Toxicophobia (fear Of Poisoning): Symptoms, Causes And Treatment
The presence of toxins is not unusual, with poisoning being one of the main reasons for the death of a large number of people throughout history. Poisons such as arsenic were used during ancient times and the Middle Ages to commit murder, and even today there are chemical weapons used in war conflicts. We also use poisons to kill other creatures, such as rat poisons or insecticides.
The existence of a certain fear of poisoning at a given moment may, therefore, be quite rational. But most of us will never actually be poisoned. Perhaps some food poisoning, or drug poisoning, but death from poisoning is not so common. However, for some people, this fear exists persistently and transforms into uncontrollable panic, which leads them to avoid situations and stimuli and greatly limits their life. This is what happens to those subjects with toxicophobia
It is considered toxicophobia, toxiphobia or toxophobia when irrational or exaggerated fear of poison or being poisoned (usually accidentally). This is one of the so-called specific phobias, in which intense fear or anxiety is generated in the face of a specific stimulus. These sensations provoke in those who suffer from it an intense need to flee from the stimulus, as well as the avoidance of both exposure to it and situations in which it could appear.
This panic is persistent, not disappearing on its own and occurring every time there is exposure to the stimulus in question. This fear is generally triggered by the presence of the stimulus itself, but mere imagination or thinking about the element causing the fear can trigger distress reactions and physiological symptoms.
Among the most common symptoms, we find tachycardia, hyperventilation, sweating and tremors, which may lead to an anxiety crisis At a cognitive level, attention is focused on the stimulus and avoiding it, reducing cognitive abilities and judgment and planning abilities. In extreme cases, hallucinations could even appear, such as a nervous paroxysm, in which they could taste poison or something toxic in the food.
Although seeing and recognizing some type of poison is not common, toxicophobia can seriously limit the life of the person who suffers from it. If it occurs in a mild degree, a fear of the poisons themselves may appear, avoiding the use or exposure of poisons such as rat poison. But depending on the degree, this panic can extend to the consumption of cleaning products, solvents, drugs and practically any type of chemical product with harmful potential. It can also generate suspicion towards handling drinks or food or, in extreme cases, towards contact with other people who could poison us.
Link with other psychopathologies
An interesting aspect of toxicophobia that is worth highlighting is its possible link or confusion with elements of other psychopathologies and symptoms, such as persecutory delusions or gustatory hallucinations in different psychotic-type conditions and states, such as schizophrenia, delusional disorder or substance intoxication (in this case, we would be talking about real intoxication). It can also sometimes be confused with obsessive-compulsive disorder, in those subjects with obsessions linked to germs and with cleaning and washing compulsions.
In this sense, it should be noted that toxicophobia involves a disproportionate fear of the idea of being poisoned or the presence of poisons and can lead to the avoidance of situations in which there may be toxic elements or the perception of a high possibility of being poisoned.
The disproportionate fear of being poisoned is also common in people with persecutory delusions, but in this case we would not be talking just about a fear but about the persistent and fixed belief that someone is trying to kill us in this way (sometimes there are gustatory hallucinations that they interpret as confirmation of said belief). Or in people with OCD linked to germs, illnesses and cleanliness, the idea of these elements appearing can cause deep anxiety.
The idea that they are trying to kill us, the worry about the germs and diseases they can cause, or the thought that some kind of misfortune may happen if we do not perform the compulsion can generate the emergence of a deep aversion and dread of exposure to elements such as poison or toxins, seeking to avoid them through compulsions (although cleaning OCD is generally linked to germs to clean and not to toxins as a chemical product).
However, we must keep in mind that for us to be talking about a phobia, the fear must be irrational or disproportionate. In these cases, the fear would be consistent with the presence of repetitive and intrusive thoughts linked to the issue or the belief that someone is really trying to kill or harm us. The different diagnostic classifications stipulate in this sense that a phobia such as toxicophobia is only diagnosed in the absence of other disorders that better explain the fear and the reactions towards the feared stimulus.
Causes: a fear with adaptive meaning
The causes of toxicophobia, as with other mental disorders, are not completely known. Despite this, there are several highly plausible hypotheses regarding its origin.
A possible hypothesis is the existence of conditioning: throughout our lives we have seen and received news of people who have died from poisoning, whether accidentally or voluntarily caused. It is even possible that we have been able to see or experience a situation in which we or a loved one has been poisoned. In this sense, the person with toxicophobia could have acquired a fear conditioned by past experiences whether experienced firsthand or vicariously through the visualization of a case of poisoning (whether through direct observation, reading or audiovisual media).
Another quite plausible hypothesis is the same one that is usually held towards the fear of different animals and plants: Seligman’s preparation theory. This theory proposes that intense fear of some stimuli would be phylogenetically prepared, being inherited from our ancestors when they had to face life or death situations. For example, an attack by a predator, a bite from a spider, or the consumption of certain herbs can cause death. In this way, our species would have learned to avoid a series of stimuli and feel an innate fear or disgust towards them.
Although in the case of toxicophobia the element in question is very generic (in nature we do not find loose poison but rather it comes from animals or plants), we could be facing a generalization of these fears linked to the idea of dying or getting sick due to an external agent not directly visible. Obviously, avoiding toxic elements is adaptive and allows us to survive, so the fear of being poisoned could be largely explained by this theory.
One of the most common treatments when it comes to combating phobias is exposure therapy It involves placing the subject in situations in which he has to face his fear, generally in a graduated manner after having carried out a hierarchy with feared situations between therapist and patient. In the case of toxicophobia, obviously the subject is not going to expose himself to being actually poisoned, but it is possible to work with avoided situations related to this fear.
For example, the subject may be exposed to drinking in a group or in a nightclub if this situation generates fear of poisoning the drink. You may also be exposed to using chemical components such as cleaning products. Another possible item would be to manipulate bottles or poisons commonly used, such as insecticides or rat poisons.
The discussion of beliefs and fears, as well as the meaning attributed to poison and the beliefs that may lie behind the fear of poisons or of being poisoned, can also be useful. Generally they would be used cognitive-behavioral therapy procedures such as cognitive restructuring.
Likewise, it is essential to carry out a good differential diagnosis, due to the high probability of confusing the phobia of toxins or of being poisoned with the belief of being poisoned, typical of some subjects with some type of psychotic pathology or the obsession with cleanliness of some types. of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.
