Venustraphobia (phobia of beautiful women): Symptoms and treatment.
A type of anxiety disorder related to exposure to attractive women.
Although it does not happen to everyone, it is not uncommon that when we feel strongly attracted to someone, things happen such as our hands get sweaty, we turn red if they look at us or at a particular moment we do not know what to say or what to talk about. It is about a certain shyness in front of a person that attracts us, but that does not generate us greater impediment.
Now, let's imagine that this happens to us with all the people we find very attractive. And now let's imagine that we are not only talking about discomfort, but an intense panic that leads us to an anxiety crisis and causes us to flee from situations in which this type of person may be. We are talking about a phobia, which in the case of referring to women who are considered attractive or beautiful, we are talking about a phobia that is not only a phobia, but also a phobia of the women who are considered attractive or beautiful. it receives the name of venustraphobia.
What is venustraphobia?
We call venustraphobia or caliginephobia to the phobia to the women considered very attractive by the person who suffers it..
Thus, the phobic stimulus or situation is the presence of women who are physically very attractive or considered as such by the person suffering from the phobia. It is not necessary for there to be an interactionThe simple presence of the stimulus could be enough to arouse great anxiety. But they will also generate some anxiety and situations and places where they may appear will be avoided.
It is important to keep in mind that we are dealing with a phobia and not a simple fear or shyness, which to some extent are logical when facing situations in which we are exposed to someone we are attracted to. It is a very rare phobia but there are several cases.
Symptoms
Venustraphobia involves the presence of extreme and irrational panic and anxiety levels towards a stimulus or situation, a dread that usually generates physiological symptoms such as hyperventilation, tachycardia, cold sweats, shivering and can even generate anxiety crises.
Likewise, the person feels so much anxiety that in fear of feeling it again will tend to avoid as far as possible to expose themselves to situations where they have to face the feared stimulus or believe that they may encounter it, or if necessary they may face the situation but at the cost of suffering great anxiety.
It is necessary to value that what generates anxiety is a subjective element: not all of us consider attractiveness in the same way. In general usually generate anxiety those people who conform to the current canons of beauty.However, depending on each person, the characteristics that provoke anxiety will vary.
Likewise, it is not essential that there is an affective-sexual interest towards the person in question, but simply that it is a woman who is considered to have great attractiveness.
Although is more frequent in heterosexual malesvenustraphobia can be suffered by both men and women regardless of their sexual orientation.
Effects on everyday life
Venustraphobia can have a significant impact on the individual. The anxiety felt often generates a high level of suffering and disrupts normal functioning.
In this sense, it can affect various levels. At the work level it can generate complications at the level of hindering teamwork and reducing the productivity and capacity of the affected person, while at the social level it can restrict social relationships (it is difficult to establish or maintain relationships, women who are very attractive or groups in which they are included are avoided directly...) and cause them to avoid situations, places or areas where it is considered that women considered attractive may appear: sports, cinema, fashion...
In extreme cases it would be possible to reach isolation and confinement at home, although it is infrequent.although it is infrequent.
Possible causes
Although the exact causes of venustraphobia are not known, it is considered that like the rest of them venustraphobia may have a multifactorial etiology or origin.
Although an explanation of evolutionary origin could be found (there could be pressure and anxiety in the case of heterosexual males and homosexual females to court a partner considered attractive, while in heterosexual females it could be anxiety linked to competition), it is generally considered that this phobia is more related to cognitive, psychological and learning factors.
One of the factors that seems to be more common is the existence of a traumatic event. the existence of some traumatic event or aversive experience in the past in which either in the past in which either an attractive woman was involved or the discomfort was associated with that person. It may be a failed love affair, a divorce, teasing and taunting regarding one's own physique in comparison with other people (e.g. in the case of bullying).
In this case, it would be a form of conditioning, in which one would have learned to associate women considered beautiful with pain, anxiety or suffering.
Cognitive distortions linked to the anticipation that the woman will criticize him/her or find him/her ridiculous, often also magnifying the attractiveness of the person and underestimating one's own qualities, are also frequently observed.
It is not uncommon for there to be great insecurity on the part of those who suffer from this phobia, which can make it difficult for them to find it difficult to find a job.They may find it difficult to cope with the idea of interacting with someone they consider more attractive than themselves, often with a possible feeling of inferiority. They may consider that person or the qualities they represent to the subject as unattainable. There may also be a comorbid social skills deficit, although this is not always the case.
Treatment of this phobia
As with the rest of phobias, venustraphobia can be treated by means of several psychological techniques, the most common and effective of them being live exposure.
The exposure technique is based on making the subject face the feared situation in order to achieve not to eliminate, but to effectively manage the anxiety he/she feels and without the need to avoid it. To do this, the professional and the patient will first create a hierarchy of exposure, a list of anxiety-generating situations that will be ordered from lowest to highest according to the level of anxiety they provoke.
The subject will be gradually confronted (generally starting with those that generate a medium anxiety) to each one of them, so that in the presence of the significant stimulus will appear an anxiety that over time will decrease by itself. When two exposures have been carried out without the appearance of anxiety or when anxiety has been reduced to a great extent, one can move on to the next item.
Also It will also be necessary to work at a cognitive levelIt will also be necessary to work on the cognitive level, analyzing first of all what generates anxiety in the patient (knowing the specific elements and others that may influence it is necessary to correctly elaborate the hierarchy, as well as having other possible applications), what this anxiety means to him or her, what he or she attributes it to and how it affects him or her. We will also discuss what beauty implies for the subject and the beliefs he or she has about it or its importance.
Last but not least, it is important to discuss the patient's self-esteem and beliefs about himself, about how he is and his abilities, and about how he sees the world (and how it sees him). Cognitive restructuring can then be done to modify possible biases and dysfunctional beliefs.
The use of relaxation techniques, such as diaphragmatic breathing, may also be helpful.such as diaphragmatic breathing or Jacobson's progressive Muscle relaxation therapy to help control and lower anxiety levels. They can also be used in the form of systematic desensitization, as an incompatible response to anxiety during exposure.
Bibliographical references:
- Cavallo, V. (1998). International Handbook of Cognitive and Behavioural Treatments for Psychological Disorders. Pergamon. pp. 5 - 6.
- Wolpe, J. (1958). Psychotherapy by reciprocal inhibition. Conditional Reflex : A Pavlovian Journal of Research & Therapy. 3 (4): 234 - 240.
(Updated at Apr 13 / 2024)