The Selenophobia Is the feeling of irrational fear or fear of the moon, the evening and its light. All the symptoms that people with this phobia suffer intensify if they are at full moon.
The problem can become so strong that the people affected, in addition to being terrified to observe it any night, present repulsion to the word moon or simply include images of it.
To understand what is the selenophobia I will start by briefly describing the concept of phobia. Derivative of the word Fobos , Which means panic. It is an intense and irrational fear of a pathological character towards a person, a thing or a situation. A phobia is much more serious than a simple fear. Those who suffer from it have an irresistible need to abstain from anything that can trigger their anxiety.
Selenophony is within the so-called specific phobias. These are considered as a type of anxiety disorder, in which a person may feel with extreme symptoms of anxiety Or have a panic attack When it is exposed to the object that produces its irrational fear.
In a person with selenophobia, simply having to go out at night and face the object that causes discomfort (the moon, in our case), can cause both physical and psychological feelings of anxiety and panic.
Selenophobia is found within specific phobias in the environmental type, in which fear refers to situations related to nature and atmospheric phenomena such as rain, storms, precipices or water.
Causes
The causes of specific phobias, as is the case of selenophobia or phobia to the moon, generally develop when the child is between four and eight years of age. In some cases, they may be the result of some traumatic event developed at an early age, which triggered the phobia.
Also, the phobia of a family member is a common cause to start during childhood, as they are learned through vicarious learning.
In the case of the selenophobia, the causes that have been able to unleash it are really unknown. It is not clear that it is due to some past event or to vicarious learning, although it is true that environmental phobias, among which is selenophobia, usually develop in childhood.
Phobias that persist throughout the adult stage rarely recur (only occurs in 20% of cases).
Perhaps the causes may be that normally, when thinking about the moon, we usually reflect on its majesty, and consequently, on how great some of the natural events occurring on Earth are. This makes us think of how small we humans feel before all of this. This, in a way, could explain this phobia.
For the diagnosis of specific phobias, it is necessary to take into account the various Diagnostic Criteria, marked by the DSM:
- Accused and persistent fear that is excessive or irrational, triggered by the presence or anticipation of a specific object or situation, in this case, the moon.
- Exposure to the moon almost spontaneously causes an anxiety response. Keep in mind that anxiety in children is usually manifested in the form of tantrums, crying, inhibition or hugs.
- The person recognizes that the fear of the moon is excessive or irrational. In children this recognition may not be present.
- It avoids facing the moon or, if faced, is supported with a high anxiety or discomfort.
- Moon-avoidance behaviors, anticipatory anxiety, or discomfort caused by the feared situation interfere in ways that disrupt the person's normal life, work, social, and family relationships. In addition to the clinical symptoms that the person suffers.
- In case of phobia occurring under the age of 18, the duration of symptoms must have been at least 6 months.
The health professional, before diagnosing someone for a phobia, has to perform a thorough evaluation of the patient by checking his medical history and performing a complete physical examination. In addition, various psychological tests will be performed to rule out another pathology both physically and psychologically. All this in order to rule out that the presented symptoms are due to another disorder.
The therapist will always have to ensure that the symptoms of anxiety, distress or escape or avoidance behavior towards the moon are not caused by the presence of another mental disorder ( TOC , Posttraumatic stress disorder , Separation anxiety disorder , social phobia , Agoraphobia disorders or agoraphobia No history of distress disorder).
If the GP suspects or believes the patient has a phobia, and is serious enough to affect the normal functioning of his life, he should refer you to a psychiatrist or psychologist. The health professional, through various techniques and assessment tools, such as psychological tests, will be able to evaluate the patient's current situation and be able to start, if necessary, a follow-up treatment.
Consequences of a phobia
So that you can better understand the consequences that a phobia can have on the individual who suffers it, I will go on to describe what happens in the body of these:
- Increased vegetative activation: These reactions occur at the level of the physiological system. Some of the symptoms that may appear are tachycardia, sweating, redness, pallor, upset stomach, dry mouth, diarrhea, etc.
- Reactions in the motor system in the form of avoidance or escape behaviors: When the subject unexpectedly encounters the dreaded situation, and if forced to remain in that situation, then motor impairment may occur at the vocal and / or verbal level.
- Reactions at the level of the cognitive system: These are reactions like the anticipation of both favorable and catastrophic consequences. They occur in an obsessive way. And actions occur at a compulsive level of escape or avoidance. At the physiological level, the amygdala Is the one that has the greatest importance in the storage and recovery of dangerous events that we suffer the human being. Located in the brain, behind the pituitary gland , Triggers the release of the hormones of"fight or flight"to be able to face states of alert or of a situation of great stress. Thus, when in the future we live an event similar to that experienced previously, that area recovers from its memory the actions performed previously and the body reacts as if it were happening the same as the last time. The person may experience this as if it happened again for the first time, with the same symptoms.
It is also worth mentioning that the great alterations of a specific phobia, as in the case of selenophobia, can cause the person to only be able to leave the nights of new moon (when no moon is visible). This disturbs his normal life in a considerable way, limiting him especially in what concerns his social life or work, preventing him from performing night work.
Treatment
To overcome the selenophobia, it is necessary a treatment or a therapeutic accompaniment, for this there are several therapies. Then, I will explain each of them:
- Psychological Exposure Techniques : In this technique professionals face the patient with the situation so dreaded, in this case, the moon. Gradual and progressive exposure causes people to gradually control their fears, further diminishing the symptoms caused by anxiety. A person suffering from selenophobia can be treated with a gradual exposure, starting with trying to go out on nights with a waning or crescent moon without having to observe it so that, after the last step of the exhibition, Night of full moon and to be able to observe it directly.
- Systematic desensitization: In this technique, instead of confronting live with the moon, one uses the imagination of the patient or a gradual exposition, projecting in his mind the dreaded stimulus. In both examples of treatment, the exposure or the imagination of the stimulus stops when the patient can not control their anxiety, and is resumed when the anxiety levels decrease. Gradually, the subject manages to withstand increasingly longer periods and thus the fear is lost.
- Cognitive therapy: With this technique , We try to give the patient all the possible information contrasted, in order to nullify the beliefs that the subject has about that situation or object to which he fears. In this way you want to go looking for confidence and gradually get acquainted with it, aiming that the person does not see this stimulus as something to be afraid of and can be confronted that their fear is irrational and exaggerated.
- Methods of shock: Are therapies that are within the behavioral approach, where forced exposure to the stimulus occurs, until Decrease anxiety Of the subject and be able to control it. It differs from systematic desensitization in that in this method would face the subject directly to the moon without any escalation of situations.
- Neuro-Linguistic Programming: Nowadays it is a treatment that is used a lot in front of certain phobias, but the results of the same have not yet been scientifically proven.
Other alternative treatments include Bach flower therapies, books and self-help groups, and hypnosis. The use of Psychotropic drugs Is not usually recommended in the treatment of phobias, because, although it can relieve the symptoms of anxiety, it does not eliminate the problem. In any case, if it were necessary to reduce the symptoms of anxiety, the most useful pharmacological treatment to be able to cope with this phobia are the inhibitors of the reuptake of Serotonin .
Some treatments manage to make modifications in the brain, replacing the memory and the previous reactions by a more adaptive behavior. Phobias are irrational phenomena, the brain reacts exaggeratedly to a stimulus.
If you feel identified, you have some irrational fear, fear of something, situation, or person, and this fear prevents you from leading a normal life affecting you in your day to day, from here we advise you to consult with a specialist to enjoy a full life.
References
- Edmund J. Bourne, The Anxiety & Phobia Workbook, 4th ed. New Harbinger Publications. 2005. ISBN 1-57224-413-5.
- Kessler et al.,"Prevalence, Severity, and Comorbidity of 12-Month DSM-IV Disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication,"June 2005. Archive of General Psychiatry, Vol.