Gelotophobia is the fear of being made fun of, laughed at or ridiculed . It usually appears in social situations, in front of more people; it arises especially in childhood and adolescence.

We should not confuse gelotophobia (a specific phobia) with other types of disorders, such as social phobia, avoidant personality or schizoid personality. In this article we will make its differential diagnosis and we will know what it is, the symptoms of it, as well as its causes and possible treatments.

Gelotophobia: what is it?

Phobias are intense fears of certain stimuli, objects or situations. You can say that there is a phobia for everything, and that is why you can fear almost any stimulus. Generally, the fear that appears in phobias is irrational and disproportionate to the possible harm that such a stimulus or situation may cause. Phobias are a type of anxiety disorder.

The DSM-5 (Diagnostic Manual of Mental Disorders) classifies specific phobias into 5 groups, according to the phobic stimulus: phobia of animals (e.g. snakes), phobia of blood/injection/injury (e.g. needles), phobia of natural situations or environments (e.g. storms), situational phobia (e.g. driving) and other types of phobia (e.g. choking).

Gelotophobia is a type of phobia associated with the possibility of being made fun of ; that is, the person who suffers from it feels an irrational and intense fear of being laughed at or made fun of. That is why a person with gelotophbia may adopt paranoid or distrustful behaviors towards others, constantly fearing that they are talking badly about her or that they may make a fool of her.

Thus, following the classification proposed by the DSM-5 for specific phobias, gelotophobia could be classified as “other type of phobia”, since it does not correspond to any of the previous 4.

Symptoms

The symptoms of gelotophobia correspond to the typical symptoms of specific phobias , and constitute diagnostic criteria of DSM-5. These symptoms are:

1. Intense fear of mockery

Gelotophobia mainly translates into an intense fear of being made fun of by others . Instead of fear, intense anxiety can also arise from experiencing such situations. This implies that the organism becomes over-active on a psycho-physiological level (with typical symptoms of anxiety).

The situations that are feared are those that can trigger others to laugh or make fun of us. This also applies to people who can do this, or who have done it before.

2. Avoidance

The person with geloto phobia, moreover, wants to avoid this fear of being made fun of . That is why he also avoids people or situations that could trigger it. On the other hand, it may happen that instead of avoidance, there is resistance to such situations but with a high anxiety associated.

3. Persistence of fear

The fear or anxiety that appears in gelatophobia, as in other types of phobias, is persistent . That is, it appears very constantly and is prolonged over time. In fact, it is necessary that the symptoms of the geloto phobia be maintained for a minimum of 6 months in order to be diagnosed.

4. Altered operation

The daily functioning of the person with geloto phobia is altered ; that is, the person shows difficulties in carrying out his/her daily activities normally, even in starting or finishing tasks that he/she would normally solve.

These alterations cover the different spheres of the individual’s life, including the social, work, academic and personal spheres.

Differential diagnosis

It is important to distinguish gellophobia from other types of mental disorders. The disorders that could most closely resemble gellophobia and that should therefore be ruled out beforehand, by making a correct differential diagnosis, are the following.

1. Avoidant Personality Disorder

Avoidant personality disorder (RSD) is characterized by a marked pattern of social inhibition , coupled with feelings of hypersensitivity to negative evaluation and rejection and feelings of incompetence.

It is precisely this hypersensitivity to negative evaluation that can confuse us with a gelotophobia. However, TPE is a personality disorder, which means that the individual’s functioning will be much more altered than in gelatophobia (a type of anxiety disorder). In addition, in RPT the fear is of mockery but also of criticism, rejection, isolation… that is, the fear is more generic than in gellophobia (where the fear is limited to mockery).

In addition, RPT includes other symptoms that are not included in gelophobia, such as fear of taking personal risks or of getting involved in new activities (i.e., the person avoids many types of situations; in gelophobia, however, the situations are limited to those that can cause a teasing situation).

2. Schizoid personality disorder

Schizoid personality disorder is another disorder that can be confused with gellophobia. In schizoid personality, a pattern characterized by social isolation appears . However, this does not appear because of the fear of being made fun of, as it does in gellophobia; in fact, people with schizoid personality become socially isolated because they have no interest in others.

3. Social phobia

Finally, a third disorder that we must differentiate from gelotophobia is social phobia . Social phobia, just like gellophobia, is also an anxiety disorder. The difference is, however, that the fear of gellophobia is linked to a specific stimulating situation; in contrast, in social phobia, it is one or more social situations (or public performances) that produce fear.

That is to say, in social phobia people fear more situations, and for the fact that they are social situations (for fear of shame, of being left blank, of not knowing what to say, of being judged…); in gelotophobia people fear only the fact that they can make fun of themselves.

Furthermore, because of all this, social phobia implies a broader pattern of avoidance than gelotophbia.

Causes

The causes of gelotophobia are usually related to traumatic experiences where one or more mocking situations have been experienced . This can make us think of situations such as bullying or mobbing.

The etiology of this phobia is also related to low self-esteem, insecurities, fear of other social situations, etc. It can also appear as a consequence of a depressive disorder, where the person experiences a feeling of deep sadness, guilt and insecurity, among others, and where this fear of being laughed at can also appear.

Treatment

The psychological treatment of gelotophobia will include cognitive restructuring techniques to help the person understand that they are not always laughing at themselves, and that sometimes they may have dysfunctional and erroneous thoughts that are making them believe precisely this.

In other words, care will be taken to ensure that the person does not feel threatened by situations that are not really threatening to him or her, trying to reduce and eliminate the paranoid thoughts that make the patient feel observed and criticized.

On the other hand, psychological therapy will try to ensure that the patient has (or learns) adequate coping mechanisms to enable him/her to cope with social situations and/or where others are really making fun of him/her.

Importance of prevention

Childhood and adolescence are typical ages where gelotophobia appears; that is why prevention will be important , encouraging in the classroom and at home respectful behaviours among children to avoid bullying or mocking behaviours towards others.

In addition, it is advisable not to overprotect children, as this can make it difficult for them to socialize and not know how to relate properly to others.

Finally, techniques should be employed to teach children to tolerate feelings of frustration or fear of ridicule when they arise, so that they can manage their emotions appropriately. This will increase their personal safety and prevent them from feeling so bad when they “make a fool of themselves” or are “made fun of”.

Bullying and harassment should always be fought, but we should also provide tools for children and adolescents to manage such situations if they occur, seeking help when necessary.

Bibliographic references:

  • American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. Fifth edition. Washington DC: Author.

  • Belloch, A.; Sandín, B. and Ramos, F. (2010). Manual of Psychopathology. Volume I and II. Madrid: McGraw-Hill.