Fear of touch is a very common pathology. According to statistical studies, a huge number of residents of megacities suffer from one form or another of this disorder. Of course, this phobia negatively affects a person’s life, significantly worsening its quality, making social, and sometimes romantic, contacts impossible.
There is nothing strange in the fact that many people are interested in additional information about this pathology. What is the fear of touch? What symptoms should I look for? What is the reason for the development of this phobia? Are there effective therapies? Does medication help in this case? Answers to these questions will be useful to many readers.
Fear of touch: a phobia and its feature
Haptophobia is called a pathological fear of a person in relation to human touch. In science, other terms are used to denote this condition - this is apophobia, hafophobia, thixophobia.
This disorder is diagnosed in many residents of megacities. As a rule, an ailment begins with discomfort during physical contact. And if at first the fear of the touches of strangers only slightly complicates the patient’s life, then as the pathology progresses, the problems become more pronounced. Immunity and even squeamishness appear in contact with relatives, family members, close people. Unpleasant sensations turn into an obsessive fear that makes impossible any social interactions.
How to recognize a haptophobe?
In fact, people suffering from such a phobia have very characteristic behavior. Any physical contacts cause emotional discomfort in the patient, a sense of fear and disgust. This often reflects on their reaction, for example, a person can move away, sharply pull out his hand when shaking hands. Facial expressions are also changing.
Haptophobe is a person who prefers solitude. Going to visit or any other place in which there is a possibility of physical contact requires a long moral preparation. Such people rarely appear in busy places, as in the crowd there is always a risk of accidental touching. In the absence of therapy, discomfort also occurs in contact with relatives, for example, children, spouse. Naturally, such behavior greatly complicates the social life of a person, often the patient in the end remains completely alone.
Physical symptoms of a mental disorder
Closure, secrecy, a tendency to loneliness and unwillingness to leave the comfort zone are not all signs of pathology. Patients note that the phobia is accompanied by quite tangible physical disorders. Physical contact often causes the following symptoms:
- a sense of disgust and disgust upon contact;
- severe dizziness, nausea, which often ends with vomiting;
- sharply appearing weakness, tremor of limbs;
- a sense of the unreality of what is happening, a distortion of perception;
- panic attack, accompanied by difficulty in breathing (patients begin to suffocate).
If a person can still somehow try to hide emotional experiences, then it is almost impossible to cope with the physical manifestations of a phobia.
The role of personality traits in the development of pathology
Of course, the fear of touch can be caused by personality development features. For example, some people place personal space above all else - they cannot stand familiarity, physical contacts and communication with strangers.
Nor can nationalist beliefs be discounted. For example, the touch of a representative of another nationality or race may be unpleasant for a person. Risk factors include increased disgust, pathological pedantry and the desire for cleanliness. Fear of touching often develops in people with asexuality.
All of the above personality traits in themselves are not pathologies, but in some cases they can develop into real phobias, which are already much more difficult to control.
Fear of Touch: Causes
In fact, the reasons for the development of this phobia can be extremely diverse. Several common risk factors can be identified.
- According to statistics, people with autism spectrum disorders as well as intellectual disabilities often inadequately respond to physical contact.
- A phobia can be associated with disorders of the nervous system (psychasthenia, neurosis of obsessive states), various personality disorders (obsessive-compulsive disorders).
- Fear of touching often develops as a result of physical or sexual violence suffered in childhood. There are cases when haptophobia developed in people whose childhood passed under total control by their parents.
- The specifics of the work also matter. For example, medical workers, firefighters and workers of some other processions regularly have to deal with sick, wounded people. Often such contacts cause disgust, and this feeling is then transferred to the touch of loved ones.
What other phobias can this pathology be associated with?
In fact, the fear of touching is often associated with other phobias. For example, sometimes in patients, fear of contact is associated with asexuality. Any touch is perceived by a person as something sexual, and since there is no sexual desire and satisfaction from sexual intercourse, the contact itself causes only disgust.
Haptophobia is often associated with a fear of being in the crowd, sensitivity to noise and the effects of other environmental factors. Often there is a pathological fear of catching an infection.
Diagnostic measures
Fear of touch is a pathology that can be diagnosed by an experienced psychotherapist. During the session, the doctor must collect the most complete patient history, study the features of his behavior, the presence of certain symptoms, highlight the situations that provoke the appearance of physical manifestations of phobia.
Of course, the process does not end there. Diagnosis smoothly flows into treatment, since for successful therapy it is extremely important to accurately determine the causes of fear, whether it is a psychological trauma that occurred in early childhood, or hormonal disruptions.
When is medication necessary?
As already mentioned, the result of hormonal disorders in the human body can be precisely this phobia. Fear of touching people is sometimes associated with a decrease in the level of thyroid hormones, a decrease in the amount of synthesized sex hormones. In such cases, hormone replacement therapy is indicated.
In addition, the fear of touching is often associated with neurosis and various forms of psychoasthenia. In such cases, it may be advisable to take sedative drugs, as well as antipsychotics. If, along with haptophobia, the patient has a tendency to depressive states, then the use of antidepressants will be justified.
Psychotherapy and its features
Drug therapy can only relieve some symptoms and prevent the development of possible complications, thereby alleviating the patient's condition. But the fear of touching people is a pathology that develops and progresses over the years. For its complete elimination, time and constant studies with a psychologist are necessary.
To begin with, specialists, as a rule, draw up a scheme of individual lessons. The main purpose of such sessions is to determine the root cause of phobia. For example, sometimes a person needs to remember, realize and survive a childhood trauma, get rid of feelings of guilt and incorrect attitudes.
In the future, group classes will be useful. Working with a group of people helps the patient grow above himself, re-develop social communication and perception skills, and adapt to his stay in society. If this gives positive results, the doctor decides to conduct a kind of "shock therapy" - the patient must spend some time in a crowd of people, to cope with their own feelings from touching and contacts.
Fear of touching someone else is a serious problem. Nevertheless, with a correctly formulated treatment regimen, the doctor and patient constantly working, there is a chance to get rid of the phobia or at least make its manifestations more controlled.