The Apeophobia Is excessive and irrational fear to infinity. It includes the avoidance of situations in which there is a stimulus related to infinity, anxiety responses and anxious anticipation.
When we talk about apophobia, it is opportune to start by noting that this psychological alteration corresponds to a specific group of anxiety disorders, that is, to a specific phobia.
Specific phobias are quite common in world society, however, the elements feared in these disorders are not usually infinity.
Typically, elements feared in specific phobias usually have less abstract properties and are usually made up of tangible or easily perceivable elements.
Clear examples of this type of phobia are the Fear of spiders , To the blood , To the heights , To travel by plane, to be indoors, to drive, to certain types of animals, etc.
Nonetheless, apophobia, despite having different properties as regards the feared element, is not distant from the rest of specific phobias best known as regards the response of the person who suffers it.
In this way, both a spider phobia and an apophobia are characterized by the fact that the person performs a certain fear response when exposed to their feared element.
Thus, the response of a person who suffers from spider phobia when exposed to these animals may be practically the same as that presented by an apeirophobic person when exposed to infinity.
Evidently, exposure in one case and another will vary, as it is not the same to expose a person to a spider (a perfectly identifiable animal) that expose a person to infinity (a more abstract element).
However, we will leave aside for a moment the characteristics of the dreaded object and we will focus on the anxiety response that these produce when people with specific phobia are exposed to them.
In fact, the most important factor in this type of problem is not so much the dreaded element as the anxiety response that it produces.
Thus, to determine the presence of an apophobia we have to focus on the fear that the person experiences when exposed to the idea of infinity.
Thus, to claim that someone suffers from apophobia, he must experience the following type of fear when exposed to his dreaded stimulus:
- Fear is disproportionate to the demands of the situation.
- Fear can not be explained or reasoned by the individual.
- Fear is beyond voluntary control.
- The reaction of fear leads to avoidance of the dreaded situation.
- The fear experienced persists over time. A
- Fear is totally maladaptive.
- The fear experienced not specific of a certain phase or age, so it lasts through the years.
Diagnosis of apophobia
So far we have seen what kind of fear should be experienced to catalog it within a specific phobia.
We have also clarified that this type of fear must be experienced in the face of any situation that provokes an idea or thought of infinity.
Thus, the conditions that must be met to perform the diagnosis of apophobia are as follows:
- Present an accused and persistent fear that is excessive or irrational, triggered by the presence or anticipation of the object or the specific situation that triggers the idea or thought of infinity.
- Exposure to phobic stimulus almost invariably causes an immediate anxiety response, which may take the form of a situational distress crisis or more or less related to a given situation.
- The person who suffers from apophobia, recognizes that the fear he experiences with respect to the idea of infinity is excessive or irrational.
- The phobic situation (s) are avoided or endured at the cost of intense anxiety or discomfort.
- Avoidance behaviors, anxious anticipation, or discomfort caused by the dreaded situation (s) strongly interfere with the person's normal routine, labor (or academic) or social relationships, or cause A clinically significant discomfort.
- In children under 18 years the duration of these symptoms must have been at least 6 months.
- Anxiety, anxiety attacks or phobic avoidance behaviors associated with specific objects or situations can not be better explained by the presence of another mental disorder.
Causes
Aeropho- phobia is a rare type of specific phobia, so the characteristics of this mental disorder have been poorly studied.
However, because of the enormous similarities of all specific phobias, there seems to be some consensus that the causes of apophobia may not differ from other phobias.
In fact, as we have said, the only thing that differentiates a specific phobia from another is the feared element.
Thus, all types of specific phobia, including less common cases, belong to the same mental disorder, with possible common causes and, most of them, with identical response to the indicated psychological treatments.
Thus, through the multiple studies on the pathogenesis of specific phobias, we can mention six main factors that would explain the acquisition of apophobia. These are:
Direct or classic conditioning
This factor would explain how before a neutral stimulus such as the idea of infinity, the person is able to match it with an aversive stimulus that gives rise to anxiety.
In this way, the idea of infinity would be paired with independent aversive elements to the point that the person would end up responding in a totally phobic way before him.
For this to happen, many factors can be involved: early traumatic experiences, rigid thinking styles, Educational styles Determined or types of personality in need of excessive control over one's own life.
Vicarious conditioning.
According to this theory, the apophobia may not be acquired through lived experiences in the first person but through the learning or the external visualization of elements that are able to match the idea of infinity with aversive stimuli.
In these cases, it is especially important that during childhood, parents or someone close to them would experience this type of phobia or some kind of fear similar to apophobia.
Likewise, behaviors or operating styles overly modulated by the fear or need for control witnessed by the person during his childhood or adolescence could also participate in the acquisition of apophobia.
Verbal information
Another aspect that has proven to be relevant in the acquisition of specific phobias is the verbal and direct information to which a person is exposed.
Thus, if an individual is exposed to manifestations or repetitive information about the negative meaning possessed by the ideas of infinity, this could end up acquiring an apeophobia.
Non-Associative Theories
Other theories make reference to the genetics of phobias and to affirm that fear is an innate element in people.
Indeed, the response of fear is an innate element that, although it can manifest in different ways in each person, all human beings possess and experience it during our lives.
Thus, a part of the phobia could be explained through a genetic predisposition to experience apophobia.
Likewise, although there does not seem to be a high specificity for the genetic transmission of phobias, it does seem that the general fear response may contain important genetic components
Cognitive factors
These factors appear to be especially important in maintaining apophobia and not so much in its genesis.
That is, most probably the cognitive factors do not explain the acquisition of a pirophobia but they can explain that this alteration is maintained over time.
In fact, unrealistic ideas about the harm that can be received if exposed to the dreaded stimulus is the main factor that holds specific phobias.
Likewise, cognitive factors explain the attentional biases presented by people with apophobia as they pay more attention to any threat related to the phobic element.
Finally, the main indicator of recovery from apeirophobia lies in the exposure of the person suffering from this alteration to the feared elements.
Thus, cognitive factors are those that prevent the person from being exposed to such situations by the prediction of anxiety and discomfort, so these factors are essential in the maintenance of apophobia.
Treatment
The treatment of specific phobias, as it marks the Society of Clinical Psychology (APA) is based fundamentally on two techniques of intervention.
The first one, as we have discussed, focuses on exposing the person to the situation that has shown greater effectiveness in eliminating phobic thoughts.
That is, exposing the person to his feared element in order to get used to the phobic stimulus and eliminate his irrational thoughts about his fears.
In fact, irrational thoughts about the sensation of danger or fear that the phobic element produces is maintained because the person's own fear incapacitates him to expose himself to the stimulus and to verify that his thoughts of fear are not real.
Thus, when the person exposes himself to his dreaded element of prolonged form, he gradually sees that his thoughts are irrational and Is reducing your anxiety response Until the phobia is extinguished altogether.
However, apophobia presents a barrier in its treatment of exposure, since a person with this type of phobia can not be exposed live to their fears as these are not made up of real elements but thoughts about ideas of infinity.
Thus, people with aphiophobia present a phobic anxiety response when they are exposed to thought about the universe, the infinity or the feeling of falling into an endless void.
These elements are not tangible so we can not expose the person directly to their feared stimulus.
In this way, the exposure in apopho- phobia must be made through virtual reality In which you can expose the person to situations of infinity that generate phobic anxiety through computer programs.
Another treatment methodology consists of exposure in imagination where the person is exposed to his dreaded thinking through the imagined situations that the therapist guides him.
Both exposure techniques have been shown to be effective in reducing phobic thoughts and reducing the anxiety that occurs at that time.
Finally, in parallel to the exposure treatment, two more treatments can be performed.
One of them, Relaxation techniques , Are especially effective in reducing a person's anxiety levels prior to exposure to their feared elements.
Thus, before starting the exposure therapy, a relaxation treatment is performed so that the person is exposed to their fears with the least level of anxiety possible.
Finally, cognitive techniques can be applied to finish changing irrational thoughts that have not disappeared during Exposure therapy .
References
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- Sourcebook, Vol 2. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press; 1996: 473-506.
- Muris P, Schmidt H, Merckelbach H. The structure of specific phobia symptoms among children and adolescents. Behav Res Ther 1999; 37: 863-868.
- Samochowiec J, Hajduk A, Samochowiec A, et al. Association studies of MAO-A, COMT, and 5-HTT gene polymorphisms in patients with anxiety disorders of the phobic spectrum. Psychiatry Res 2004; 128: 21-26.