Testophobia (test and exam phobia): symptoms, causes and treatment.

A type of fear that can become pathological if it prevents us from completing these types of tests.

Testophobia is the intense and persistent fear of exams. It is a specific situational phobia related to the negative experience of being tested. Although testophobia usually begins in early adulthood, it can also be generated during childhood, as it is a fear of a common practice in our current societies.

We will now take a closer look at what testophobia is. we will see in more detail what is the testophobiawhat are some of its causes and how it can be treated.

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

Testofobia: fear to the examinations

The term testofobia takes on the one hand the word "test", that in English means "test" or "examination", and on the other hand, the word "phobia", that comes from Greek "fobos" ("fear"). Thus, "testophobia means fear of examinations and evaluation tests..

Testophobia is not recognized as a particular clinical condition by specialists in psychology and psychiatry. However, the term is often found in colloquial literature to describe the experience of persistent fear of assessments.

In this sense, testophobia could be considered as a specific phobia. Specific phobias, on the other hand, are characterized by an intense and persistent, excessive or irrational fear that is triggered by the presence or anticipation of specific objects or situations (Bados, 2005). These objects or situations can range from animals to the need to take an exam, as in this case.

Likewise, specific phobias can be situational, when the fear is induced by specific situations. In this case, it would be situations related to the application of tests. On the other hand, testophobia is related to social phobia, in that it involves persistent fear of situations involving exposure to the evaluation of others.

That is to say, although the application of tests and examinations is in itself a potentially stress-generating situationThe testophobia occurs when such a situation is experienced with a fear that exceeds rational justification and generates a series of behaviors and physiological reactions linked to anxiety. This irrationality of fear is even recognized by the person who experiences it.

Symptoms

As we have said, testophobia can be characterized by the presence of physiological reactions associated with states of anxietytriggered by situations involving the application of an exam (which can be in the school context, but also in the sports or recreational context, or any related to high performance, success-failure logic and competition). The latter is a situation that is perceived as noxious, which provokes the activation of the sympathetic nervous system and generates a series of involuntary motor reactions.

Such reactions are for example, tachycardia, palpitations, increased Blood pressure, feeling of suffocation, dizzinesssweating, decreased gastrointestinal activity, and so on. In addition, as an anxiety response is immediately triggered, specific phobias often generate panic attacks.

As with other phobias, testophobia can generate other secondary behaviors, which, like the experience of anxiety, are not easily observable, but have a negative impact on the daily activities of the person experiencing them.

These are, for example, fears related to fears related to everything around taking a test, for example, or may also include behaviors such asIt can also include behaviors such as avoidance of the same circumstance, which are otherwise experienced as intense discomfort.

Likewise, testophobia can be one of the manifestations of anxiety disorders or other more complex and profound experiences,

Possible causes and development of this phobia

The fear that characterizes phobias is related to the possibility of suffering harm; regardless of whether this harm has occurred previously, and without necessarily considering the real probability of its occurrence. On the other hand, such fear may be caused by a previous experience where damage has actually occurred.

In this sense, testophobia can be generated by either the direct negative consequences of having failed in previous examinations or tests; orOr, it may be triggered by the meanings associated with the experience of being tested and failing, even if the previous results have been mostly positive.

The latter may also be related to the expectations and expectations and demands generated by the close environmentand which do not necessarily correspond to the performance, capabilities or interests of the person.

On the other hand, situational specific phobias usually develop in early adulthood, although in some cases they occur during childhood. It is often the case, moreover, that the fear of the situation presents itself in a rational but persistent manner during childhood, but a phobia is not triggered until adulthood..

Bados (2005) tells us that in some studies it has been reported that about 9 years may elapse between the onset of the fear and the onset of the phobia. In addition, specific phobias are more common in women (three women for every man), although this may vary according to the specific situation in question.

Treatment

As with other phobias, there are a number of strategies that can help to decrease the experience of discomfort related to the stressful situation.. These strategies range from the analysis and modification of the meanings attributed to the stimulus that generates stress (in this case, the experience of being evaluated by means of an exam), to the relearning of the styles of emotional coping to the same situation.

In the specific case of testophobia, it is important to ensure that the situations surrounding the application of a test (i.e., what happens before and after the moment of taking it), generate experiences of tranquility and not just stress.

In other words, it is important to compensate the tensions caused by the excessive need to study with other activities or experiences that provide relaxation. Similarly, it is important to assertively manage test results, especially when it comes to test results, especially when dealing with unexpected or unsatisfactory results.

Bibliographic references:

• Testophobia (2017). Common-phobias. Retrieved August 31. Available at http://common-phobias.com/testo/phobia.htm.
• Bados, A. (2005). Fobias Específicas. Faculty of Psychology, University of Barcelona. Retrieved August 31, 2018. Disponible en http://diposit.ub.edu/dspace/bitstream/2445/360/1/113.pdf.
• Talha, M. (2004). Phobia. A select annotated bibliography. Dissertation for the award of the degree of Master of Library & Information Science. Aligarh Muslim University (India). Recuperado 31 de agosto de 2018. Disponible en http://ir.amu.ac.in/7550/1/DS%203365.pdf.
• Testophobia-Fear of taking test (S/A). Phobia Source. Recuperado 31 de agosto de 2018. Disponible en http://www.phobiasource.com/testophobia-fear-of-taking-tests/.