The immensity of the universe becomes a little more encompass able in the sky, but even so it always remains impossible to assimilate. We reflect on the immensity because it is one of the most frequent causes of phobias and is clearly reflected in astraphobia or fear of celestial bodies. Everything we find in the sky when we look up can be the reason for a phobic disorder that we analyze in our dictionary.
What is astraphobia and how to know if you have it?
Astraphobia is the fear of celestial bodies in general, but especially of the stars. This is a broader disorder than siderophobia, which only affects stars. In astraphobia, any object found in the sky can cause heightened anxiety. This phobia is also related to uranophobia or fear of the sky and with the better known brontophobia or fear of storms.
Here everything takes place in the sky, the firmament itself, a shooting star, a constellation, a planet, a comet, a flash of light in the dark of night, lightning in the middle of the storm or even the stars themselves that fascinate so many people are the phobic stimulus for those who suffer from astraphobia. The sky in general becomes a reason for real panic.
It should be noted that you can feel a certain fear of celestial bodies and that it is not a phobic disorder. Phobias, it is true, but it is an excessive fear in proportion to the real danger that the stimulus may pose.
Another way to know if it is a phobia is that this fear does not disappear; it is constant when you think about the stimulus, whether or not the feared situation is close. In addition, the phobic disorder is always accompanied by avoidance behavior and some physical and psychological reactions.
Symptoms of astraphobia
It is not just a matter of looking at the sky and seeing the brightness of the stars, something that can be avoided with relative ease. It is that the symptoms of astraphobia can also be triggered by the vision of a night photograph or by watching the sky on television. And the truth is that in any movie the starry sky can appear.
You can imagine that this phobia is a bigger problem than it seems because it is not so easy to resort to avoidance. Thus, faced with the phobic stimulus that can appear in any daily situation, the person with astraphobia begins to experience all accompanied by a high level of anxiety.
Palpitations, excessive sweating, numbness in the extremities, dizziness, nausea or shortness of breath are symptoms well known to people who suffer from anxiety. And anxiety is precisely what causes a phobia. But there is more, because this situation can trigger a panic attack.
Added to these physical symptoms that are experienced in any phobic disorder, we find catastrophic thoughts related to celestial bodies. Some thoughts that will soon become intrusive and that will make it difficult to develop a functional life. All this leads to a delicate emotional situation in which the person with astraphobia is aware that his fear of him is irrational, but he cannot do anything to avoid it.
Social isolation is one of the most dangerous consequences of phobias, because that person is unable to act normally. Self-esteem problems are also among the consequences of phobic disorders, but perhaps the most frightening is that feeling of having lost control not only of the events that surround you, but also of your thoughts.
Causes of fear of celestial bodies
Most phobias find their origin in a conditioning by traumatic experience. But when we talk about a traumatic experience, it does not mean that some misfortune has happened to you in relation to a star or any other celestial body. We can imagine, for example, a scenario in which you are told of the death of a loved one in the middle of the night and from then on it remains engraved in your memory.
From that moment you begin to associate the stars with an almost unbearable emotional charge and if you add an anxiety disorder to this, it can easily become a phobia. Anxiety is a fundamental factor when determining whether it is a phobic disorder as such or a stimulus that simply causes more or less significant emotional discomfort.
In addition, in the case of fear of celestial bodies, learning also influences. Science fiction stories in which a star explodes and wipes out all of humanity, for example and our very ignorance of most celestial phenomena are the essential ingredients for a phobia to develop.
And, as we say, it is not a matter of little importance or a hobby that does not let you look at the sky. Stars and other celestial objects are seen continuously, day and night. It is not enough to isolate yourself at home and never look up at the sky, because the stars also appear on television. And even in the most trivial conversations.
Treatment for astraphobia or fear of celestial bodies
Astraphobia is a very limiting disorder that considerably reduces the quality of life, so it is necessary to seek treatment as soon as possible. As we have seen with other phobias, Cognitive is very successful in transforming those distorted thoughts about the stimulus, in this case, the celestial bodies. To help with the task, you can go to talks with experts in the field who bring us closer to celestial phenomena so that they are not so unknown to us.
Sometimes it is ignorance itself that causes fear. And once thought transformation has been achieved in therapy, fear is reduced. But now it’s time to change the behavior, that avoidance behavior that will already have become a habit and that is what limits the lives of people with phobic disorders.
Therapy can be used gradually and progressively to transform avoidance behavior. There is no reason to submit to the feared situation in the first session, you can start by viewing images of the stars and the sky and see how the reaction causes less and less anxiety.
And speaking of anxiety, any treatment for phobias includes the regular practice of relaxation techniques and breathing exercises. The famous Mindfulness works very well, not only to overcome that particular phobia, but also to protect you from relapses in the future or the appearance of new phobias.