There are phobias that can go unnoticed, but others are very limiting and disabling. This is the case of hafephobia or fear of physical contact with other people. Be careful, because we have all ever felt that feeling of discomfort when they invade our personal space, but it is not always a phobic disorder. We tell you everything about hafephobia in our phobia.
What is haphephobia?
Hafephobia is the fear of physical contact with others, of being touched by someone, of having your personal space invaded. Logically it is not about the usual rejection that we feel when someone without little or no confidence gets too close to us and touches us, but rather a feeling of panic when in contact with other people that becomes unbearable.
This fear of physical contact is one of the most limiting phobic disorders, as it reduces social life to a minimum and can lead to isolation. The simple fact of having to take the subway to work can make anxiety shoot up to the extreme. There is the difference between rejection and phobia, just where it begins to impact all areas of our lives.
Symptoms of haphephobia
What goes through the head of a person suffering from haphephobia? That when another person touches her, they can infect her with a disease, that they are touching her because it is bullying, that they intend to hurt her, or that they simply feel intimidated by so much proximity. As in any phobia, it is an irrational, unfounded and excessive fear.
The fact that it is an irrational fear and that the person who suffers from it knows it does not mean that they can avoid experiencing all the symptoms of anxiety in the face of the feared situation. Being around people is a dangerous moment in which the whole organism is put on guard and you can end up suffering.
In addition to the usual physical symptoms of anxiety, haphephobia is accompanied by psychological symptoms such as low and a negative assessment of oneself due to these distorted thoughts. We insist, perhaps that person is very aware that his reactions to him are excessive, but he thinks that he cannot do anything to avoid it.
Causes of haphephobia
A traumatic experience can be one of the causes of haphephobia or the fear of physical contact with other people. Varied experiences and unpleasant or painful moments that end up being related to the gesture of being touched by another person. Imagine the death of a relative, for example. It is an auspicious moment for other people to approach you and touch you, give you a hug or touch your shoulder. It is not something negative, but you associate it with a very painful episode.
As with other phobias, sometimes the origin is found in an. That state of alert that anxiety leads us to find danger in any stimulus we can imagine. And in this case it is physical contact with other people. If left untreated, other phobias will most likely arise.
Haphephobia treatment
All phobias can be overcome, but it is necessary to seek the help of a psychology professional. Sometimes it also requires drug treatment for a while. But in any case it is not something that we can cure ourselves if we want to guarantee ourselves a certain mental stability.
Therapy in the treatment of phobias is cognitive behavioral therapy. His way of acting is in the first place on distorted thinking, the one that leads you to think that you are in great danger when someone touches you. Then the therapy works on the behavior, in this case that of avoidance, to modify it while reducing fear and anxiety.