Fear of women (gynecophobia): causes, symptoms and treatment

Those affected, mainly men, feel an irrational phobia in the presence of women.

Gynephobia or fear of women is a strange phobia that usually occurs among men (although it can also affect women). (although it can also affect women) and, therefore, it is an irrational fear of any person of the female sex. This pathology, which causes great discomfort, anxiety and fear, should not be confused with misogyny, which is the hatred of women.

In this article we will discuss gynecophobia and detail the most important aspects of this phobic disorder, as well as its causes, symptoms and treatment.

Gynephobia: what it is

Phobias are anxiety disorders characterized by the fact that the sufferer feels a great fear of a stimulus, which he/she tries to avoid in order to reduce the discomfort. There are different types of phobias, which usually fall into three groups: social phobia, agoraphobia and specific phobia. Fear of women belongs to the latter group, and may prevent the phobic from having any kind of relationship with women, including intimate relationships, and thus be unable to develop an intimate relationship with them.and, therefore, be unable to develop an intimate relationship or the project of forming a family.

Gynephobia can cause serious relational problems that can affect different areas of a person's life, as the phobic will avoid any place where he/she may encounter the phobic stimulus, usually by withdrawing to his/her own home, avoiding going to work or taking public transportation. It is a serious disorder that must be treated.

Causes of this disorder

The causes of this phenomenon can be varied. Sometimes the subject's low self-esteem leads to fear of women, other times it may be the result of bad experiences in intimate relationships with women or a consequence of irrational beliefs, such as, for example, that women want to harm and are evil by nature.

However, in most cases, past traumatic experiences are behind this disorder, so it usually develops by a type of associative learning called classical conditioning. This type of learning is primitive, and although the first person to investigate it was Ivan Pavlov, the term became popular thanks to John B. Watson, one of the creators of one of the most important currents of psychology: behaviorism.

Watson was the first to investigate classical conditioning and phobias in humans. One of the characteristics of this type of learning is that it involves automatic or reflex responses, not voluntary behaviors, so Watson thought it was possible to learn negative emotions, such as fear, by this process. To this end, he conducted one of the most controversial experiments in the history of psychology, since he provoked a child, named Albert, to learn to be afraid of a white rat with which he used to enjoy playing. Watson succeeded; however, this experiment could not be carried out today because it was considered unethical.

You can learn more about classical conditioning and Watson's experiment in our article: "Classical conditioning and its most important experiments".

Are we biologically programmed to suffer from phobias?

Researchers believe that classical conditioning is not the only cause of phobias, as many people learn this type of fear by observation, which is known as vicarious conditioning, which is not the same as learning by imitation (as explained in our article "Vicarious conditioning: how does this type of learning work?").

In addition, other authors believe that we are biologically predisposed to suffer phobiasfear is a negative emotion that has been very useful in the past because it has allowed human beings to survive. This type of learning activates brain regions that belong to what is known as primitive brain, so it is characterized by primitive and non-cognitive associations. In other words, these fears are difficult to modify by logical arguments. This idea stems from Martin Seligman's priming theory.

Symptoms of fear of women

Like other specific phobic disorders, fear of women presents a similar symptomatology. The only difference is that the phobic stimulus that elicits it is different. Therefore, anxiety, discomfort and fear are manifested in the presence of this stimulus, which leads the person to want to avoid it in order to reduce the symptoms.

These symptoms occur at three levels: cognitive, behavioral and physical. Cognitive symptoms are fear, anxiety, confusion and difficulties in maintaining attention, as well as irrational thoughts that the person has. Avoidance is the most characteristic behavioral symptom. Physical symptoms include: blushing, difficulty breathing, nausea, hypersweating, tremors, etc.

Treatment

Phobias cause much suffering; however, they have a high success rate when treatment includes psychological therapy. In some severe cases, patients receive pharmacological treatment, especially anxiolytics, but the basis of treatment should include psychotherapy so that improvement is sustained over time. the basis of treatment should include psychotherapy so that improvement is sustained over time..

Psychologists who are experts in the treatment of phobias usually include the cognitive behavioral therapy techniques that have proven to be most effective, according to scientific studies. Among these, relaxation techniques and exposure techniques stand out.

Both techniques are combined in a therapeutic method known as systematic desensitization, which consists of exposing the patient progressively to the phobic stimulus, but beforehand he must have learned relaxation techniques, since they will allow him to better face the situations in which he must confront his pathological fear. If you want to know more about this technique, you may be interested in reading our article "What is systematic desensitization and how does it work?"

Despite the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy to treat this type of disorders, other methods have also shown to be useful. These are known as contextual or third-generation therapies, including acceptance and commitment therapy or cognitive therapy based on Mindfulness, which take into account how the context (and the patient's relationship with it) influences the development of the pathology, and emphasize acceptance of the experience as a way to reduce anxious symptoms and, therefore, reduce discomfort.

Differences between gynephobia, misogyny and caligynephobia

It is important not to confuse gynephobia with caligynephobia.It is characterized by the fact that men, generally because of their low self-esteem, feel intimidated by the beauty of women. It is also important not to confuse gynephobia with misogyny, which is a type of prejudice in which the person feels hatred towards people of the female sex.