Fear of touch is a very common pathology. According to statistical studies, a huge number of residents of megacities suffer from one form or another of this disorder. Of course, this phobia negatively affects a person's life, significantly worsening its quality, making social and sometimes romantic contacts impossible.
There is nothing strange in the fact that many people are interested in additional information about this pathology. What is the fear of touch called? What are the symptoms to look out for? What is the development of this phobia? Are there effective therapies? Does medical treatment help in this case? The answers to these questions will be useful to many readers.
Fear of touch: a phobia and its features
Haptophobia is a pathological fear of a person in relation to the touch of people. In science, other terms are used to refer to this condition - these are aphephobia, haphophobia, thixophobia.
This disorder is diagnosed in many residents of megacities. As a rule, the disease begins with discomfort during physical contact. And if firstthe fear of touching strangers only slightly complicates the patient's life, then as the pathology progresses, the problems become more pronounced. There is immunity and even disgust in contact with relatives, family members, loved ones. Unpleasant sensations turn into an obsessive fear that makes any social interaction impossible.
How to recognize a haptophobe?
In fact, people suffering from such a phobia have a very characteristic behavior. Any physical contact causes emotional discomfort, a feeling of fear and disgust in the patient. This is often reflected in their reactions, for example, a person can step back, pull his hand sharply when shaking hands. Facial expressions also change.
Haptophobe - a person who prefers solitude. Going to visit or any other place where there is a possibility of physical contact requires a long mental preparation. Such people rarely appear in busy places, as there is always a risk of accidental touching in a crowd. In the absence of therapy, discomfort also appears in contact with loved ones, for example, children, spouse. Naturally, such behavior greatly complicates the social life of a person, often the patient ends up completely alone.
Physical symptoms of a mental disorder
Closedness, secrecy, a tendency to loneliness and unwillingness to leave the comfort zone - these are not all signspathology. Patients note that the phobia is accompanied by quite tangible physical disorders. Physical contact often causes the following symptoms:
- feeling of disgust and disgust upon contact;
- severe dizziness, nausea, which often ends in vomiting;
- sudden weakness, tremor of limbs;
- feeling of the unreality of what is happening, distortion of perception;
- panic attack with difficulty breathing (patients begin to choke).
If a person can still somehow try to hide emotional experiences, then it is almost impossible to cope with the physical manifestations of a phobia.
The role of personality traits in the development of pathology
Of course, the fear of touch can be caused by the peculiarities of personality development. For example, some people value privacy above all else - they can't stand familiarity, physical contact, or talking to strangers.
You can not write off the nationalist beliefs. For example, a person may be uncomfortable being touched by a member of another nationality or race. Risk factors include increased disgust, pathological pedantry and the desire for cleanliness. Fear of touch often develops in people with asexuality.
All of the above personality traits are not pathologies in themselves, but in some cases they can develop into real phobias, which are already much more difficultcontrol.
Fear of touch: causes
In fact, the reasons for the development of this phobia can be extremely diverse. Some of the most common risk factors can be identified.
- According to statistics, people with autism spectrum disorders and intellectual disabilities often respond inappropriately to physical contact.
- Phobia can be associated with disorders of the nervous system (psychasthenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder), various personality disorders (obsessive-compulsive disorders).
- Fear of touch often develops as a result of childhood physical or sexual abuse. There are cases when haptophobia developed in people whose childhood passed under the total control of their parents.
- The specifics of the work also matter. For example, medical staff, firefighters and workers of some other processions regularly have to deal with sick, injured people. Often, such contacts cause disgust, and this feeling is then transferred to the touch of loved ones.
What other phobias can this pathology be associated with?
In fact, the fear of touch is often associated with other phobias. For example, sometimes in patients the fear of contact is associated with asexuality. Any touch is perceived by a person as something sexual, and since there is no sexual desire and satisfaction from sexual intercourse, the contact itself causes onlydisgust.
Haptophobia is often associated with the fear of being in a crowd, sensitivity to noise and other environmental factors. Often there is also a pathological fear of catching an infection.
Diagnostic measures
Fear of touch is a pathology that can be diagnosed by an experienced psychotherapist. During the session, the doctor is obliged to collect the most complete history of the patient, to study the characteristics of his behavior, the presence of certain symptoms, to highlight situations that provoke the appearance of physical manifestations of a phobia.
Of course, the process does not end there. Diagnosis flows smoothly into treatment, since for successful therapy it is extremely important to accurately determine the causes of fear, whether it be a psychological trauma that occurred in early childhood or hormonal disruptions.
When is medication needed?
As already mentioned, this phobia can be the result of hormonal disorders in the human body. The fear of touching people is sometimes associated with a decrease in the level of thyroid hormones, a decrease in the amount of synthesized sex hormones. In such cases, hormone replacement therapy is indicated.
In addition, the fear of touch is often associated with neurosis and various forms of psychoasthenia. In such cases, it may be appropriate to take sedative drugs, as well as antipsychotics. If, along with hapophobia, the patient has a tendency to depressive states, then the use ofantidepressants.
Psychotherapy and its features
Drug therapy can only relieve some of the symptoms and prevent the development of possible complications, thereby alleviating the patient's condition. But the fear of touching people is a pathology that develops and progresses over the years. To completely eliminate it, time and constant sessions with a psychologist are needed.
To begin with, specialists usually draw up a scheme of individual lessons. The main purpose of such sessions is to determine the root cause of the phobia. For example, sometimes a person needs to remember, realize and survive childhood trauma, get rid of guilt and wrong attitudes.
Group lessons will be useful in the future. Working with a group of people helps the patient grow above himself, re-develop the skills of social communication and perception, and adapt to being in society. If this gives positive results, then the doctor decides to conduct a kind of "shock therapy" - the patient must spend some time in a crowd of people, cope with his own sensations from touch and contact.
Fear of other people's touch is a serious problem. Nevertheless, with a properly designed treatment regimen, the constant work of the doctor and the patient, there is a chance to get rid of the phobia or at least make its manifestations more controllable.
