The Phalacrophobia Or peladofobia is the fear or fear of the baldness, to remain bald and to gradually lose the hair. This term is also used to indicate fear or fear of bald persons.
Hair loss is very common and affects a high percentage of the population, some studies indicate that three-quarters of men will eventually lose their hair for genetic reasons. For the most part it is due to so-called androgenetic alopecia, which is also known as male pattern baldness.
Although today there are other causes for which we lose hair, stress, lifestyle, lack of vitamins and minerals or a diet low in protein are related to this fall. The result is that many people are concerned about the possibility of baldness, and perform rituals such as counting the hairs left on the pillow when getting up, or analyzing the ones left in the brush after combing.
It was previously considered that this phobia was only related to the fear of bald persons, but the true magnitude of the problem lies in the fear of losing one's own hair. This fear occurs even in people with abundant hair and no apparent or justified indications that hair loss will occur.
They have come to detect very serious cases in which the person gets to have a distorted view of reality and when you look in the mirror you see with little hair or baldness, despite having abundant hair and totally healthy.
Facts about phalacrophobia
A hair loss clinic headquartered in the United Kingdom conducted a survey to find out what problems of all who are appearing with the passage of age are what most concern men. This study involved 2000 male residents in the UK and the result is clear: 94% chose baldness as the most feared effect of aging, ahead of impotence, gaining weight or losing hearing.
On the other hand, a study conducted by the Gallup Institute involving a total of 1,500 men from Germany, France, Italy, the United Kingdom and Spain, concludes that 70% of Europeans believe that baldness worsens their image. In addition, 71% think that they lose personal attractiveness, 61.6% consider that they damage their self-esteem, 59.4% are worried about looking older and 53.4% develop a Strong feeling of insecurity .
Therefore, the importance that is given to hair has to do with self-concept, and its loss directly affects self-esteem and increases the insecurity of the person. Until a few years ago this did not seem to concern men at all, lived it as part of the aging process, or as a result of their genetic inheritance. Today, giving so much importance to the aesthetic and physical values implies that the fact of being bald is lived as a real problem.
The psychologist Carmen Berzosa who has done different studies in this regard concludes that it is not baldness that makes the person less attractive, but the fact of not accepting what leads to loss of self-confidence, and this may result In a loss of appeal.
By contrast, a study by researcher Albert Mannes of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in the year 2013 concludes that bald or shaved men are perceived as more manly as well as looking stronger and even taller.
Causes
Fear is a common experience for humans that has also had and has an important adaptive value for the survival of the species.
Adaptive fear is formed by a series of sensations that are set in motion as a normal response to real dangers. For example, in the face of a fire, the fear response would set us in motion to act, to flee, to try to quell it, to ask for help, and so on. If there was no adaptive fear, in the face of this danger situation we would do nothing and risk not trying to save our lives.
However, when these sensations are experienced in situations that do not pose a real threat, for example at the prospect of losing hair, boarding a plane, atop a building or talking in public, we are faced with a fear that already Is not adaptive. The term phobia is used to describe this type of undesirable fear reactions.
Therefore, phobias are irrational, intense and uncontrollable fears of particular situations or elements. This fear persists even though the person is aware that he is not a real threat.
Phobias usually develop during childhood and adolescence and there is no single cause for which they appear, but there are usually several reasons that converge for their development.
One of the possible causes is that during childhood a traumatic experience with the situation or the fact that causes fear. In this particular phobia, and taking into account the part of the definition that indicates fear of the bald persons, it is possible that the person who develops this phobia had some unpleasant experience during his childhood or adolescence with a bald person that left him marked. Later on seeing a hairless subject would associate with that fact producing the same fear that at that time.
But not only is a traumatic event necessary to develop a phobia because not all people who live an unpleasant experience develop it. At this point the predisposition or genetic inheritance to trigger that fear becomes important.
In other cases, phobias are acquired through learning, that is, if a father has a phobia to become bald, it is possible that his son also develops it because he has learned it.
Other phobias have their origin in the development of the human being as a species. Thousands of years ago being afraid of a storm or a spider was necessary to save the life. Although this is not the case today, we have inherited that fear that was adaptive at the time.
And finally there are phobias called cultural. In the case of this phobia, and in view of the data from the surveys mentioned above, it is necessary to take into account the cultural factor for its development. That is, what is traditionally considered as attractive or manly or the fact of seeing baldness as a defect or weak point.
In most cases the person does not remember when the phobia began to develop or what caused the phobia. But the usual reaction to the phobia is to avoid exposing yourself to it. In this case, avoid relating or seeing people without hairs, seek treatments, ask for information to prevent their loss or develop behaviors such as controlling the daily amount of hair they lose.
symptom
The symptoms that appear in this phobia are like those that are manifested in other types of phobias and are divided in three planes: physiological, cognitive, and behavioral reactions.
Within the physiological reactions the most typical are: excessive sweating, palpitations, increased blood pressure, shortness of breath, nausea and / or vomiting. At the cognitive level, a series of beliefs and thoughts about the dreaded stimulus, the situation or the inability to face it appear. And at the behavioral level, the most common thing is to flee quickly from the situation and try to avoid it at all costs in the future.
In extreme cases the confluence of all these symptoms can trigger in a panic attack when faced with a bald person or visualize it on television or in photography. This episode can also occur before the thoughts and imagination of the baldness itself.
Treatment
Most of the treatments that have proven to be effective for disorders of this type include exposure to the dreaded stimuli. It consists in facing that stimulus repeatedly, until it stops producing fear.
That is, if we face what we fear and does not involve any negative consequences we will lose the fear that provokes the stimulus or concrete situation. Taking into account that all these treatments are based on exposure can be classified into different therapies:
Exposure Therapy
Although within this type of therapy there are different alternatives, which the therapist chooses based on elements such as the concrete fear, the particularities of the patient or the situation there are some common factors. It is a direct confrontation in vivo or in imagination of the dreaded stimulus or situation until anxiety is reduced. It is advisable to do it gradually and always with the help of the therapist.
Cognitive Therapy
This type of therapy is usually done in combination with exposure. On the one hand, information is sought on the feared stimulus, on the possible causes of the onset of phobia, and on what grounds the fear continues. It is about having the most relevant information referred to the phobic stimulus. This helps to understand what is happening and why. This way it will be easier to find possible solutions.
On the other hand, the thoughts that produce the anxiety are detected and modified. For example:"If I go bald it will be horrible, I lose attractive and I will never find a partner". "Every time I see hairs on the pillow or the brush I feel terrible because every time I have less and I do not feel comfortable with myself." It is a question of identifying these thoughts that cause the person's discomfort and help them to put them in question so that they stop producing anxiety.
Anxiety Control Techniques
The most used are Relaxation , Diaphragmatic breathing and self-instruction. In most cases these techniques are combined with exposure. They are very useful especially in the early stages of treatment, when the person lives the exposure to the dreaded stimulus as a true source of anxiety. In order to develop these techniques efficiently it is necessary to train them for several sessions.
Biological treatment
In this field, there is unanimity among the different researchers and professionals that there is no single pharmacological treatment and exclusive for the eradication of phobia.
However, drugs such as Benzodiazepines Or beta-blockers as a complement to the techniques explained above. But the studies done in this regard seem to indicate that the use of drugs could hinder the therapeutic work of exposure so it is not usual to use in treatment.
CONCLUSIONS
If you think that the fear of losing hair affects in an important way in your life, you have recurrent thoughts on the subject, you generate intense discomfort or you feel identified with the symptoms of phalacro- phobia it would be advisable to go to a specialist and request psychological help.
As we have seen there are different treatments to overcome these fears but it is always necessary the help of a professional. Although it is not easy and requires intensive and continuous work these treatments are effective in most cases. Treating and ending phobia will contribute to improving your quality of life and personal well-being in a remarkable way.
If you find yourself in this situation a first step is to begin"to understand baldness as something natural because this will help us cope with the situation". This is indicated by the psychologist Carmen Berzosa who has made numerous studies on alopecia and its psychological consequences in people who suffer from it.
As this psychologist also remembers in any case the important thing is to accept yourself because in this way the fear of losing your hair will not cause any fear since you will feel at ease with yourself.
Likewise talking about it can help you solve the problem because we often suffer in silence and when we verbalize it we begin to see the problem from another perspective or we receive other points of view that we had not taken into account.
Looking around can also be reassuring. It is possible that you discover that many people with this problem that you fear so much lead a totally happy and normalized life, without the baldness affecting in their personal, professional or social value.
References
- Rivas, A. (2013). Going Bald Named The Greatest Aging Fear By 94% Of Men. New York: Medical Daily.
- Innes, E. (2013). Men are more scared of going BALD than becoming impotent. London: Mail Online.
- Trüeb, R.A. (2013). The Difficult Hair Loss Patient: A Particular Challenge. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 5 (3) 110-114.
- Hunt, N., McHale, S. (2005). Clinical review: The psychological impact of alopecia. British Medical Journal, 331, 951-953.
- McLary, H. (2012). Peladophobia: Fear of Losing Your Hair. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
- Castle, D.J., Phillips, K.A., Dufresne, R.G. Jr. (2004). Body dysmorphic disorder and cosmetic dermatology: more than skin deep. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 3 (2), 99-103.
- Ghanizadeh, A., Ayoobzadehshirazi, A. (2014). A Review of Psychiatric Disorders Comorbidities in Patients with Alopecia Areata. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 6 (1), 2-4.
- Antuña-Bernardo, S., Garcia-Vega, E., González Menéndez, A., Secades Villa, R., Errasti Pérez, J., Curto Iglesias, J.R. (2000). Psychological profile and quality of life in patients with dermatological diseases. Psicothema, Vol. 12, Suplem 2, 30-34.
- Capafons Bonet, J.I. (2001). Effective psychological treatments for specific phobias. Psicothema, Vol. 13, No. 3447-452.