Melophobia (music phobia): symptoms, causes and treatment

Music phobia is very rare, but where it appears it can cause a lot of damage.

It is said that music is the language of the soul. Not in vain, through it human beings have been able to communicate and express their emotions and anguish since ancient times.

Most people find this concept deeply pleasant and enjoyable, using it to relax or vibrate with it, and even find it inconceivable to live without music. But although rare, some people feel a profound and highly disabling dread when they hear any piece of music. These are people with melophobia, a bizarre phobia of music.a strange phobia of which we are going to speak.

What is melophobia?

The concept of melophobia refers to the existence of music phobia, i.e. the irrational emergence of a very high level of panic, dread and anguish when exposed to any type of music or melody.

It is important to keep in mind that melophobia is not a simple dislike or dislike of music. is not a simple dislike or displeasure for the musicIt is established as a pathological fear that the subject himself considers not logical or excessive for the possible risk that it could represent in reality. Approaching or even thinking about exposing oneself to the feared thing, in this case music, generates a very high anxiety and suffering which usually translate into a physiological affectation.

Symptoms

Among the physiological symptoms that usually appear as a consequence of such anxiety we can find the presence of tachycardia, hyperventilation, cold sweat, agitation or chest pain. In addition, depersonalization or a feeling of unreality usually appears, as well as fear of loss of body control or even the possibility of death, being possible that the subject suffers an anxiety crisis.

All this makes the subject tend to avoid the feared thing in order not to feel this anxiety, something that can generate repercussions in the person's daily life. In the case of fear of music, these subjects will avoid situations such as concerts, discotheques, etc. avoid situations such as concerts, discotheques, parties or even celebrations as much as possible.. It is also common for the radio or even the television not to be turned on.

But not only that, and is that beyond spaces in which it is intended to listen to music per se we can also find music in almost any social event or in almost any local. From a supermarket to a workplace, and even public transport, there are places where some kind of melody is bound to be played at some point.

It is also possible that other alternative measures may be used to eliminate or reduce the level of sound reaching the ears, such as earplugs.

Possible causes

Melophobia is a very rare disorder, the causes of which are not completely known and which can come from or be influenced by very diverse factors. In some phobias it is sometimes considered that there is a certain predisposition at a Biological level to suffer itas in the case of fear of animals. However, in this sense there does not seem to be a situation at the biological level that can facilitate the emergence of avoidant and phobic behavior.

Perhaps singing could be considered as a stimulus used since ancient times to generate expectation or to give some kind of warning, in some cases negative.

Another theory is the one that links the emergence of this or other phobias as a defense mechanism against a painful and emotionally shocking stimulus, such as the death of a close loved one or an experience experienced as traumatic or highly aversive.

In this case it is possible that if the painful and traumatic experience has been associated with the music is seen as something negative and anxiogenic and therefore ends up being avoided. For example, listening to music at the time of the death of a family member, the diagnosis of an illness or suffering some kind of abuse or harm are situations in which the sound has been conditioned as an aversive stimulus when linked to the painful situation in question.

It is also possible that this phobia may arise secondary to some medical alteration related to hearing, or as a reaction to excessive sound stimulation that has generated great discomfort. The clearest example is that of people with hyperacusis, who perceive relatively lower than average stimulations as much more intense and annoying. In this case it would not be a primary phobia but rather secondary to the health problem manifested.

Treatment

In spite of the fact that melophobia is a strange and unusual disorder, the certain thing is that can be worked on in therapy in order to try to give an end to the problem or an increase in the sensation of control in the felt anxiety.

In this sense, one of the main strategies that is usually used is to employ exposure therapy. In this type of therapy it is intended that the subject reduces the anxiety felt on the basis of face the situations you fear and stay in them without avoiding them until the anxiety is greatly reduced. until the anxiety is greatly reduced. The objective is not really to eliminate anxiety, but to learn to manage and reduce it.

To do this, first a hierarchy of exposure will be elaborated, in which between patient and therapist a series of situations or activities that appear phobic stimuli and that generate more or less anxiety to the patient will be established, and then they will be ordered. Subsequently, the subject will be exposed to each one of them, moving on to the next one only when at least in two consecutive trials the anxiety levels are practically non-existent.

For example, in the case of music, the subject can be exposed to small soft tunes, with the ears half closed, and gradually increase the volume and duration of the piece of music, or go to places such as shopping malls, listen to whole songs or even end up going to a concert.

In addition to this, cognitive restructuring can be useful in modifying beliefs that may be at to modify beliefs that may be at the base of the panic to hear music. In this sense it may be necessary to discuss and make the subject reflect on what music means to him/her and what he/she attributes the dread to it. After that we can try to help the subject to observe and elaborate possible alternative beliefs that could be much more adaptive.

Relaxation techniques are also essential, as they help to reduce the tone and activation generated by the exposure. In fact, they can be used in the above-mentioned hierarchy to perform systematic desensitization (in which the aim is to reduce anxiety by emitting a response that is incompatible with it) instead of exposure.

Bibliographical references:

• Bourne, E. J. (2005). The Anxiety & Phobia Workbook, 4th ed. New Harbinger Publications.