Aphephobia, also known as haphephobia, is an intense fear of physical contact with others, often caused by trauma or irrational stimuli. It can be debilitating and is treated through cognitive and behavioral therapies to determine the root cause and learn appropriate responses.
Aphephobia is an intense and often irrational fear of being touched or making physical contact with other people, regardless of who that other person might be. Like other types of phobias, this is a psychological disorder that manifests itself through a series of physiological responses. This is a relatively rare and uncommon disorder, although it can be exceptionally debilitating for sufferers due to the nature of fear. Aphephobia is typically treated like other phobias through behavioral and cognitive therapies, which often involve trying to determine any root cause and then treating those causes.
Also called aphephobia and haptephobia, aphephobia is a fear typically caused by irrational stimuli or due to trauma that a person experiences. This phobia manifests itself as intense fear and panic caused by being touched, and this usually occurs regardless of who touches the person suffering from this condition. Someone may not be able to hug their parents or spouse without dealing with intense feelings of fear or anxiety resulting from the physical interaction. The fear caused by aphephobia can manifest itself in physical ways for a person, such as increased sweating, rapid breathing and heart rate, and reflex actions such as physically withdrawing from a person’s touch.
There are typically two root causes of aphephobia, although these general causes often arise due to a vast number of different reasons. One of the main causes of haphephobia is a traumatic incident that a person experiences, such as physical violence or sexual abuse. Many young people who are sexually abused exhibit a fear of being touched and withdraw with feelings of panic or revulsion when physically touched by someone.
This disorder can also be caused by a purely irrational fear that has no basis in a person’s life events, but instead acts as a flight or fight response to an inappropriate stimulus. In many people, there is a response to physical contact with someone unknown based on the need for private space to ensure personal safety. This distrust or protectiveness, however, is typically relaxed around people someone knows or trusts, but someone with aphophobia is unable to control this response.
Haphephobia is typically treated in ways similar to other phobias. Cognitive therapy is often used to try and determine the root of this fear, especially when there is an actual cause such as abuse or violence. Behavior therapy is also typically used to help a person learn to control their behavior and learn to connect stimuli with an appropriate response.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
