There are phobias that can go unnoticed, but others are very limiting and disabling. This is the case of hafephobia or fear of physical contact with other people . Be careful, because we have all felt that feeling of discomfort at times when they invade our personal space, but it is not always a phobic disorder. We tell you everything about hafephobia in our dictionary of phobias .
What is haphephobia
Haphephobia is the fear of physical contact with others, of being touched by someone, of having them invade your personal space. Logically, it is not the usual rejection we feel when someone without little or no confidence gets too close to us and touches us, but rather a feeling of panic when in contact with other people that becomes unbearable .
This fear of physical contact is one of the most limiting phobic disorders, as it minimizes social life and can lead to isolation. Simply having to ride the subway to work can cause anxiety to skyrocket. There is the difference between rejection and phobia, right where it begins to impact all areas of our life.
Symptoms of haphephobia
What goes through the head of a person suffering from haphephobia? That when another person touches her, she can infect her with a disease, that he is touching her because it is harassment, that he has the intention of hurting her or that she simply feels intimidated by so much proximity. As in all phobia, it is an irrational, unfounded and excessive fear .
The fact that it is an irrational fear and that the person who suffers it knows it does not mean that they can avoid experiencing all the symptoms of anxiety in the face of the feared situation . Being around people is a dangerous moment in which the whole body is on guard and can lead to a panic attack .
In addition to the usual physical symptoms of anxiety, haphephobia is compounded by psychic symptoms such as low self-esteem and a negative self- assessment due to these distorted thoughts. We insist, perhaps that person is very aware that their reactions are excessive, but thinks that they cannot do anything to avoid it.
Causes of haphephobia
A traumatic experience can be one of the causes of haphephobia or fear of physical contact with other people. Varied experiences and unpleasant or painful moments that end up being related to the gesture of being touched by another person. Imagine the death of a family member, for example. It is a good time for other people to come up to you and touch you, give you a hug, or touch you on the shoulder. It is not something negative, but you associate it with a very painful episode .
As with other phobias, sometimes the origin is in an anxiety disorder . That alert state to which anxiety leads us can find danger in any stimulus we can imagine. And in this case it is about physical contact with other people. If left untreated, other phobias will most likely arise.
Treatment of hafephobia
All phobias can be overcome, but it is necessary to seek the help of a professional psychologist . Sometimes it also requires drug treatment for a time. But in any case it is not something that we can heal ourselves if we want to guarantee ourselves a certain mental stability.
The most effective therapy in treating phobias is cognitive behavioral therapy. His way of acting is in the first place about distorted thinking, the one that leads you to think that you are in great danger when someone touches you. Then the therapy works on behavior, in this case avoidance, to modify it while reducing fear and anxiety.