The world of phobias sometimes surprises us with very particular fears and it is very tempting to take it as a joke. This is the case of penteraphobia or fear of the mother-in-law, a phobic disorder with very negative consequences for the life of the person who suffers from it and which many people find unlikely. In our dictionary of phobias we are talking about penteraphobia.
What is penteraphobia?
Penteraphobia is the fear of the mother-in-law. As it sounds, it is an irrational and excessive fear of your partner’s mother. Due to all the urban legends that are generated around mothers-in-law, this phobia is very difficult to detect and is sometimes confused with simple rejection .
But penteraphobia goes beyond the fact that you don’t like your mother-in-law, that an evil mother-in-law has touched you, or that the relationship with your mother-in-law is disastrous. It is not a rejection or revulsion; it is a true panic when being in the company of the mother-in-law or even thinking about her.
Symptoms of fear of your mother-in-law
We insist that it is not a joke. It is a phobic disorder and the problems that it can cause are more than evident. The person who suffers from penteraphobia suffers the same symptoms as other phobias and anxiety, that is, dizziness, sweating, headache, nausea, tingling, a feeling of unreality and there are cases in which a panic attack is reached.
In addition to the physical symptoms, there are also psychological symptoms because the person with penteraphobia is aware that it is an irrational fear, that their thoughts are distorted and that they cannot lead a normal family life due to a particular problem. The effects on self-esteem are as devastating as the effects on the relationship.
Causes of penteraphobia
The immediate response when suffering from a phobia is to avoid the stimulus that causes the fear. But can the mother-in-law be avoided? Not always. Which leads us to wonder about the reasons for this unique phobia? What triggers the panic towards the mother-in-law? The most common is that it is a previous anxiety disorder that gives rise to fears in the face of any stimulus.
Conditioning by traumatic experience is not ruled out, as is the case with other phobias. If distressing situations were experienced in childhood with the mother-in-law of one of her parents, that is, with her own grandparents, it may be a reason for the appearance of the disorder. Although in this specific case, the cultural factor also influences when considering the mother-in-law a real danger.
How to overcome a phobia?
We must not let this situation go by thinking that many people live with a certain rejection of their mother-in-law. When it comes to a phobia, it must be treated with the help of a professional, since if it is not done; there is a danger that new phobias will appear. Cognitive behavioral therapy is the most common when it comes to overcoming a phobia, but other treatments are not ruled out.
Any therapy may need accompanying pharmacological treatment, but always supervised by a professional. In cases of singular phobias such as penteraphobia, hypnosis is sometimes useful to discover the origin of the fear. And relaxation techniques are always a good tool to help reduce the anxiety that accompanies any phobic disorder.