Situational phobias arise in certain situations that generate a great deal of anxiety and fear in us. This is the case of testophobia or fear of exams, a disorder of which we can perfectly understand the origin, but not so much its development or its consequences, since testophobia can paralyze you. We tell you everything about this terror of assessment tests in our dictionary.
What is testophobia?
Testophobia is the fear of exams or tests, the fear that ends up inundating other aspects of your life. Because it is really that evaluation of your knowledge, skills or abilities that are at stake in this phobic disorder.
But, who is not afraid of taking an exam? Especially when it comes to important exams, end-of-study exams, competitive exams or even a test that they give you in a job interview. After all, you are playing a lot and it is normal for anxiety to appear. But not so much that anxiety and fear prevent you from taking the exam.
Symptoms of testophobia
In the case of testophobia, it is not about the typical nerves or that feeling of doom when the time for an approaches that you have not prepared as you should. You don’t go safely and you fear failing. So far everything normal. Even if you go well prepared you will suffer the nerves of any type of evaluation.
But when you suffer from testophobia, it doesn’t matter if the exam is important or not, if you have it prepared or not, because all you want is to flee, avoid or escape from that situation. You avoid by all means putting yourself in that situation that generates all the symptoms of anxiety, from tachycardia to panic attacks through difficulty breathing. But, can you avoid taking exams throughout your life? Hardly.
And if you get it after a certain age, the easiest thing is that you are missing opportunities to develop professionally and personally. For that phobic disorder that leads you to avoid any kind of evaluation.
Causes of testophobia
As with all phobias, the origin of this fear of exams can be found in a previous traumatic experience. If you have ever failed a major test and it had negative consequences for your life, you may develop this phobia. And, of course, if you already have an anxiety disorder, it will be very difficult for it not to come to light in situations such as an exam.
However, in the case of testophobia we have to look more into a problem of self-esteem and that self-demand that sometimes drives us and other times slows us down. Among the most frequent causes are that low that makes you think that you will never be sufficiently prepared to pass that exam, that you are not worth as much as that.
The expectations of others are also important when it comes to understanding both the wear and tear on self-esteem and the pressure you place on yourself. Self-demand or excessive are the breeding ground for anxiety problems and, therefore, they also count as important drivers for developing a phobia.
Treatment of testophobia
Testophobia has treatment and goes through psychological therapy. It does not matter if you are at an age in which you are not going to have to face more tests, because the existence of the phobia already indicates a problem that you must solve. Thus, cognitive behavioral therapy is the most effective in phobic disorders. But there is more.
Because testophobia does not stop being raised in a very stressful situation and you have to learn to reduce anxiety through relaxation, meditation and breathing techniques. And you also have to work, believe more in your potential and reduce what you demand of yourself.