Asthenophobia (fear of fainting): symptoms, causes and treatment

This disorder causes people to have a pathological fear of fainting.

We receive bad news, we get up too quickly, we exercise too much, we suffer a heat stroke or we feel such extreme pain that we lose consciousness. These are all situations that can lead us to faint, which is understood as a loss of consciousness that occurs transiently and is extremely common. and which is extremely common.

Nobody or almost nobody likes to faint, since it implies a feeling of discomfort before and after the loss of consciousness and puts us in a situation of vulnerability; but for some people, the mere idea that they may do so generates an intense panic that greatly hinders their daily lives. This is asthenophobiaThe disorder that we are going to talk about along these lines.

• Article related: "Types of phobias: exploring the disorders of the fear".

What is asthenophobia?

It is understood by asthenophobia to the extreme fear or phobia to faint. It is a specific phobia, which supposes the existence of a high level of panic and anguish before the presence or exposure of a certain stimulus or situation.

This disorder is classified within the group of blood-injection-injury phobias or SID. This problem can appear in a unique way and without other problems, but it can also be linked to other disorders. but it is also often linked to other psychiatric disorders such as agoraphobia, agoraphobiaThe fear of suffering some kind of mishap in situations where it is difficult to receive help (such as in open spaces where there are large crowds or where there are very few people, or in closed and crowded places such as public transportation).

It may also may also be associated with panic disorder. The anticipatory anxiety typical of panic disorder facilitates symptoms that may be associated with dizziness and weakness, or even in some cases, fainting.

Symptoms

Interestingly, phobias linked to damage and Blood can have a physiological response that can lead to fainting or to sensations linked to weakness and the presence of damage, something that makes the phobia itself favor the arrival of the panic-generating situation.

Physical sensations such as sweating, dizziness or a feeling of weakness are common in anxiety, but are also common shortly before fainting. In this way, the anxiety itself is retroalimenting itself, something that makes this problem something that generates a lot of suffering for the person who experiences it..

This panic and anguish can generate a strong physiological activation, causing strong physiological activation, causing tachycardia, hyperventilation, sweating, trembling, tingling, ... and even anxiety crises.... and even anxiety crises.

The fear that it may occur usually generates an anticipatory anxiety, which leads the person to avoid any situation in which what is feared or that is linked to it may appear.

Affect on daily life

Asthenophobia is a very common condition in multiple conditions such as the aforementioned agoraphobia, and can cause a great affectation in people who suffer from it. It must be taken into account that the sensations of weakness and dizziness can be caused by multiple reasons.

For example, exercise, intense heat or nervousness may arouse anxiety in these people if they come to consider in these people if they come to consider them a risk or associate them with the possibility of fainting, especially if it has happened before. They may also avoid crowds or public transport, if they also suffer or end up suffering from agoraphobia. This may hinder their leisure time or even cause disturbances in their work performance depending on the occupational field in which they work.

In addition, health problems such as hypotension, hypertension health problems such as hypotension, febrile episodes or episodes that cause weakness or dizziness may be experienced as traumatic. can be experienced as traumatic because they can be associated with the possibility of fainting. Pregnancy can also be a highly distressing time, due to hormonal changes and the risk that a fainting spell may also cause harm to the baby.

In addition to this, the fear of fainting will make you avoid actions that may pose a risk in case you lose consciousness, such as driving or operating heavy machinery. Also can also lead to situations of dependence on others, not being able to leave thebeing unable to leave the house alone for fear of fainting.

Possible causes of this disorder

The exact causes of this or other phobias are not known, but in general we can speak of the interaction of a great diversity of factors and there are numerous theories about it. there are numerous theories about it.

First of all, it should be taken into account that this phobia may have an evolutionary meaning: fainting means losing consciousness and being left in a state of vulnerability that, in nature, could mean death. In this sense, it could be a type of phobia for which there is a certain inherited predisposition. predisposition is inherited, since it prevents us from harm..

Another common explanation can be found in the experience of aversive or even traumatic experiences that have been associated with fainting. For example, having fainted in public and received ridicule and harassment for it, having suffered or witnessed some kind of traumatic event in which unconsciousness ended up having painful repercussions. It is even possible that the aversive event with which the fainting has been associated has happened to someone else.

It is also possible that the phobia was born by the acquisition of cognitive schemas in which fainting is linked to weakness.. This is especially relevant in rigid environments where vulnerability is not allowed and punished. Thus, there may be affectation at the level of educational patterns that have been received throughout life.

Treatment

Asthenophobia can be a disabling problem, but fortunately it is possible to treat it through psychotherapy. it is possible to treat it from psychotherapy.. As in the rest of phobias, the most successful is the exposure therapy.

This type of therapy involves elaborating between patient and therapist a hierarchy of anxiogenic situations that can be ordered according to the level of discomfort they generate, and then, starting with those of medium level, exposure to the feared stimuli until the anxiety subsides by itself (or, if another procedure known as systematic desensitization is used, until it is reduced by means of an activity incompatible with the anxiety).

Gradually and as the subject manages to lower his anxiety level (at least by half), he will move up the hierarchy.

In the case of asthenophobia, exposure to the situations avoided by the fear of fainting can be done in order to reduce the in order to reduce the impact on daily life. But it is also advisable, in order to truly treat it, to carry out an interoceptive exposure. That is, to expose the subject to sensations similar to those he/she would experience when he/she is close to fainting.

It is also necessary to work at the cognitive level: it is necessary to discuss the reason for this fear, what it implies for the subject or how much it limits him/her, as well as to restructure possible biases and maladaptive beliefs. It may be useful to question the risk and the real probability of fainting, or in the case of traumatic events (a rape or a car accident for example) this factor should be worked on carefully and contribute to reprocess the event in a way that does not limit the patient's life..

Finally, the use of relaxation techniques may be useful, or even in extreme cases, an anxiolytic may be prescribed in order to be able to work on the problem more easily (although this is not usually recommended).