Mnemophobia is an irrational fear of memories, which can cause severe anxiety and panic. It can develop suddenly or slowly, often due to a traumatic event or stress. Alzheimer’s patients are particularly vulnerable to this phobia, which can be treated with exposure response therapy.
Mnemophobia is the irrational and excessive fear of memories. People with mnemophobia may fear having memories in general, or they may fear certain bad memories specifically. Others with mnemophobia may fear losing their memories, and this type of phobia is thought to be common in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and those at high risk for the disease. Like other phobias, mnemophobia can come on suddenly, following a single traumatic event, or it can develop more slowly over time. Mnemophobia can cause severe symptoms of anxiety when patients are confronted with memories or thoughts of losing memories.
Phobias in general occur when a person develops an irrational and intense fear of something. Usually, the object of fear is something most people wouldn’t consider dangerous, such as dogs, bridges, or open spaces. Many phobias, such as arachnophobia or fear of spiders, are quite common. Most phobias don’t really require treatment, as long as the person can successfully avoid the object of fear without suffering a reduced quality of life.
It is believed that most phobias develop following a single psychological trauma in the person’s life. For example, a person severely bitten by a dog may later develop a phobia of dogs and become intensely frightened in the presence of even friendly dogs. Mnemophobia can occur as a result of a single psychological trauma and is usually linked to the patient’s anxiety about facing bad or painful memories.
In some cases, however, mnemophobia can develop as a result of stress. Some patients have reported developing a fear of having memories during particularly stressful life periods. In many cases, mnemophobia does not come on suddenly, as it would after a particularly damaging psychological trauma. Sometimes, mnemophobia develops slowly, as the psyche finds more and more reasons to associate negative consequences with having memories. In cases where mnemophobia comes on slowly, psychologists often fail to pinpoint a single reason for the disorder.
Alzheimer’s patients are considered particularly vulnerable to mnemophobia. The stress of being diagnosed and learning how to manage this condition can contribute to the development of this type of phobia in Alzheimer’s patients. The nature of Alzheimer’s itself can also be a strong contributing factor. Alzheimer’s patients may be especially vulnerable to developing a fear of losing memories, as extreme memory loss often occurs due to advanced Alzheimer’s disease.
When people with mnemophobia are confronted with their memories, or asked to deal with the prospect of losing their memories, intense anxiety and even feelings of panic can occur. The physical symptoms of this anxiety often include rapid breathing, an irregular heartbeat, increased sweating, a dry mouth, nausea, tremors and shortness of breath. Psychologists generally treat this and other phobias with exposure response therapy, in which patients are gently encouraged to face the object of fear, with the goal of understanding that the object of fear is not as dangerous as the patients might believe.
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