Traumatophobia (fear of being hurt)-symptoms, causes, and treatments
Experiencing physical pain is not usually pleasant or attractive, but it does happen to us sooner or later. Either through an accident or carelessness, or through some intervention or surgical operation.
However, there are a number of people for whom this possibility creates exaggerated fear and extremely high levels of anxiety. We are talking about people who suffer from traumatophobia, a specific phobia that we will talk about throughout this article .
What is orthophobia?
According to the classification of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V), traumatophobia is a specific phobia classified within anxiety disorders in which the person experiences an abnormal and pathological fear of being injured, hurt or suffering any physical harm or injury.
The root of its name comes from the Greek terms “trauma” translated as wound, coupled with “phobos” which can be understood literally as fear. Therefore, trauma is understood as the experience of an exacerbated, irrational and uncontrollable fear of being hurt or physically harmed .
One of the main characteristics of trauma is that when the person suffering from it is exposed to blood, an injury or even an injection, they begin to experience feelings of extreme anxiety caused by the fear of this phobic stimulus.
As a consequence of this irrational and excessive anxiety, the traumathophobes manifest a constant desire to avoid specific objects and situations in which there is the possibility of getting hurt ; to the point of avoiding potentially healing medical procedures.
However, really serious cases of trauma have been described in which any activity or situation is cause for panic. Tasks and exercises such as running, cooking, driving, hiking or any type of sport can mean complete torture for the person, who will look for all kinds of reasons and excuses not to have to carry them out; the final and most serious consequence of this phobia being the fear of leaving the house .
This makes it very difficult for people with trauma to carry out their daily lives normally. What this means is that this condition can interfere both on the work, social and personal level of the subject.
But it’s normal to be afraid of pain, isn’t it?
Of course I do. Experiencing physical pain in any form or degree is not something that is usually pleasant or attractive (removing, of course, any pain-related paraphilia). Dislike and avoidance of pain is a logical reaction in any person who does not like to suffer; however, there are profound differences between this type of dislike and a phobic fear of trauma.
The main distinguishing features that differentiate a normal fear from a pathological fear are
- The fear response is excessive and disproportionate to the actual threat posed by the situation.
- Fear is irrational , to the point that the person is unable to find a reasonable explanation for his or her feeling of fear.
- It’s uncontrollable. This means that the person is completely unable to master the sensations he or she experiences.
- Causes avoidance and escape behaviour .
- Fear occurs constantly over time and through feared situations.
What symptoms do you have?
Since traumatophobia is part of a diagnostic classification of anxiety disorders, it is composed of a series of symptoms and presents the same clinical picture as other specific phobias.
The first and main symptom is your own feeling of fear at the possibility of getting hurt or injured , but there are many other symptoms that accompany it. Although they do not have to present themselves in the same way in every person, the clinical symptomatology of trauma includes physical symptoms, cognitive symptoms and behavioural symptoms.
1. Physical symptoms
Physical symptoms appear as a result of an overactivation of the nervous system in response to the appearance of the phobic stimulus and are usually the first symptoms that the person consciously experiences.
- Increased heart rate and palpitations.
- Increase in respiratory rate .
- Feeling of suffocation or shortness of breath.
- Muscle tension.
- Increased sweating.
- Headaches.
- Gastric disorders such as stomach pain and/or diarrhea.
- Dizziness or lightheadedness .
- Nausea and/or vomiting.
- Fades .
Cognitive symptoms
In addition to the physical symptoms, traumatic brain injury is also distinguished by a series of cognitive symptoms which form the basis of this specific phobia and in turn feed it, making it increasingly stable and strong.
This cognitive symptomatology manifests itself through distorted thoughts and irrational ideas about physical injuries and wounds. These ideas are also characterised by being intrusive and uncontrollable and are often accompanied by mental images with catastrophic content in relation to the possible dangers or threats of this phobic stimulus.
3. Behavioral symptoms
Finally, the third group of symptoms is that which includes the altered behavior patterns of the person with trauma. These tend to interfere with the person’s daily life , modifying the way he/she behaves and generating two different types of responses: avoidance and escape behaviours.
Avoidance behaviors include all those behaviors that the subject with traumatic brain injury carries out with the aim of avoiding the situation or phobic object. For example, avoiding engaging in a risky sport.
On the other hand, escape behaviours originate when the person has not been able to avoid the confrontation with the feared situation , which will trigger all kinds of acts or behaviours that will allow him/her to escape from such situation as soon as possible.
What are the causes?
There are many factors that can influence the development of a specific phobia. However, experiencing a highly traumatic experience related to the phobic stimulus is usually the most common of all.
Although it is difficult to find the specific causes that have caused a person to develop a phobia, since sometimes not even they are aware of what events have caused it .
Among the rest of the elements or risk factors that can promote the development of a phobia are
- Genetic conditions.
- Personality patterns.
- Cognitive styles .
- Direct conditioning.
- Vocational or imitation learning.
Is there a treatment?
Although not all people who suffer from a phobia usually ask for help, in the specific case of trauma it can become highly disabling , so its treatment is necessary.
With the development of therapies and treatments for anxiety disorders, a series of action protocols or treatment guidelines have been created that can help reduce the symptoms of phobia and allow the person to lead a normal rhythm and lifestyle.
Traditionally, the treatment of phobias has been based on psychological intervention. This has proved to be the most effective and has given the most stable results. In it, a cognitive restructuring is carried out to eliminate distorted thoughts, accompanied by live exposure or systematic desensitization techniques (SD).
These techniques consist of gradual exposure to phobia-related situations, either live or through imagination. Along with this, training is given in relaxation techniques that allow the level of physical symptoms of anxiety to be reduced.