Anthropophobia is one of the most severe fears concluding In the fear of people. The one who is afraid of insects may not go to thick forests, and the one who is paniced by flights can use trains and buses. However, to live in complete isolation from people will not work in any way.
What it is?
Anthropophobia can flow in different ways: from light discomfort surrounded by people to tangible physical symptoms, among which are often nausea or dizziness. The fear of people can spread to all representatives of humanity, but more often the patient anthropophobia is afraid of specific social groups or all strangers.
The fear of narrow categories of people is called in their own way, depending on the particular profession, gender, age. Anthropophobes usually combine the fear of at least several social groups.
Fear is treated with psychologists quite successfully, but the duration of treatment will depend on the degree of phobia development and its causes.
The causes of anthropobia, unlike many other phobias, are very variable. Often this is a consequence of injury.
Often confuse the concepts of anthropobia and sociophobia, although they are pretty close and sometimes complement each other. However, these concepts need to be distinguished, since sociophobe is a little easier to exist in our world than the real anthropophobus.
Fear of people's society (this is how sociophobia's concept is so decrypted) consists In the experience of strong fear, panic and obsessive concern while in a certain group or in the Bolshoi Collective. However, the anthropophobes are increasingly more difficult: a company even one person can be discomforted for such a patient.
If the sociophobe is disturbed by various social situations and the accumulations of people in one place, anthropophobes are afraid not only to interact with another person, but also to be nearby. Concerns are associated with the difficulties of understanding the intentions of another person: it seems the patient that all people represent a danger to him.
Often phobia occurs in people with a low level of empathy, not able to understand the emotions of others, and may be accompanied by paranoia.
Sometimes phobia people arise from indescribable individuals who are afraid to be misunderstood, ridiculous or humiliated. In this case, they also avoid contacts with people, but even just passing by a person can pose a potential threat. Typically treat specifically anthropophobia inefficiently - professionals understand its deep reasons and find out what personality features prevent a person to feel comfortable in human society.
Causes of occurrence
Most often, anthropophobia begins in adolescence. Since during this period, the psyche is most vulnerable and a person receives a lot of new experience and new information, at the age of 12-17 years, many begins to frighten both society as a whole and people in particular. In the same extent anthropophobia can be ill and young people and girls. Sometimes phobia goes by itself as they grow up, but often it remains for life in one way or another, while the person does not turn to a psychologist.
There are also cases when adults acquire anthropophobia after experiencing negative events.
Specialists call on first of all to seek the causes of anthropobia in childhood at any age. Adverse and severe conditions of mature, unfriendly conflict setting for a child in a family - many factors can become soil for the formation of neurosis. Very often, experienced physical violence, other psychological injuries, strong stress associated with people in one way or another: All this can be a serious impetus for the development of such phobic disorder.
Having survived the unfavorable situation or in a hostile environment, which there may be a family or school, with time the child comes to the conclusion that alone with him is safer, more comfortable, calmer than with anyone else. Nothing is a threat, you do not need to expect a trick, you can relax, be yourself and not try to adapt to imposed behavioral standards.
This eventually leads to complete social isolation, if the problem is not solved.
The further phobia develops, the harder it is to get rid of the mistrust to the world and alertness. Over time, any curiosity to human society disappears. Moreover, in solitude, a person can easily neglect social norms: if such behavior laid in childhood, in an adult state, even after the successful treatment of phobia, the restoration of communication and behavior skills in Socium also takes a lot of time and effort.
Some psychologists believe that mainly this disorder arises from those people whose self-esteem was strongly understated.
Frequent aggressive criticism and complete rejection on the part of respected or close people provokes a negative feeling of severe insecurity. As a result, being close to people, the patient is constantly waiting for some trick, aggression, negative. The person seems that the rest condemn him, from this he defiantly and strange for society behaves, and people really begin to condemn him.
The patient finds confirmation to his thoughts and phobia is only enhanced. Break the vicious circle on their own without the help of psychologists in running cases is almost impossible, however, In addition to the work of a specialist, a very important factor is supporting and understanding from the side of loved ones.
Anthropophobia can sometimes develop against the background of popularophobia - this is an obsessive fear of getting into an uncomfortable position, to suffer shame, to be ridiculous,
In extreme cases, this phobia is accompanied by fear in general somehow allocate from the majority, the person tries to be inconspicuous and completely loses his individuality. Suffering from such a phobia often perceive the features of their appearance or behavior negatively, they are afraid to become the object of ridicule. It is the fear of being not adopted often underlies the anthropophobia.
It is worth noting that Heavy children's experiences do not always lead to the development of strong neurosis - Sometimes a person copes with them himself in the early stages and retains mental health. And sometimes phobias are developing in those whose fate there was no prerequisites on them: even if the child grew in a good family, did not come across moral and physical violence.
In this case, personal qualities are on the forefront - those features that make a person predisposed to the fear of people, for example, shyness or suspicion. In such situations, only a small push can be enough to develop a phobia.
Symptoms
To the question, what is the anthropophobia itself and what can be its distinctive features, psychologists have an answer. The symptoms of anthropobia can vary only in combination with other mental disabilities (for example, schizophrenia and other psychosis, autism, bipolar disorder or dementia).
In such cases, psychologists individually work with each patient, considering the problem in the complex.
In most cases, all people have phobia in approximately the same and goes in conjunction with the following obsessive fears.
- Fear of all people in general. Such a panic or discomfort can cause patients with even the appearance of a foreign person approaching on the street, and communication with people or physical interaction is even more acutely perceived.
- Fear of other people's strangers. A person suffering from a disorder of such a plan is difficult to build new social connections for itself. Any contacts with new people are accompanied by obsessive concern, and sometimes trembling, dizziness, nausea.
- Fear of other people Often also accompanies anthropophobia. Often this fear becomes a consequence of injury. In such a way, it is very difficult to be in a crowd, where strangers are accidentally touched back: in severe cases, phobia may be accompanied by physical pain.
- Fear of people with certain external features - For example, with curly hair, drunken or chicken. Such external features for each person with a phobia will be very individual.
- Fear of people of a certain floor, age, nationality. It is also a disorder that is often associated with injuries in children or adult age. For example, women who survived violence are often afraid of men.
Anthropophobes are very often afraid to look into the eyes of other people, they are also concerned about the possibility that those surrounding will look at him closely or look into the eyes.
It happens first of all because anthropophobia is a fear of condemnation or ridiculous from other familiar or strangers.
Only a professional psychologist or psychotherapist can establish an accurate diagnosis of anthropobia. This disorder is very easy to confuse with others, so the experience of a specialist matters. It is extremely important to take into account all possible criteria for this disease, since in the launched cases it is often taken for autism.
It is important to remember that by no means always unwillingness to communicate with anyone testifies to serious pathology. It is very dependent on nature and temperament: for example, introversion of pathology is not considered. Only obsessive fear can be attributed to phobias, which seriously interferes with a person to live and socialize.
In some periods of their life, even healthy, quite socially successful and socially active individuals become victims of depression, are in a bad mood, because of which they are temporarily avoiding social connections. These states to pathologies cannot be attributed.
For the unmistakable formulation of the diagnosis of anthropobia, it is sometimes not enough to know the symptoms. Anamnesis is also important, communication not only with the patient, but also with his relatives, loved ones, close friends or colleagues. Human living conditions and his profession can also tell a lot of experienced specialist.
Among other things, psychologists are used to determine the anthropophobia the following diagnostic methods.
- Diagnosis with ECG, View computed tomography or MRI. Such measures allow you to accurately accurately assess the degree of stressful or panic state in an uncomfortable for a sick social situation. The data is collected according to the state of the brain vessels and the impulses arising in certain zones in the brain.
- The empirical method is simpler and often used. It is relevant and in the presence of other disorders with similar symptoms.
- Patient poll or testing it - This is the main method of diagnostics, which is the most affordable and universal. However, the correct interpretation of responses and tests is very important, and it can competently produce only a good specialist.
Forms phobia
The forms of anthropophobia may vary depending on the specific fears of a person. For example, very often the following categories cause panic.
- Unfamiliar strangers often become the subject of the fear of anthropophobes . It is very uncomfortable, because with strangers we are faced inevitably daily, as soon as we leave home. A separate problem is to form new acquaintances - the patient will avoid communicating with new people and preferred old friends.
- The crowd of people also often causes fear. This is due to the fact that Anthropoffs opposes itself to others: a large accumulation of people in this case leads to severe concern. Over time, anthropoft will prefer and not appear in crowded places at all and will avoid them in every way.
- Fear of communication is also often part of anthropobia. We are not talking about introverts, which simply need fewer social interaction than extroverts. The anthropophobes fear of communication will be pronounced brightly, and the desire to reduce social contacts will be explicit, up to complete loneliness.
- Fear of individual categories of people are also found very often. It may be a fear of drunken, children, women, surgeons - anyone. Not always such fear is the form of anthropobia, but in some cases experts refer it to the fear of people. When diagnosing, it is important to understand the reasons. Very often, anthropophobes fear begins with one category of people, and then develops and eats onto others.
The obsessive fear of people is a phobia that can quickly or slowly develop and have several stages. The usual course of the disease begins with a light stage when the anthropoft is experiencing a certain feeling of concern during a shopping trip, travel in public transport or before going to a party where there will be many unfamiliar people.
This concern may occur even when communication is to deal with one person, important and authoritative or, on the contrary, unpleasant for the patient.
Usually, many copiers with a phobia at this stage independently: the power of the will of a person is crucial, its ability to self-analysis, as well as support from close ones.
At the progressive stage of anthropophobia, the patient becomes much more difficult to control its actions and emotions in the presence of other people. If such a person has unexpected contact with new people, in this situation there is a high probability of an attack of aggression or, on the contrary, panic and anxiety. Sometimes in some patients with anthropophobia at this stage, unwanted meetings lead to fuse, sweating and tangible trembling.
Credit with a phobia at this stage is more difficult, because it is already beginning to manifest itself at the physical level.
Only professionals will help to cope with the launched stage . Anthropophobia is extremely characterized by a significant change of human lifestyle. A person with anthropophobia lives extremely separately, prefers loneliness, rarely comes to contact even with those who knows all his life, including relatives, close friends or beloved.
If at the first stages solve the problem relatively simply, in this case only forced treatment will be effective. Close one should be insisted on a visit to the psychologist, because the patient himself no longer wants to change anything.
Treatment
To overcome the disease in the early stages of a person himself with support for loved ones. In advanced cases, to get rid of anthropophobia, a psychologist or even psychiatrist is needed.
Sometimes medicines may be required, but they usually overcome anthropophobia with simpler means.
The following measures are recommended by specialists to overcome the fear of people.
- Emotional unloading will help in the early stages. A person must learn to own himself and think that those surrounding do not represent any real threat to him as often as possible. It is important to consider obsessive fear from a rational point of view. Well, when there are native people who will support Anthropophobes and help him. Positive emotional reinforcements are very important - for example, vivid impressions and pleasant events, one way or another associated with people.
- Respiratory gymnastics can help with anxiety and panic attacks . Exhalation should be twice as long as the anthropoft feels the approach of strong anxiety. A close person nearby, at this time, can duplicate the same breathing so that the patient is easier. This is an effective method for those cases when phobia begins to manifest itself at the physical level.
- Physiotherapy can also help. At a minimum, psychologists advise regularly take a contrasting shower, make a massage. During anxiety, this will help to quickly remove unpleasant symptoms. Well, if after a stressful situation you can take a warm bath, and directly at the moment of panic a close person will massage you back.
- Distractive methods can also work. Try to distract from phobia: consider passing cars past cars, passers-by or objects to the room. You can pinch or stroke yourself to distract from panic.
- Fitotherapeutic effects - This is another auxiliary method, which is often practiced by psychologists with different kind of phobic disorders. To reduce fear of people, take valerian drops or herbal teas. These are safe tools that will help to relieve anxiety. For the prescription of the attending physician, you can try more serious soothing drugs if other funds do not help. In advanced cases, as complex therapy, the doctor may recommend various tranquilizers, nootropics and antidepressants.
For faster recovery, it is recommended to go to Proper nutrition, less use alcohol, roasted, sharp and sweet. Also It is very useful to yoga and respiratory gymnastics.
With severe cases, anthropobia is better to regularly talk with a psychotherapist so that the treatment is always under control.
It is more efficient to overcome the anthropophobia forever in the early stages of its manifestation. A very important step is to realize the phobia and the need to interact with people. It is hard for it, so The patient will require the power of will, support for loved ones and specialists. In order to prevent the appearance of phobia, it is recommended to conduct a healthy social life and avoid stress, and to raise a child in a friendly atmosphere.
About what anthropophobia is, look next.