Algophobia (fear Of Pain): Symptoms, Causes And Treatment
There are as many phobias as there are stimuli or things in the world. Thus, you can have a phobia of practically anything. In this article we will learn about a little-known phobia, algophobia, or phobia of pain
Specific phobias are a type of anxiety disorder that involve a disproportionate or irrational fear of certain stimuli, objects or situations, and that cause interference in the person’s life. Algophobia is considered a specific phobia because the feared stimulus or situation can be realized (pain).
In algophobia, the fear that appears is abnormal and persistent, and goes beyond “normal” fear to suffer pain. This is a more common phobia in older people. It can be treated through behavioral treatments and also with anti-anxiety medication, as we will see later.
Symptoms
Algophobia is characterized by “phobically” fearing any type of experience related to pain , not just “the pain itself.” People with algophobia can develop a great obsession with any situation, circumstance or stimulus that can produce painful sensations. Thus, in algophobia the phobic element is pain as an experience and/or sensation.
What a person with algophobia fears is actually the subjective perception of pain. This implies that there are no specific mechanisms to detect which stimuli (and which not) may be phobic for the person. In other words, it cannot be established what type of pain or sensation will be high enough for the person to respond with phobic fear to it.
On the other hand, Nor is it essential that the person be exposed to health situations that cause pain so that algophobia affects your daily routine.
Having algophobia can significantly affect a person’s quality of life, and interfere with their normal functioning or behavior. This is why it is important to detect its characteristics well and design specific interventions to treat it.
Causes
The causes of algophobia are the same as the causes for specific phobias, although depending on the type of phobia, these may vary.
In the case of algophobia, This may have appeared due to classical conditioning (by associating the sensation of pain with some other negative stimulus, although in this case the pain itself is already aversive); It may also have appeared due to traumatic experiences (direct conditioning), if the person was subjected to uncontrollable or excessively intense pain situations.
On the other hand, phobias are also “inherited”, that is, can be acquired by observation (for example, the person’s mother has also expressed that phobia, and the person ends up acquiring it), or by processes of vicarious conditioning or modeling (for example, the person has seen another person suffering a lot from pain, and/or with pain phobia).
Finally, conditioning by transmission of information can also cause algophobia; In this case, third parties would contribute to the development of algophobia (that is, third parties would explain painful situations and symptoms of their illnesses to the person, who would end up developing the phobia).
Treatment
The psychological treatment of algophobia would be the same as for a specific phobia; So, live exposure is used as the treatment par excellence (behavioral treatment), cognitive-behavioral therapy, with the aim of eliminating the cognitive distortions associated with the phobia, and finally we can also use exposure through virtual reality (in the experimental phase).
At a pharmacological level, anxiolytics can be used (to reduce anxiety), although it is not advisable to use them in exhibitions in the case of behavioral treatment, since the therapeutic effect is reduced (the person does not face the situation in a “natural” way). However, they can be used as a complement to other psychological therapies.
Types of phobias
It is important to know that the DSM-IV characterizes and encompasses 3 types of phobias. These three types are: agoraphobia (fear of various situations), specific phobia (fear of a specific object or situation) and social phobia (fear of social situations or public performances).
Algophobia would be included as a type of specific phobia, since it you are afraid of a specific stimulus or situation ; in this case, pain (or the subjective experience of pain).
