Fear of responsibility: what it is, types, symptoms and treatment

Let's look at what fear of responsibilities is and how it can become a very problematic phobia.

There are many different types of phobias, but one of the most common is the one that involves fear of taking responsibility.

We will dedicate this article to compile all the information related to this phenomenon so that the reader can know how this difficulty is generated, what characteristics are associated with it, what type of person is more prone to suffer it and what is the adequate treatment to solve it.

What does the fear to the responsibilities consist of?

The fear to the responsibilities is a pathology consisting of a phobia, that is to say, an irrational fear, in this case at the mere idea of having to assume a situation in which the person is in charge of managing or caring for an element, a task or a person.. This phobia receives the technical name of hypengiophobia or hypengiaphobia, picking up the Greek word engys, which means narrow.

When a person suffers from fear of responsibilities, when faced with a circumstance that presents them with one of these possibilities, they will react by means of a flight behavior that will also be visibly disproportionate, since the situation will not be objectively threatening. Moreover, the subject who experiences this reaction will not be able to explain why this is happening to him/her, it just happens.

Therefore, he/she will not be able to voluntarily control his/her reaction, but it will be an automatic and uncontrollable response. This prepares the body for an imminent flight from what it considers an aversive situation and which is therefore putting it at risk. In short, when faced with the option of taking responsibility for something, the person automatically flees, without knowing why or being able to do anything else.

Obviously, this type of reaction can be a serious imbalance for individuals who are afraid of responsibility, since, as with all phobias, it is not something they have chosen voluntarily. However, in other types of fear, for example, fear of needles, the person is calm because it is not a situation that is frequently presented to him/her..

On the contrary, being afraid of responsibilities, he is anxious that such an event may arise at any time, as it is a much more plausible option in day-to-day life, even if we are talking about small-scale responsibilities.

Consequences of this phobia

Let's imagine for a moment what life would be like for a person with a severe case of this phobia.. Depending on the moment in which these fears would have appeared, he could have had problems even at school, increasing the chances of dropping out of school early. It would have also interfered with his immersion in the world of work, causing him difficulties both in getting a first job and in getting promoted.

It could even disrupt him simply for the action of making an appointment with another person, even if it was a friend. Obviously, suffering such unpleasant reactions to such routine situations would lead to an imbalance for the person that would affect his or her mood and could even trigger other pathologies.

Therefore, hypengiophobia or fear of responsibilities is not a disorder that we should take lightly, because like all phobias, it could be generating discomfort and serious pathologies, it could be generating discomfort and serious damages in the life of the patient who suffers it.The difference is that the triggers of these fears in particular are much more abundant in people's daily lives than those stimuli that awaken other types of phobias.

Another risk faced by people who fear taking responsibility is that of making their fear more and more powerful. making their fear more and more powerful, since the flight or delegation they make in order not to have to face the situation acts as reinforcement (they avoid the discomfort). (they avoid discomfort) and make that response more likely in the future. But at the same time, in a more rational way, they generate anguish to the person, because he/she is aware that it is increasingly difficult to face the fear of responsibilities,

Types of fear of responsibilities

We already know what the fear of responsibilities consists of and the serious consequences that this pathology can have. Now we will go deeper into the different types that we can break down according to the characteristics of the situation that is causing the fear.

1. Fear of making mistakes

One of the main causes that triggers fear of responsibility in these people is the possibility of making a mistake.. This option automatically blocks them and causes them to flee from the situation, which represents for them the threatening stimulus.

2. Panic of not being up to the task

The second option does not have to do with the possibility of being wrong, but refers to the fear of not living up to what others expect of us. not living up to the expectations of others.. This anguish translates into a rejection of the situation, completely eliminating this hypothetical option, by not acting in one way or the other.

3. Fear of being judged

Similar to the previous point, but with different nuances, there is also the fear of being judged by others for their behavior. For this reason, a person with a fear of responsibility will prefer to leave the place rather than run away from it. will prefer to leave the place rather than run the risk of receiving a negative evaluation of his behavior. of his or her behavior.

4. Fear of losing control

These individuals will not feel comfortable in situations that are beyond their control, because they are moments that generate stress for them. These are moments that generate stress in the hypothesis that they imply an assumption of responsibility on their part.. This would be the fourth type of fear of responsibility that we could find.

5. Fear of being unpopular

Finally, the typology that also causes discomfort to be people refers to the scenario in which the individual in question is labeled as unpopular. This is a variant of the fear of being judged.The difference is that in this case the specific fear is of being judged as irrelevant or unpopular.

By avoiding social situations due to his fear of responsibility, he will in turn fear being unpopular, thus running the risk of entering a vicious circle, which could increase the distress suffered by this person.

How to overcome this psychological problem

The most important question for anyone suffering from this disorder is, how can I overcome my fear of responsibility? As with most health issues, in this case mental, there is no quick fix. But the good news is that phobias have a good prognosis at the therapeutic level. Therefore, the first and fundamental advice is to have the help of an expert psychologist.

Although your clinical judgment will be the key to decide, these are some of the lines of action you could take.

1. Practice relaxation techniques

A person who suffers the effects of anxiety caused by fear so often will need to find the tools to help him/her to reduce this physiological activation in order to begin to recover a state of neutrality. A technique very used for it by its facility of learning and effectiveness, is the one of the deep breathings..

You can also resort to more complex techniques such as meditation or mindfulness, which require more training.

2. Progressive exposure

In order to cope with the fear of responsibilities, the therapist will guide the person on a path of controlled exposure to the fear-provoking stimuli. For this purpose, the affected person will be the one who will draw up a list of situations a list of situations that generate less or more panic, in order to be able to overcome them one by one in a gradual way, without provoking a panic.without causing an overflow in the patient's emotions.

This is a delicate procedure and therefore should always be handled by an expert in psychology, since it is a behavioral technique that requires training to be effective. Such a tool, if misused, could be counterproductive by provoking a too rapid approach to the aversive stimulus.

Cognitive work

In addition to physiological and behavioral conditions, it is important to spend some time working on the erroneous thoughts that the person with fear of responsibility is experiencing.. These have to do with the types we saw in the previous point, related to the fear of being judged, of not being up to the task, of making mistakes, etc.

Thanks to the help of the psychologist, the patient will be able to rationalize situations and overcome these negative thoughts.

4. Work on self-esteem

Finally, the self-esteem of the person should be stimulated, because after so many negative experiences and with these types of thoughts we were talking about, it is very likely that it has been weakened.

Bibliographical references:

• André, C. (2005). Psychology of fear: fears, anxieties and phobias. Kairós
• Capafons, J.I. (2001). Effective psychological treatments for specific phobias. Psicothema.
• Orgilés, M., Rosa, A.I., Santacruz, I., Méndez, X., Olivares, J., Sánchez-Meca, J. (2002). Well-established and highly effective psychological treatments: Behavior therapy for specific phobias. Behavioral psychology.