Hypopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia: the irrational fear of long words.

One of the most curious phobias that exist. We explain how it manifests itself.

In our article "The 15 strangest phobias that exist", we talked about the strangest phobias that some individuals may suffer from. Undoubtedly, one of the most atypical and curious phobias is the hypopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia or phobia of long words.. People who suffer from this phobia must feel a great discomfort just hearing the name of the disorder they suffer from.

As with all phobias, hypopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia is an irrational fear, which causes great discomfort and causes those affected with this pathology tend to avoid those situations in which they come into contact with the phobic stimulus, i.e., long words.

A very strange phobia

The truth is that this phobia is rare, as are other strange phobias such as arachibutyrophobia, which is the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth, and which can appear, for example, when a child is about to choke from eating peanut butter toast.

These types of phobias, which are caused by specific stimuli, are called specific phobias. These include: fear of spiders or arachnophobia, fear of clowns or coulrophobia or fear of flying or aerophobia, among others.

• There are other types of phobias that you can learn about in our article: "Types of phobias: exploring fear disorders".

Classical conditioning and its relationship with phobias

Fear is an emotion that can be adaptive, just like anxiety; however, fear does not always have an objective and real cause, since people are capable of developing an irrational fear of practically everything that can be perceived or imagined: clowns, spiders, food, etc.

Phobias are usually learned, that is, we can unconsciously associate a stimulus (which originally did not produce fear) to a negative emotion. This can occur due to the intensity of the negative emotion, which converts the originally neutral stimulus into a phobic stimulus. If we suffer from a phobia, every time we see the feared stimulus or imagine it we feel an intense discomfort, which is the cause of an associative learning called classical conditioning.

Causes of hypopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia

Generally, hypopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia occurs in people who have suffered a childhood trauma related to long words.. They may have had a bad experience in a spelling bee, or they may have been embarrassed in front of the class when asked to read a word they did not understand or could not pronounce well. A traumatic event such as this is enough to initiate the development of a phobia.

Research makes it clear that associative learning is behind phobias, either directly or indirectly (e.g., by watching a movie about killer clowns and developing a phobia of clowns), although some also claim that genes play a role, with some people being more prone than others to phobic disorders.

Symptoms

Phobias belong to the group of anxiety disorders, since irrational fear causes great discomfort and people suffering from these pathologies suffer greatly. This suffering is such that they tend to avoid the feared situations, objects and thoughts.

Therefore, the symptomatology of phobias is characterized by a great fear or panic, accompanied by a great feeling of anguish, anxiety and discomfort, which can make the person feel stomach ache, headache, rapid pulse, etcetera. When the subject has to face a situation in which, for example, he/she has to pronounce a long word, he/she will try not to face the feared stimulus to avoid feeling bad.

The vast majority of phobias share physical, cognitive and behavioral symptoms. In summary, they are as follows:

• Rapid pulse and increased Heart rate.
• Sensation of shortness of breath and choking. Hyperventilation
• Excessive sweating
• Anxiety and anguish
• Dry mouth
• Catastrophic thoughts
• Loss of concentration and disorientation
• Great fear or terror
• Upset stomach
• Headache and muscle tension
• Avoidance of the feared stimulus

Treatment

Treatment of this phobia is the same as for other phobic disorders. Different methods can be used, for example, hypnosis or mindfulness, the latter to accept one's own experience as a person suffering from a phobia and thus reduce the intensity of the symptoms. However, the most commonly used techniques for the treatment of phobias belong to cognitive behavioral therapy, which help to confront feared situations and replace irrational thoughts with more adaptive ones.

Expository techniques are the most commonly used, specifically systematic desensitization.. This method consists of gradually exposing the patient to the phobic stimulus and, at the same time, acquiring more useful coping skills. Thanks to the different therapeutic sessions, the patient copes with the phobic stimulus, and little by little is able to pronounce those words that previously caused him/her great anxiety.

Other fundamental techniques of the treatment are relaxation and breathing techniques. In addition, those suffering from more severe cases can take some drugs (if advised by a therapist or psychiatrist) to reduce anxiety, but always in combination with psychological therapy.

New technologies applied to the treatment of phobic disorders

Cognitive-behavioral techniques have been applied for several decades for the treatment of phobias, but new technologies are also beginning to be applied to the treatment of phobic disorders.However, new technologies are also beginning to play an important role in psychological therapy. Virtual reality and augmented reality have proven to be very effective for the treatment of phobias, since they allow to simulate those phobic stimuli that patients are afraid of. Virtual reality, for example, can be useful for the patient to be in a room in which larger and larger spiders appear, which would belong to expository therapy.

In recent years, mobile applications for the treatment of phobias have also been appearing. You can learn more about these apps in our article: "8 apps to treat phobias and fears from your smartphone".