The world of phobias is so complicated that one of the main problems faced by those who suffer from a phobic disorder is the misunderstanding of others. That is why we want to make a real problem visible and that nobody take it as a hobby or a peculiarity of character. There are phobias that can surprise us a lot, as is the case with arithmophobia or the fear of numbers.
What is arithmophobia?
Arithmophobia is the fear of numbers, arithmetic, or mathematical calculation. It is a specific phobia such as arachnophobia or blood phobia because panic develops before a specific stimulus. In this case, having to do a simple mathematical calculation on a day-to-day basis can be an ideal.
Do not confuse arithmophobia with calculexia, a kind of dyslexia but with numbers. Arithmophobia is phobias with characteristics very similar to anxiety that make the person who suffers from it experience not only fear, but also excessive reactions to the need to make a calculation.
The consequences of fear of numbers
Like other phobias, arithmophobia interferes with the quality of life and can cause different disorders. The most common is that the problem leads to an anxiety disorder and from there many other problems can develop, all of them related to the avoidance of the stimulus that causes panic.
Because, how to avoid or elude the numbers in our day to day? It can’t be done. From picking up change in a store to organizing household accounts, knowing how much you can spend at the supermarket or if you can afford to buy that car. There is no possibility of escape, so the fear of numbers must be
What are the symptoms of phobias?
How to know if it is arithmophobia? Many people feel a certain rejection of mathematics or get confused with numbers. Many people find it a complicated task to perform numerical calculation that they supposedly have learned since elementary school, but that is not a phobia.
Arithmophobia manifests itself with the classic symptoms such as sweating, dizziness, palpitations or tachycardia. Also mental confusion, feeling of unreality and distortion of reality. Logically it is an unreal danger situation because a mathematical calculation cannot harm you. But logic has little to say in the face of a phobic disorder.
Causes of irrational fear of calculation
Many phobias develop from a traumatic incident in which, in this case, numbers were the protagonists. Perhaps a childhood abuse in math class can trigger this terror of arithmetic.
It is not necessary to have suffered a traumatic experience; having witnessed it may be enough. Experiences that have been recorded in the mind and that because these fear reactions to that was present on that occasion.
We imagine, for example, the child who witnesses abuse while doing math homework. The association of the numbers to that circumstance causes the phobia to develop.
A good treatment of arithmophobia
You cannot treat a phobia like the fear of numbers on your own. It does not matter if we have a good source of emotional strategies, because the treatment of phobias requires psychological help. If we don’t, we may be able to overcome that phobia, but at the cost of some other emotional upset.
As for the best treatment to overcome arithmophobia, it depends on the case and the degree of vital incapacitation that has been reached. Cognitive behavioral therapy that helps to understand reactions to certain stimuli and to modify behavior is always very effective.
And in any case, any therapy to overcome a phobia should be accompanied by relaxation techniques in which conscious breathing is seen as very effective and in which the practice of Mindfulness has been giving very good results for decades.