Man is a creature prone to experience. Throughout life, we find ourselves in various situations that cause anxiety, discomfort, or more serious consequences, as a result of which we have sustained fears. Some of them are understandable, others are explainable, but extremely exaggerated, and some are simply irrational. Under certain conditions, fears tend to develop into obsessive states - phobias.
Phobic symptoms
A person suffering from a mental disorder of this kind has a persistent fear of high intensity. The latter is often irrational, so beliefs do not affect the patient. Even the thought of possible contact with a phobic object causes him panic, so he avoids such situations with all his might. If this still happened, the person turns pale, begins to tremble. His pulse abruptly quickens, and there may be a urge to vomit. In severe cases, there is a loss of self-control.
What are phobias
A phobia is a very individual fear. To date, psychiatrists have already described more than 1000 types of such disorders. Some of them were witnessed in ancient times. Among them we can mention agoraphobia and claustrophobia (fear of open and enclosed spaces, respectively), gypsophobia (fear of heights), kinophobia (fear of dogs). Hermophobia is on a par with them. This disorder, in antiquity not very popular, is now widespread.
Where does the fear of infection come from ?
So, a germophobe is a person panicky afraid of germs. Fear of contact with microorganisms - germophobia - is associated with other similar conditions: bacillophobia, verminophobia, coprophobia. Another related affliction is the fear of dirt, or misophobia. Causes the occurrence of these conditions may be different. Behavioralists claim that obsession is formed by the principle of conditioned reflex. We find a classic example in the memoirs of Vladimir Mayakovsky: after the father of the future poet died from blood poisoning caused by a shallow scratch, the boy began to develop hermophobia. It also happens that she is assimilated by imitation: if the mother has the habit of washing outerwear daily, boiling already prepared soup and wiping the door handles with vinegar many times, children are more likely to inherit her fear of bacteria. The development of hermophobia among impressionable people is also stimulated by commercials urging consumers to disinfect everything and everyone, as well as news reports on epidemics and science fiction films.
Similar ailments: nosophobia and its special cases
All fears associated with microorganisms have a certain affinity with hypochondriacal phobias, that is, a fear of contracting something specific (AIDS, fever, helminthiasis, etc.) or getting sick in principle. Such disorders make life difficult for millions of people around the world. A phobia of diseases, or nosophobia, is often provoked by reading highly specialized literature and watching "near-medical" programs that fuel the situation.
Manifestations
Misophobe or germophobe is a person whose life goes on in a constant struggle with the environment. He often washes his hands, constantly uses disinfectants, and maintains sterile cleanliness in the house. Misophobes even use disposable napkins and gloves even in their own apartment. They avoid touching surfaces that other people have touched, never pick up other people's things and jealously guard their own. Germophobes may experience a panic attack if someone sneezes in their presence. Even a simple handshake turns into torture for them, so that patients try to avoid personal contacts. Of course, you will not find misophobes at any entertainment events, as well as in public transport - it’s too dirty for them. Such people do not have animals and are very demanding on cooking.
All the rituals that a patient with misophobia is forced to perform take a lot of time. In addition, the bacillophobia is forced to limit its social circle, and this, in turn, leads to the development of depression and neurosis. He may even have other strange phobias: for example, a fear of vegetables or cats.
The most famous "guardians of cleanliness"
The extravagant behavior of a misophobic, of course, does not add to its attractiveness. Sometimes it even leads to conflicts with other people. Therefore, patients often choose voluntary retreat, abandon their ambitions and do not even try to deal with the disease. Moreover, sometimes they completely refuse to acknowledge the existence of one. But this, of course, does not happen to everyone.
It should be noted that the germophobe is by no means a person lost to society. There is a paradoxical, at first glance, situation: among celebrities there are quite a lot of bacillophobes. On the one hand, the obsessive fear that they experience can be triggered by the need to constantly interact with people. But on the other hand, this publicity just does not allow them to completely submit to the disease, although it causes inconvenience.
So, various manifestations of misophobia are found by actresses Jodie Foster, Megan Fox, Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz, model Denise Richards and writer Teri Hatcher. Severe obsession of this kind suffered pop idol Michael Jackson and millionaire Howard Hughes. Nikola Tesla had a number of phobias, and very specific ones. Misophobia was perhaps the most common of his disorders.
Treatment methods
As already mentioned, a "germophobe" is not a shortcut for life. If a person realizes that he is sick, he has a chance of healing. Complaints about a phobia should be addressed to a therapist, not a psychologist. Various methods are used to combat phobias: for example, relaxation trainings to overcome fear or modeling with participation. In the latter case, the doctor himself interacts with the object of the phobia, and the patient follows his example. The method of paradoxical intention is effective, which consists in the fact that the patient learns to present his fear in a comic manner. For spiritually strong patients, a flood technique is used. Regularly exposed (under the supervision of a specialist) to the effect of an object that inspires them with horror, such people gradually come to the conclusion that it poses no danger to them. In some cases, patients are prescribed antidepressants, which accelerate and consolidate the effect of psychotherapy. With timely access to a doctor, positive changes are observed after a couple of months.
Phobia danger
It makes little sense to list what phobias are. Without exception, all of them belong to heavy obsessions, which means that they noticeably reduce the quality of life of the person suffering from them and their loved ones, cause bewilderment and aggression of others who believe that the patient “disdains” or neglects them. The presence of a phobia (any) may indicate incipient depression. At least, therefore, obsessions need to be detected and treated on time.
It is also worth noting that people suffering from hermophobia and misophobia need to be treated with understanding, not to condemn their behavior and not to be blamed for “individualism”.