in their lives:

• Sexual violence. Although not everyone with erotophobia has been raped or sexually assaulted. Those who have been traumatized are at increased risk of developing some forms of erotophobia.
• Other injuries. People who have experienced serious trauma are at higher risk of developing anxiety disorders, including phobias. If the trauma was physical, a person may be more likely to develop touch-related erotophobia, while someone who has experienced psychological or emotional abuse may be more likely to develop intimate or vulnerability-related fears.
• Personal, cultural and religious mores. Although in many religions and societies, sexual intercourse is perceived only for procreation. Many people have difficulty trying to balance past and current beliefs. If a person has moved away from restrictions but is afraid to change past ways of thinking and acting, they may be at risk of developing a phobia.
• Worry about your ability to please your partner. This type of anxiety is especially common in someone who is young or inexperienced, but can also occur at all ages and with varying levels of experience.
• Physical problems. Some people fear that sex will hurt. Fears that have a legitimate medical basis are not considered phobias. However, some people experience fears that are far out of proportion to the reality of the situation. If the fear does not correspond to the current risks, it may be a phobia.