brief information
This is a rather specific phobia, internal fear carefully hidden from others. Psychologists also call this disease aphephobia. And although the name is slightly different, the essence remains the same - this is a reluctance to communicate and touch strangers. These manifestations should not be confused with such spiritual qualities as modesty and shyness. Fear prevents him from leading a full life, breaks his relationships with loved ones, prevents him from forming friendships, and hinders the development of professional interests, because even an ordinary handshake can upset the fragile mental balance and lead to a panic attack.
Residents of megacities often suffer from this phobia, because every day they have to deal with a huge number of strangers, crossing paths with them on public transport, meeting them in public places.
Residents of a metropolis find it difficult to avoid contact with each other
Causes of the disease
There are quite a lot of factors that cause the development of haptophobia. They can be divided into two equal groups. Let's look at them in more detail. Psychologists include the first group, external factors that cause fear of other people’s touches:
- Disorders of the nervous system and various mental disorders (neuroses and obsessions).
- Violence experienced by a person in early or teenage years. This can be either sexual pressure or physical pressure from an adult on a child. The phobia is especially acute if the victim is a man who had a homosexual relationship in childhood.
- Mental retardation. Often, haptophobia is an accompanying factor in other diseases, for example, autism, when the child perceives the people around him acutely and painfully, as well as any of their touches.
- Professional activity. The phobia can easily develop among medical workers who have to deal with various infections and diseases. Law enforcement officers are also at risk. In their work, police officers deal with homeless people, drug addicts and other categories of citizens who lead an antisocial lifestyle and do not maintain personal hygiene.
- Puberty. Fear of any stranger's touch can appear in a child when he enters adolescence and begins to actively change physically. Girls will shy away from the touches of adult men, and boys will be embarrassed by girls.
Internal reasons related to personality development also influence the formation of such fear:
- Personal characteristics. Closed, uncommunicative, shy people who do not like to communicate with others and do not tolerate when their personal space is invaded may not notice that they have developed haptophobia. For such people, a comfort zone is important, and they will refuse to undergo treatment until the last moment in order to get rid of their fears.
- Increased disgust and fear of getting any kind of infection can easily turn into a phobia.
- Asexuality. Due to disrupted hormonal levels, a person develops intolerance to touching of a sexual nature. Any contact with the opposite sex is disgusting.
- Nationalistic or racist views may cause a person to become afraid of being touched by others.
Fear of touch: internal causes
If a sexually active woman or man suddenly ceases to be interested in the opposite sex, has problems with weight or health, or has a phobia, then it is recommended to check the hormonal levels. Low levels of testosterone or estrogen lead to a decrease in libido, so the desire to make love and simply touch someone disappears.
The phobia also haunts male adolescents. Young men avoid contacts with the opposite sex, fearing the appearance of an erection at an inconvenient moment and the condemnation of others who have witnessed the excitement.
Aphenphosmophobia can be a consequence of rape, when strangers and overly intrusive acquaintances are associated with danger. Patients who were forced into sex as children prefer loneliness and have difficulty getting close to people. Women are frightened when strangers try to take their hand or touch another part of their body. Girls in such situations either run away or fight back the enemy. In some cases, everything ends only in indignation, although a stranger can get hit in the face or nose. Patients during panic do not control their own actions.
Boys who are victims of adult men have a hard time socializing. They do not form friendships or romantic relationships for fear of the situation repeating itself.
Some patients experience discomfort from the touch of certain categories of people: those with dark skin, excess weight, or physical characteristics. The disorder is caused by racist beliefs or hostility towards disabled or overweight people. Perhaps the patient is subconsciously afraid of getting hurt or gaining weight.
Symptoms of haptophobia
The fear of touch does not go unnoticed. People suffering from this disease cannot control themselves in the presence of others. The touches of loved ones and relatives become unbearable for them. They flinch at any attempt to touch them, cannot control their facial expressions and do not hide their displeasure about this. The most common physical symptoms are:
- trembling in the body,
- the appearance of cold sweat,
- hand tremors,
- breathing problems.
On a psychological level, a person experiences such a strong feeling of disgust that he simply cannot stop trying to wash his hands.
The attacks are accompanied by a surge of uncontrollable fear, which develops into a panic attack, during which the person begins to scream and cry. Quite often, this phobia arises as a result of the presence of other fears: fear of contracting some kind of infection or fear of sexual violence.
Cold sweat, one of the symptoms of a phobia
How to recognize a haptophobe?
People with a fear of touch are not difficult to identify. They try to keep others at a distance, rarely letting others into their lives. Family relationships become complicated and tense: a person refuses hugs and touches, avoiding communication even with loved ones. Sexual relationships gradually fade away and begin to inspire fear and disgust.
Fear of touch makes a person irritable and aggressive. He reacts sharply to any attempts at physical contact, and can scream and hit someone who dares to violate his personal space. The actions of a haptophobe are not conscious.
People susceptible to this phobia try to wear closed clothes, are afraid to go to crowded places and use public transport.
They take a long time to prepare themselves emotionally and psychologically before any appearance.
A person may not even realize that his fear has developed into a phobia and has acquired the proportions of a disease that needs to be treated. In this case, it is very difficult for loved ones to force the patient to seek help, and family relationships deteriorate.
The patient tries to avoid touching even within the family
Features of fear of human touch
Suffering from haptophobia:
- tries to avoid communicating with unfamiliar people. Does not enter elevators, rarely travels by public transport, is an infrequent visitor to shops;
- hates any touch - handshakes, friendly pats on the shoulder, hugs. Even when communicating with good friends. The exception is close relatives.
If everything is left to chance, haptophobia will progress. Gradually, a person will become unbearable to be touched even by loved ones. This will destroy personal life and lead to isolation. A person suffering from haptophobia may stop communicating with people and turn into a recluse.
How to get rid of the fear of touch
Only a specialist – a psychotherapist – can diagnose this disease. Having realized that he has a fear of any touch, a person cannot always independently understand the true cause of the fear. The doctor will help the patient understand himself, and professional consultations and prescribed treatment will relieve this illness. The first step is recognition of the disease, the second is complete trust in the attending physician and the chosen treatment methods.
During the meetings, the psychotherapist will offer to consider childhood fears and traumatic situations that arose during life. In some cases, a phobia arises as a result of a violation of a person's social interaction with society. The doctor may refer the patient to personal growth groups to receive appropriate therapy and assistance.
If haptophobia is a consequence of a disorder of the nervous system and serious psychological disorders, medications, including antidepressants, may be prescribed as treatment.
The psychotherapist prescribes therapy based on the individual causes of fear. This could be ballroom dancing, yoga or another sport where the patient will have to be in constant contact with others. Shock therapy is used for those haptophobes who can control themselves during panic attacks. They are recommended “because I can’t” to visit public places and actively use various types of public transport.
Ballroom dancing will help you get rid of the fear of touching
What is haptophobia
Phobias can be very different; among the most “condemned” and “misunderstood” is haptophobia – fear of being touched. Fear is also often called aphephobia, haphophobia, haptephobia. This is a rather rare and specific phobia, which manifests itself as an obsessive fear of the touch of other people, a reluctance to contact them. The phobia manifests itself in psychasthenia or obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Haptophobia is an overly exaggerated sense of personal space. Every person has it, and everyone tries to protect it from the intrusions of strangers. However, in people whose psyche is disturbed, the boundary between personal and common space blurs, and the touch of strangers becomes more than unpleasant, and then a phobia appears. When a stranger “penetrates” personal territory, the feeling of discomfort intensifies to the limit, the fear of physical contact becomes uncontrollable.
In the modern world, intolerance to other people's touches is becoming so common that most people, including patients themselves, do not take it seriously. Although most often fear is only a side effect of a more serious illness, and it is treated after a person manages to cope with his neurosis.
The phobia can spread not only to strangers and random strangers, but also to family members and close friends. Often, fear of touch is mistaken for increased disgust, and as a result, resentment and misunderstanding arise; they react negatively to fear, without helping to overcome it with their support.
