Arrenophobia (phobia of men): causes, symptoms and treatment

Certain stressful experiences can cause a phobia of men to appear.

How many people do we come across every day? We go out into the street and meet hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people walking around us. Among them we find men and women of many different ages, races, conditions, preferences and tastes.

For most people this is not a problem, but there are people who experience feelings of intense panic when they see someone with specific characteristics appear. Some people have such feelings when confronted, for example, with a man. And not with a specific man, but with any man. This is what happens to people with arrhenophobia, a very limiting phobia.a very limiting phobia that we are going to talk about in this article.

What is arrhenophobia?

It is understood by arrenophobia to the irrational and extreme fear or panic towards the set of men.. It is a specific phobia in which an uncontrolled and disproportionate aversion, fear and panic towards men in general appears, continuously and persistently for at least six months. In the presence of a man or the possibility or thought of one appearing, the affected person may suffer alterations such as tachycardia, hyperventilation, dizziness, sweating and trembling, nausea and vomiting, and may even suffer an anxiety crisis. Due to this fear, the subject will systematically avoid approaching men and places where they may be especially prevalent.

This phobia is rare and occurs mainly in women.It can also occur in men who are afraid to expose themselves to other men. It is important to keep in mind that this is a real and totally involuntary problem, not a chosen contempt for the male figure. In other words, it is not that the person does not like men, but that he feels an uncontrollable panic every time he sees a man approaching him.

Unlike other phobias, which although limiting as a rule do not pose a great threat on a daily basis (for example, we usually do not have to take a flight or have Blood drawn every day), phobia of men or arrhenophobia, also known as androphobia, also known as androphobiaThis is a severe limitation in all areas of life, since in practically every activity that we carry out we will find both men and women. School, work, leisure... all of this will be experienced with a very high level of anxiety by those affected, who will often have to endure contact with men with great anxiety.

The avoidance that is carried out can lead to strategies such as working from home, going to gyms or women-only environments, isolating oneself and/or avoiding intimate contact and partner relationships. And this obviously also affects the affective and couple level, avoiding intimate contact and commitment. Many of these people choose to remain single due to the panic generated by the male figure. This does not mean that they do not want a partner or that they do not appreciate men, but simply that their own reaction of suffering prevents or makes it very difficult for them to be close to one. And this can lead to deep suffering.

What causes androphobia?

The causes of androphobia are not, as with all other phobias, clear and well known. However, in this particular case, a relationship has often been observed between the emergence of fear of men and the suffering of some kind of trauma or extremely aversive experience that has caused a male to that a male has provoked in the affected person.

Thus, it is usual (although not necessary) that we are talking, both in women and men who suffer from this phobia, about people who have suffered sexual abuse or abduction, domestic violence (whether this violence is exercised towards the person or towards another person) or paternal abandonment. It is also important to distinguish arrhenophobia from post-traumatic stress disorder, which can also appear due to the experience of these traumatic events: if post-traumatic stress were a better explanation for the alterations, we would not be talking about this phobia.

It is also associated with culture: the traditional male figure and gender role can generate panic in people educated to be submissive and obedient. Men who suffer from this phobia may come to feel it because they consider themselves inferior to what they think a man should be or what they consider other men to be.

Treatment

Arrhenophobia is a condition that is severely limiting for the sufferer and can involve a great deal of suffering. That is why treating this phobia is necessary, and fortunately there are a great number of methods to do so.

As in other phobias, exposure to the feared stimulus without employing avoidance strategies for long enough for long enough so that the level of anxiety decreases until it becomes imperceptible is something that can be very useful. The use of systematic desensitization is recommended, making a gradual exposure to increasingly phobic stimuli. If the level of anxiety is very high, it is possible to begin by making an exposure in imagination, to approach little by little to the live exposure or as an alternative in itself.

But in this phobia, and especially in those cases that have arisen as a result of the experience of some type of abuse or negligence, it is also essential to work on the dysphobic beliefs, it is also essential to work on the dysfunctional beliefs that the person may have regarding that the person may have with respect to men and to him/herself. Cognitive restructuring is of great help in this regard.

Likewise, learning relaxation techniques can help the patient to alleviate the tension he/she feels before the exposure. Hypnotherapy has also been used in some cases.