Hormephobia: symptoms, causes and treatment

This phobia develops in people who fear the possibility of suffering scares or strong emotions.

There are as many phobias as there are objects or situations in the world... which means that there are an infinite number of disparate, particular and even "rare" phobias that most of us have never heard of. In this article we bring you one of them: hormophobia.

This is the phobia of experiencing a very strong emotion, a shock, a very extreme fright or a deep state of shock, which in turn, can be caused by a myriad of factors. So, we are going to see what this phobia consists of, what are its particularities, its symptoms, causes and possible treatments to apply.

Hormephobia: what is it?

The word hormophobia comes from the Greek terms "ormao", which means "to excite", and "phobia", which means "fear". Thus, it is translated as phobia of different stimuli, such as a state of shock, shocks, impressions, impressions, shocks and scares.shocks and scares.

It is also related to the fear of strong emotions or to everything that can "excite" us excessively. It is therefore a specific phobia and therefore an anxiety disorder, classified as such in the reference manual DSM-5 (Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders).

Its origin can be related to the deepest fear of losing control or of collapsing mentally to the point of losing one's nerves. to the point of losing one's temper.

Thus, it is a curious phobia, because it is related to different states of the same "spectrum". All of them, however, have to do with suffering some kind of emotionally charged event.

Phobic object/stimulus

Of this phobia we highlight the particularity of its phobic object/stimulus since, as we have seen, it can be quite different in nature (although they all share the fact that they can cause a strong, usually negative, emotion). So, can emotions be feared? As demonstrated by hormophobia, and although it sounds a bit strange, yes.

So, there are people who would feel a real panic at the possibility of experiencing strong emotionsWhether through a traumatic event, an extreme situation, a shock, a blow, a fright, a surprise, a shock... the possibilities are endless, so, during the treatment of hormophobia (and as we will see below), it will be of vital importance to specify the phobic object well.

There will be patients who are afraid of "everything" (understanding "everything" as any event or object that can provoke a strong emotion), and others who are only afraid of shocks, for example, and logically each case will be different. logically the treatment in each case will be different..

Relationship with amaxophobia

Amaxophobia is the phobia of driving; so, does hormophobia have any relation with this other phobia? It could be, since in both there may be a fear of suffering a crash, for example while driving.

That is to say, both could appear comorbidly, although they should be treated independently (taking into account, of course, that they can coexist).

Symptoms

Like any specific phobia, hormophobia presents a series of differentiated clinical manifestations. Let us see what are symptoms of hormophobia.

1. Intense, irrational and disproportionate fear of driving

Let us remember that phobias are characterized, mainly, by a fear that has three particularities: it is an intense, irrational fear (generally the patient himself recognizes that his phobia is irrational) and disproportionate (although in "normal" conditions the phobic stimulus can cause fear, the symptoms it provokes exceed those expected by the nature of the stimulus).

Fear is an altered reaction of the organism to the possibility of being harmed.Fears are frequent and "normal", and most of them are evolutionary (they have allowed us to adapt to the environment and to survive). However, when this reaction is disproportionate and irrational and also interferes with our daily life, we speak of a phobia, as in the case of hormophobia.

2. Psychophysiological symptoms

Beyond the fear of the possibility of suffering a shock, a strong emotion, a trauma or a fright, in hormophobia there are other associated symptoms, triggered by this intense fear. These symptoms are psychophysiological, that is to say, they cover two aspects: the psychological part (the pisque) of the person and the physiological part (physical)..

Examples of these symptoms are: nausea, dizziness, choking sensation, tachycardia, sweating, tension, pressure in the chest, migraines, panic attacks... In the case of hormophobia, all these symptoms are triggered by the possibility of being in contact with the phobic stimulus, that is to say, by the possibility of experiencing a state of shock, of suffering a strong shock, etc.

They can also appear at the mere imagination of one of these situations.

3. Discomfort and interference

In order to be able to diagnose a specific phobia, it is necessary that the above symptoms cause significant discomfort in the patient and / or interference in their day-to-day life at work, academic, personal, social, and social levels.…

Causes

The most probable cause of suffering from hormophobia is having previously suffered a state of shock or great commotion due to a certain life event. The fact of having experienced such a situation can originate a strong fear of experiencing it again, which ends up originating the hormophobia.which in the end leads to hormophobia.

So, the main cause is a traumatic event, as it happens in most phobias. In addition, we must take into account that we are dealing with a very particular phobia, since the phobic object of hormophobia itself can already be a traumatic situation, which is not the case with most other phobias (e.g. fear of clowns, costumes, heights...).

Treatment

In the psychological field, the treatment of hormophobia is based, as with all specific phobias, on two main therapeutic options: exposure therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy..

1. Exposure therapy

In this case, the patient with hormophobia will be exposed to the phobic stimulus gradually, by means of a hierarchy of items.

First, it is necessary to identify very well (specify it very concretely) what it is that causes fear in the patient; whether it is the possibility of suffering a blow, a shock, a state of shock... and according to this, to elaborate the hierarchy. In the first items, items that cause little anxiety should be placed on the scale.The first items should be low anxiety items, and progressively more intense items should be added to the scale.

2. Cognitive-behavioral therapy

In the case of cognitive-behavioral therapy, its objective is to replace the negative, irrational and catastrophic thoughts associated with the phobic stimulus, such as: "I will lose the phobic stimulus".such as: "I will lose control", "I will hurt myself", "I will have a terrible time", "I will go crazy", "I will not know how to react", etc., with other more functional, adaptive and realistic thoughts.

These other thoughts can be, for example, "I don't have to suffer a shock if I go out in the street", "if I get hurt they will be able to help me", "I don't have to lose control", "I don't have to suffer a shock", etc.

Bibliographical references:

• American Psychiatric Association -APA- (2014). DSM-5. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. Madrid: Panamericana.
• Pérez, M., Fernández, J.R., Fernández, C. and Amigo, I. (2010). Guide to effective psychological treatments I and II:. Madrid: Pirámide.