Phobias may be unfamiliar to you, considered weird, and may have never been heard of before. But that does not mean that they do not exist, that they are not real and that they do not condition the lives of the people who suffer them to the extreme. In our dream dictionary we talk about xenophobia or fear of wood.
What is xylophobia?
Xenophobia is the fear of wood. Some kind of wood or in some special format? No, none of that. Wood in general, the wood of the trees in the forest, the wood of a table in the office, the wood of a floor in any house or the furniture with which you live on a daily basis.
The fear of wood is a very limiting specific phobia, since the behavior par excellence that causes any, that of avoidance, is very difficult in this case. How do you avoid wood? At most you can avoid it in your own home and it will still be very difficult for you. But how do you steer clear of wood in your social or work life?
Symptoms of xenophobia
Until you suffer from a phobia like this, you don’t realize that we are surrounded by wood. It happens as with chlorophobia, when the color green causes you an irremediable panic and you find it wherever you go. The first sensation is that of danger and, therefore, fears.
Then the whole series of anxiety symptoms are experienced, reaching the panic attack in the most serious situations. As we said, the avoidance resource does not work in the case of xenophobia and distorted thoughts make their appearance. Lowself-esteem. Due to not being able to lead a normal life is also a symptom and consequence of this phobia of wood.
Causes of xenophobia
But what can develop this phobia? It is difficult to imagine a traumatic experience with wood, although anything is possible. It may be that getting lost in a forest during childhood and having a bad time or having experienced a fire in a wooden cabin leads you to xenophobia.
However, in this case it is more likely that this consequence of an anxiety disorder that makes the fears diversifies and also intensifies. Associating wood with danger is caused by a distorted cognitive process that must be dealt with.
Xylophobia treatment
And the treatment of xenophobia, like any other phobia, requires psychological help. Cognitive allows you to carry out a cognitive restructuring with which you stop associating wood with danger and, therefore, you can modify behavior in the face of that specific stimulus.
Overcoming a phobia takes a process and it must be done calmly. To help this calm and reduce anxiety symptoms, which will not disappear from one day to the next, it is convenient to practice relaxation and breathing exercises.