Fear of phobias word

The fear of phobias is phobophobia. This condition can lead to a vicious cycle, ultimately resulting in escalating fears.

Some people with phobophobia already have one or more existing phobias, while others are afraid that they might develop one. Phobophobia is often, but not always, linked to other anxiety disorders.

Phobophobia With an Established Phobia

If you already have an established phobia, you may be at greater risk of developing phobophobia. This is because a common symptom of any phobia is anticipatory anxiety, which causes increasing fear in the time leading up to a planned confrontation with the object of fear.

Therefore, you may begin to dread not only your original trigger but also your own reaction to it. Over time, this dread can worsen and develop into phobophobia.

Phobophobia Without an Established Phobia

It is possible to develop phobophobia even if you never had an actual phobia. For example, you can worry that you will develop a phobia of something you love, or that you will develop a phobic reaction that limits your daily activities.

A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Phobophobia is interesting in that it is one of the only self-fulfilling fears. While the fear of cancer (carcinophobia) does not increase the odds of developing it, the fear of phobias can lead to a phobia.

How does that happen? The anxiety you experience in anticipation of developing a phobia might lead to a full-blown phobic reaction. You gradually limit your activities in an ever-increasing attempt to minimize your exposure to fearful reactions. Over time, this can lead to agoraphobia. If your fear centers around a specific object or situation, you might gradually develop a phobia of that object or situation.

Understanding Phobophobia

Like all phobias, phobophobia is an exaggerated fear response. While in other phobias, the irrationally heightened response focuses on a specific object or situation, in phobophobia, the fear is of the fear response itself.

Avoidance motivated by this self-protective instinct can have devastating effects on your work or school life. It can also have an impact on your social life by leading you to avoid situations that you perceive as potentially anxiety-inducing.

Treatment

Phobophobia typically responds well to standard phobia treatments such as cognitive behavioral therapy and exposure therapies. However, since phobophobia is often linked to other anxiety disorders, it is important to simultaneously treat all conditions.

Your therapist will carefully diagnose all applicable disorders and create a customized treatment plan that meets your unique needs. Phobophobia can be difficult to manage, but with proper treatment there is no reason for it to limit your life.

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By Lisa Fritscher

Lisa Fritscher is a freelance writer and editor with a deep interest in phobias and other mental health topics.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Phobophobia is a phobia defined as the fear of phobias, or the fear of fear, including intense anxiety and unrealistic and persistent fear of the somatic sensations and the feared phobia ensuing. Phobophobia can also be defined as the fear of phobias or fear of developing a phobia. Phobophobia is related to anxiety disorders and panic attacks directly linked to other types of phobias, such as agoraphobia.^[1] When a patient has developed phobophobia, their condition must be diagnosed and treated as part of anxiety disorders.^[2]

Phobophobia: is the fear of fear itself, but more specifically, of the internal sensations associated with that phobia and anxiety, which binds it closely to other anxiety disorders, especially with generalized anxiety disorders (free floating fears) and panic attacks. It is a condition in which anxiety disorders are maintained in an extended way, which combined with the psychological fear generated by phobophobia of encountering the feared phobia would ultimately lead to the intensifying of the effects of the feared phobia that the patient might have developed, such as agoraphobia, and specially with it,^[1] and making them susceptible to having an extreme fear of panicking.^[1] Phobophobia comes in between the stress the patient might be experiencing and the phobia that the patient has developed as well as the effects on his/her life, or in other words, it is a bridge between anxiety/panic the patient might be experiencing and the type of phobia he/she fears, creating an intense and extreme predisposition to the feared phobia. Nevertheless, phobophobia is not necessarily developed as part of other phobias, but can be an important factor for maintaining them.^[1]

Phobophobia differentiates itself from other kinds of phobias by the fact that there is no environmental stimulus per se, but rather internal dreadful sensations similar to psychological symptoms of panic attacks.^[1] The psychological state of the mind creates an anxious response that has itself a conditioned stimuli leading to further anxiety,^[1] resulting in a vicious cycle. Phobophobia is a fear experienced before actually experiencing the fear of the feared phobias its somatic sensations that precede it, which is preceded by generalized anxiety disorders and can generate panic attacks. Like all the phobias, the patients avoids the feared phobia in order to avoid the fear of it.

Cause and symptoms[edit]

Phobophobia is mainly linked with internal predispositions. It is developed by the unconscious mind which is linked to an event in which phobia was experienced with emotional trauma and stress, which are closely linked to anxiety disorders and by forgetting and recalling the initiating trauma.^[3] Phobophobia might develop from other phobias, in which the intense anxiety and panic caused by the phobia might lead to fearing the phobia itself, which triggers phobophobia before actually experiencing the other phobia. The extreme fear towards the other phobia can lead the patient to believe that their condition may develop into something worse, intensifying the effects of the other phobia by fearing it. Also, phobophobia can be developed when anxiety disorders are not treated, creating an extreme predisposition to other phobias. The development of phobophobia can also be attributed to characteristics of the patient itself, such as phylogenetic influence, the prepotency of certain stimuli, individual genetic inheritance, age incidence, sex incidence, personality background, cultural influence inside and outside the family, physiological variables and biochemical factors.^[3]
Phobophobia shares the symptoms of many other anxiety disorders, more specifically panic attacks and generalized anxiety disorder:

1. Dizziness
2. Heart pounding
3. An excess of perspiration
4. Slight paresthesia
5. Tension
6. Hyperventilation
7. Angst
8. Faintness
9. Avoidance

Association with generalized anxiety disorder[edit]

Generalized anxiety disorder is when our minds are troubled about some uncertain event,^[4] or in other words, when we feel threatened, although the source of the threat might not be obvious to us.^[4] It is a disorder when it happens frequently, and disables people from accomplishing some of their daily activities. Generalized anxiety disorder always comes before phobophobia, and some of its symptoms are listed below:

1. Paleness of skin
2. Sweating
3. Dilation of pupils
4. Rapid pounding of heart
5. Rise in blood pressure
6. Tension in the muscles
7. Trembling
8. Readiness to be startled
9. Dryness and tightness of the throat and mouth
10. Rapid breathing
11. Desperation
12. A sinking feeling in the stomach
13. A strong desire to cry, run or hide

The main problem with this disorder is that we do not know what we are troubled about, which may lead to our desire to escape. Anxiety becomes a disorder only when we experience psychological trauma, in which our knowledge of past events trigger a fear of uncertain danger in the future. In other words, the primarily event is anxiety which arises for no accountable reason, panic might develop from anxiety^[4] and the phobophobia is developed in the very end as a consequence of both of them,^[3] sharing some of the symptoms. If either of these initiating disorders are not treated, phobophobia can be developed because an extended susceptibility and experience of this feelings can create an extreme predisposition to other phobias. Anxiety is mainly fixed to a certain specific event or specific events, a strong learned drive which is situationally evoked which is stressful to one person but not to another, and this makes it much easier for phobophobia to develop, as well as other phobias.^[5]

Association with panic attacks[edit]

When people experience panic attacks, they are convinced that they are about to die or suffer some extreme calamity^[6] in which some kind of action is done by the individual (such as fleeing or screaming). In case of phobophobia, a panic attack might be encountered as the fear that they will in fact experience the calamities of the feared phobia and see it as something inevitable. Also, the nature of the panic is of profound personal significance to the individual, on a similar way phobophobia is related to the individual.^[6] This is why panic attacks are closely related to phobophobia.
Nevertheless, they can differentiate themselves by the fact that phobophobia is a psychological fear of the phobia itself that intensifies it, while panic attacks are extreme fear of encountering the calamities of an imminent disaster, and in this particular case, of encountering other phobias, which can be often accompanied by at least four of the following common symptoms of panic attacks:

1. Dyspnea
2. Palpitations
3. Chest pain or discomfort
4. Choking or smothering sensations
5. Vertigo or unsteady feelings
6. Feelings of unreality (depersonalization or derealization)
7. Paresthesias (tingling in hands or feet)
8. Hot and cold flushes
9. Faintness
10. Trembling or shaking
11. Difficult breathing
12. Sweating

Panic attacks can also be accompanied by disturbance in heart action and feelings of desperation and angst.^[6] Being closely related, phobophobia and panic attacks, the first one can be treated like a panic attack with psychological therapy. Moreover, in combination with phobophobia, a patient might be more susceptible to believe that their continuing anxiety symptoms will eventually culminate in a much more severe mental disorder, such as schizophrenia.^[6]

Treatment[edit]

There are many ways to treat phobophobia, and the methods used to treat panic disorders have been shown to be effective to treat phobophobia, because panic disorder patients will present in a similar fashion to conventional phobics and perceive their fear as totally irrational.^[6] Also, exposure based techniques have formed the basis of the armamentarium of behaviour therapists in the treatment of phobic disorders for many years, they are the most effective forms of treatment for phobic avoidance behavior.^[7] Phobics are treated by exposing them to the stimuli which they specially fear,^[6] and in case of phobophobia, it is both the phobia they fear and their own sensations. There are two ways to approach interoceptive exposure on patients:

• Paradoxical intention: This method is especially useful to treat the fear towards the phobophobia and the phobia they fear, as well as some of the sensations the patient fears. This method exposes the patient to the stimuli that causes the fear,^[7] which they avoid. The patient is directly exposed to it bringing them to experience the sensations that they fear, as well as the phobia. This exposure based technique helps the doctor by guiding the patient to encounter their fears and overcome them by feeling no danger around them.
• Symptoms artificially produced: This method is very useful to treat the fear towards the sensations encountered when experiencing phobophobia, the main feared stimuli of this anxiety disorder. By ingestion of different chemical agents, such as caffeine, CO₂-O₂ or adrenaline, some of the symptoms the patient feels when encountering phobophobia and other anxiety disorders are triggered, such as hyperventilation, heart pounding, blurring of vision and paresthesia,^[1] which can lead to the controlling of the sensations by the patients. At first, panic attacks will be encountered, but eventually, as the study made by Doctor Griez and Van den Hout shows, the patient shows no fear to somatic sensations and panic attacks and eventually of the phobia feared.^[1]

Cognitive modification is another method that helps considerably to treat phobophobics. When treating the patients with the method, doctors correct some wrong information the patient might have about his disease, such as their catastrophic beliefs or imminent disaster by the feared phobia. Some doctors have even agreed that this is the most helpful component, since it has shown to be very effective especially if combined with other methods, like interoceptive exposure. The doctor seeks to convince patients that their symptoms do not signify danger or loss of control,^[7] for example, if combined with the interoceptive exposure, the doctor can show them that there is no unavoidable calamity and if the patient can keep themselves under control, they learn by themselves that there is no real threat and that it is just in their mind. Cognitive modification also seeks to correct other minor misconceptions, such as the belief that the individual will go crazy and may need to be «locked away forever» or that they will totally lose control and perhaps «run amok».^[6] Probably, the most difficult aspect of cognitive restructuring for the majority of the patients will simply be to identify their aberrant beliefs and approach them realistically.^[6]

Relaxation and breathing control techniques are used to produce the symptoms naturally. The somatic sensations, the feared stimuli of phobophobia, are sought to be controlled by the patient to reduce the effects of phobophobia.^[6] One of the major symptoms encountered is that of hyperventilation, which produce dizziness, faintness, etc. So, hyperventilation is induced in the patients in order to increase their CO₂ levels that produce some of this symptoms. By teaching the patients to control this sensations by relaxing and controlling the way they breathe, this symptoms can be avoided and reduce phobophobia. This method is useful if combined with other methods, because alone it doesn’t treat other main problems of phobophobia.

Etymology[edit]

The word phobophobia is an English adaptation of the Greek φόβος, phobos, «fear». Phobophobia literally translates to «fear of fear».

See also[edit]

• Anxiety sensitivity
• First inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the speech for which contained the line «the only thing we have to fear is fear itself»

References[edit]

Phobophobia is the fear of fear itself. A person with phobophobia or fear of phobias experiences anxiety even at the thought of a situation or object where they can become tensed or stressed or feared and thus they will avoid any situations and objects that will make them anxious. The word phobophobia has been coined from an old greek word “phobos” which means fear. This fear is often related to other phobias like fear of getting sick, fear of people or anthropophobia, agoraphobia or fear of not being able to escape large empty spaces and claustrophobia or fear of confined small spaces. Thus if the person faces any one of these sources of fear he or she starts panicking thinking that he or she will not be able to cope up with the situation. This phobia is often related to past incidents also.

The phobophobia or fear of phobias can be best described by the line that once President Roosevelt had mentioned; “the only thing we need to fear is the fear itself” but in this case this literally comes true for the sufferers of phobophobia. This fear develops in a person who is already afraid of something else and thinks of the phobia to regenerate in him or her again. Phobophobia or fear of phobias can, therefore, curbs down a person’s daily life by preventing him or her from performing daily activities.

Undiagnosed phobophobia or fear of phobias often is compared to panphobia and looks very similar to it. Panphobia is the fear of everything that the patient is surrounded by. Unfortunately, phobophobia or fear of phobias cannot be entirely treated but certain methods like meditation, yoga, hypnotherapy or energy psychology can be used to help the patient control his or her fears. These treatments will help the patient to believe that his or her past phobic experiences are into coming back, the fear he or she is developing against things is irrational and calm the mind or control the unconscious of the mind. You can also learn several relaxing techniques that you can apply to your daily life. If you choose to fight the fear yourself then you will get better sooner and not develop any severe mental illnesses.

Causes of Phobophobia or Fear of Phobias

To be in fear of being afraid is what phobophobia is all about. Phobophobia or fear of phobias is mainly caused in a mind of the patient who has past traumatic experiences of being phobic about something else. People who have weak mental health, anxiety disorders and often get panic attacks may develop this phobia. The fear is not only irrational and irritable but often the patient turns hysteric in nature. Sudden attacks of hysteria takes over the patient when he or she is suffering from phobophobia. Phobophobia or fear of phobias is difficult to curb or identify mainly because anything can trigger the fear in the patient. The object of fear can be what the patient is surrounded by or can be an inner conflict that the patient is going through in his or her mind. Only if the person realises that he or she is becoming highly sensitive to certain situations or objects then the fear can be identified and dealt with. Often the patient cannot realize the initial sensitizing of his or her mind and then soon the mind becomes hugely sensitive towards the object and triggers disturbing feelings, emotions and physical conditions when the patient is exposed to the source of fear.

Signs and Symptoms of Phobophobia or Fear of Phobias

The greatest problem that arises when a person has phobophobia or fear of phobias is that the source of fear cannot be easily identified and thus the patient usually goes without proper treatment for years. The condition of the patient deteriorates due to these signs and symptoms that keep on occurring like:

• Dryness of mouth.
• Feeling dizzy.
• Nausea.
• Sweating profusely.
• Increasing heartbeat.
• Trembling.
• Crying and shouting.
• Panic attacks.
• Nervous breakdown.
• Being unable to breathe.

Also, the patient becomes mentally weak as he or she sees visions of dying and experiencing horrifying outcomes when he or she talks about fear. The patient starts to feel that he or she cannot fight or move on in life and the panic attacks are often taken as heart attacks by the patient.

As mentioned earlier what triggers the fear in the patient is difficult to identify. These signs and symptoms thus can occur at any moment of the day during the session when the patient is involved in a discussion that talks about the object of fear or he/she notices continuous images of the object of fear. The phobia cannot be identified until the life of the patient is hugely disturbed. If the patient himself or herself recognises the pattern then he or she should immediately consult medical help and get therapeutic sessions before the fear aggravates itself and disturbs the patient’s life totally.

Risk Factors for Phobophobia or Fear of Phobias

Several factors can be risky for the patient like the age, genetics, the temperament and a past incident.

• If you notice that any of your family members are suffering from phobophobia or fear of phobias, you can likely develop the fear too in later years.
• If you were a sensitive child or even now you are very sensitive in nature and often your mind drifts towards negativity, then phobophobia or fear of phobias is a risk factor.
• If you have gone through or seen a traumatic incident in your early years then that can have an effect and you can develop phobophobia or fear of phobias.

Tests to Diagnose Phobophobia or Fear of Phobias

Phobophobia or fear of phobias is one of those phobias which is very difficult to identify and diagnose but with the help of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders published by the American Psychiatric Association the doctors can identify the patterns and determine the phobia and its stage. DSM can also help the doctors to choose the best method of treating the patient and at the same time, you need to be cooperative and answer the doctor’s questions so that you can get better soon.

Treatment for Phobophobia or Fear of Phobias

Phobophobia or fear of phobias often leads to extremities in a patient like gaining suicidal tendencies, going into clinical depression or choosing substance abuse if not treated on time. Along with the basic self-help ways like meditation and yoga that calm your mind and nerves choosing therapeutic treatments will help you get well sooner. Basically, all the treatments for phobophobia or fear of phobias work on one main point that is to make yourself calm even when you are exposed to the sources of fear. These treatments also bring down the anxiety problems in you.

1. Hypnotherapy for Treating Phobophobia or Fear of Phobias

   Hypnotherapy for treating phobophobia or fear of phobias deals with the subconscious of your mind. It helps to reveal what is the source of the fear and then helps you to believe that the fear is irrational. In this way, your fear for the objects and situations will go down. The method is both safe and quick.

2. Another Way to Treat Phobophobia or Fear of Phobias is Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)

   The practise and study of how we imagine our reality and create it is known as NLP or neuro-linguistic programming. According to the study of NLP, if you have not been able to create a proper reality for yourself then the loop holes will build phobophobia or fear of phobias in you. The programming will help you to learn where the loop holes are and how can you treat them and re-create your world so that you are no more afraid of the source of the fear.

3. Energy Psychology to Treat Phobophobia or Fear of Phobias

   Energy psychology is the most effective treatments to deal with phobophobia or fear of phobias as considered by the researchers. In acupuncture needles are pricked in your body so that the parts that have lost the sensations can gain sensation back over time, energy psychology method also works on the same principle only that in energy psychology you go under an emotional and mental acupuncture. The technique is smooth for the patients and has shown very positive results over the years during which it has been practiced. The results are:

   • Your behaviors change rapidly from negative to positive.
   • You participate well in the recovery process.
   • Your thoughts change rapidly.
   • You develop skills that will help you maintain a positive attitude for a lifetime.

   Other than these treatments as we have discussed earlier, helping your own self by learning techniques from different sources can get you better too. These processes may not be fast but if applied during the early stages might develop in you the strength to fight phobophobia or fear of phobias.

Prevention of Phobophobia or Fear of Phobias

The fear of being afraid of fear can often cause nothing dangerous to your life and can, therefore, go unnoticed until your children pick up the similar pattern. Thus to prevent phobophobia or fear of phobias from passing it on to the children you must try and get treatment for it. Even regular anxiety attacks can disturb your normal life even if it does not possess a death threat. The thought of being afraid even though is scary for you must be realised that it is irrational and can be controlled.

Recovery Period/Healing Time for Phobophobia or Fear of Phobias

Once it is identified, phobophobia or fear of phobias can be treated medically as most of the patients do not realise that they are suffering from phobia until mentioned by the doctors. The healing time or recovery period will depend upon the type of treatment chosen and the stage of the phobia you are in. The psychotherapist will also be able to tell if you can develop the phobia again or not.