You may have once had a partner who suffered from gam phobia and you have confused it with a lifestyle. Gamophobia is the fear of marriage, but it is a phobic disorder, not a simple rejection of commitment or a particular way of living life as a couple.
What is gam phobia?
Gamophobia is the fear of marriage or commitment. This may seem like habitual behavior due to that mythical fear of commitment that more and more women and men have for not wanting to get involved in a relationship. We are talking about phobia, not rejection, and that can end up conditioning your life.
People who suffer from gam phobia experience an irrational and excessive fear of the idea of marriage and bear certain similarities with philophobia or fear of love. It is true that many people do not want to commit to a relationship because of their lifestyle, so it is sometimes difficult to identify who has a phobic disorder and who has very clear ideas about marriage.
These are the symptoms of fear of marriage
The fear of marriage is characterized, like all types of phobia, by avoidance. But, who hasn’t had a partner who avoided the conversation about going one step further in the relationship? That is why we must look for other indicators that we are facing a phobia and not a rejection of marriage that is perfectly valid.
People who suffer from gam phobia experience the symptoms of anxiety that we know so well. Tremors, tachycardia, sweating, malaise, a feeling of unreality or even a panic attack if things get serious. These symptoms can appear not only at the thought of getting married or in conversation, but simply by watching it on television or having to go to a friend’s wedding.
The causes behind a phobia
Most phobias have their origin in a traumatic experience. In the case of gam phobia, it can be motivated by a traumatic divorce and the idea of not wanting to repeat that experience, but also by having lived in with regular arguments, abuse or violence between the parents.
A distortion of a belief or a preconceived idea is not ruled out for this fear of marriage. We insist that not wanting to get married is not a problem or a phobic disorder, but this idea together with an anxiety disorder can generate distorted thoughts that consider marriage as a danger.
Gamophobia can be overcome
Does the fear of marriage have a cure? All phobias can be overcome with psychological help and the most effective treatment is cognitive, which gets to the root of the disorder by changing both thought and behavior. The point is not to avoid marriage, but to avoid the fear that marriage produces.
It should be emphasized that a phobia is limiting and favors the appearance of other emotional disorders, which is why it is important to seek professional help. Of course you can go your whole life without getting married, but let it be by personal choice and not motivated by irrational fear.