First, in today's post you will learn more about the meaning of aphobia, Moreover, as usual in our publications, we will go beyond the fear of not being afraid. aphobia, which is the theme of this article, and we will go through historical content, etymology, science, etc.

It is very interesting, it will be the best invested 7 minutes of your life, check it out!

What is aphophobia?

"Phobia" comes from Phobos, the Greek goddess of fear, can be defined as a persistent, irrational fear that results in a conscious avoidance of the specific feared activity, situation, or objects.

Governed by the prefix á-, in function of privation or negation, based on the Indo-European *ne-, for not, the letter "a" placed just behind the word "phobia" brings, in free meaning, the idea of "not-fear"; not to be afraid.

However, the aphobia This "non-fear", in fact, is like a fear, a phobia, of not having a phobia.

Making it simple to uncomplicate

Within this same logic, we have the example of some big words that generate the fear that people have of pronouncing them. However, ironically, the very word that expresses this phobia is frightening.

Who doesn't stumble over the syllables of more difficult words? If it weren't for the phobia at the end, it would have everything to be the name of a remote ancestor.

Still, in the infinity of phobias that Google brings us, it is possible to reflect on the vast world that is the human mind. It is not easy to imagine what a person suffering from aphobia, which is the fear of lack of a phobia, would be like. If the person has a phobia, then where is the lack of the phobia?

Keeping the line of reasoning

Still within this line of thought, there are numerous conflicts about this and other phobias for which there is still no scientific explanation. That is, they have not yet been brought to the light of truth.

The fact is: fear, in itself, is a psychological and physiological reaction that arises in response to a possible threat or dangerous situation, while phobia does not follow a logic and, in these cases, is incoherent with the real danger it represents.

Therefore, there are several types of phobias, namely social phobia, which causes intense fear of social situations, followed by agoraphobia, which is the fear of places full of people, and simple phobia, which causes fear of animals, objects, or specific situations.

The fear of not being afraid

Scientists who have studied the aphobia explain that it may be a result of evolutionary selection. It is something of the human being himself. This means that we need to have fear as an ally in our daily lives.

In the absence of fear, we would have no reaction at all when faced with dangerous situations, such as the coming of a mastodon in the middle ages or when a car speeds toward us.

Thus, the fear information arrives directly in parts of our brain that govern defensive reactions, before it even reaches the cerebral cortex that directs our reasoning.

In practice...

It is impossible not to be afraid, given the situations presented above.

Fear is a situation proper to our existence and survival. The proof of this is that even if you are not afraid, it is possible to develop the phobia of not fearing something, or some fact, or someone.

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Fears and Psychoanalysis

In gold, besides the fear of survival, there is also the fear created by our mind. In this way, we do not run the imminent risk of not perpetuating our race on earth when we stutter in front of an audience or in front of our boss when we go to ask for a raise, for example.

Finally, imaginary fear is also part of our everyday life and is necessary to shape our posture, our evolution.

Freud explains

Fear is a fundamental concept for Freud, the father of psychoanalysis. According to him, it is the fear of being less loved that makes men seek evolution and submit themselves to sexual and social tests.

Besides the fact, without fear, we could be unmotivated to compete, to innovate, to be better than our neighbors, etc. We would live in chaos. So being afraid can have a certain importance.

History of fear in the West

Looking back at the past, the fear of being guilty, even of not feeling fear (aphobia), comes from this basic and unconscious need for human survival. Fear reproduces itself physically and spiritually for everyone, and can even base oppressive institutions and make society walk away from barbarism.

If I see that I can harm you, the feedback is equivalent, and so I fear you.

Finally, in order to live well and have a healthy society, we create superior things to fear, such as the police and religion. Without fear, we would have none of these things.

Is there age, heredity, or temperament?

Some types of phobia develop early, usually in childhood. Then others can occur during adolescence, and there are those that can also appear in early adulthood, up to about the age of 35. So it can be a hereditary tendency.

However, experts suspect that children are capable of learning and acquiring phobias just by observing the reactions of a close person in a situation of little or no danger. After all, in childhood the possibility of absorbing certain things is greater.

However, the risk of developing a specific phobia may increase if you have a difficult temperament, are sensitive, and have more withdrawn behavior than usual.

ICD-10 (International Classification of Diseases)

The phobia is defined mainly by the nature of the anxiety about a particular object or situation, a specific and localized nature, different from what occurs in panic disorder and generalized anxiety disorder.

For this reason, it is possible to observe in the disorders an inappropriate separation of perceptual and emotional aspects of psychological functioning.

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Another important characteristic is that the individual is aware of his fear, and it is therefore essential to distinguish an individual with a phobia from one who is in a delirium.

Treatments aphobia

A person must fit certain criteria found in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, published by the American Psychiatric Association.

Experts use three different approaches to patients: psychotherapy and the use of specific medications, but it is also possible to combine the two, all after proper consultation with a professional.

Finally, treatment for phobia aims to reduce the anxiety and fear caused by illogical, irrational, and exaggerated motives, helping to manage the physical and psychological reactions to this fear.

Final considerations

Phobias can compromise people's lives and lead them to situations such as social isolation, depression, substance abuse, and, in the last case, suicide. Therefore, seeking medical help is always the best way for people who already show symptoms.

In the end, phobia turns ordinary fears into real monsters in everyday life. We must have empathy for those who have this kind of problem.

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