Asthenophobia (fear Of Fainting): Symptoms, Causes And Treatment
They give us bad news, we get up too quickly, we exercise too much, we suffer from heat stroke or we feel such extreme pain that we lose consciousness. These are all situations that can lead us to faint, which is understood as a loss of consciousness that occurs temporarily and that is extremely common.
Nobody or almost nobody likes to faint, since that implies a feeling of discomfort before and after losing consciousness and puts us in a vulnerable situation; But for some people, the mere idea that they could do so generates intense panic that makes their daily lives very difficult. This is asthenophobia a disorder that we are going to talk about along these lines.
Asthenophobia is understood as extreme fear or phobia of fainting It is a specific phobia, which involves the existence of a high level of panic and anguish in the presence or exposure of a specific stimulus or situation.
This alteration is classified within the group of blood-injection-harm phobias or SID. This problem may appear in a single way and without other problems occurring, but it can also It is usually linked to other psychiatric disorders such as agoraphobia in which there is a fear of suffering some type of mishap in situations where it is difficult to receive help (such as in open spaces where there are large crowds or where there are very few people, or in closed and crowded places such as public transportation ).
Likewise also may be related to panic disorder And the anticipatory anxiety typical of this disorder facilitates symptoms that can be associated with dizziness and weakness or even in some cases causing fainting.
Symptoms
Curiously, phobias linked to damage and blood can have a physiological response that can lead to fainting or sensations linked to weakness and the presence of damage, something that makes the phobia itself favor the arrival of the panic-generating situation.
Physical sensations such as sweating, dizziness or a feeling of weakness are common in anxiety, but they are also common shortly before fainting. In this way, anxiety itself feeds back on itself, something that makes this problem something that It causes a lot of suffering to those who experience it
This panic and anguish can generate a strong physiological activation, causing tachycardia, hyperventilation, sweating, tremors, tingling …and even anxiety attacks.
The fear of it happening usually generates anticipatory anxiety, which leads the person to avoid any situation in which what is feared or that is linked to it may appear.
Impact on daily life
Asthenophobia is a very common condition in multiple conditions such as the aforementioned agoraphobia, and it can cause great affectation in people who suffer from it. It must be taken into account that feelings of weakness and dizziness can occur for multiple reasons.
So, exercise, intense heat or nervousness can awaken anxiety In these people, they consider that they are a risk or associate it with the possibility of fainting, especially if it has already happened before. They may also avoid crowds or public transport, if they also suffer or end up suffering from agoraphobia. This can hinder their leisure time or even cause alterations in their work performance depending on the occupational field in which they practice.
In addition, health problems such as hypotension, febrile episodes or episodes that cause weakness or dizziness They can be experienced as something traumatic since they can be associated with the possibility of fainting. Pregnancy can also be a highly distressing stage, due to hormonal changes and the risk that fainting could also cause harm to the baby.
In addition, the fear of fainting will cause you to avoid actions that could pose a risk in the event of losing consciousness. Among them we can find, for example, driving or operating heavy machinery. Also can lead to situations of dependency on others not being able to leave the home alone for fear of fainting.
The exact causes of this or other phobias are not known, but in general we can speak of the interaction of a great variety of factors and There are numerous theories regarding
First of all, we must keep in mind that this phobia may have an evolutionary meaning: fainting means losing consciousness and being left in a state of vulnerability that, in nature, could mean death. In this sense it could be a type of phobia for which There is a certain inherited predisposition, since it prevents us from harm
Another common explanation can be found in the experience of aversive and even traumatic experiences that have been associated with fainting. For example, having fainted in public and having been mocked and harassed for it, having suffered or witnessed some type of traumatic event in which unconsciousness ended up having painful repercussions. It is even possible that the aversive event with which the fainting has been associated has happened to someone else.
It is also possible that the phobia was born by the acquisition of cognitive schemes in which fainting is linked to weakness This is especially relevant in rigid environments where vulnerability is not allowed and punished. Thus, there may be an impact at the level of educational patterns that have been received throughout life.
Treatment
Asthenophobia can be a disabling problem, but fortunately It is possible to treat it through psychotherapy As with the rest of phobias, the one that is most successful is exposure therapy.
This type of therapy involves developing, between the patient and the therapist, a hierarchy of anxiety-inducing situations that can be ordered according to the level of discomfort they generate, and then, starting with the medium-level ones, exposing them to the feared stimuli, until the anxiety decreases. itself (or, if another procedure known as systematic desensitization is used, until it is reduced through an activity incompatible with anxiety).
Little by little and as the subject manages to reduce their anxiety level (minimum up to half), they will move up the hierarchy.
In the case of asthenophobia, exposure may be made to situations avoided due to fear of fainting in order to reduce the impact on daily life. But it is also advisable, to truly treat it, to perform an interoceptive exposure. That is, exposing the subject to sensations similar to those he would experience when he is close to fainting.
It is also necessary to work at a cognitive level: we must discuss the reason for this fear, what it implies for the subject or how much it limits them, in addition to restructuring possible biases and maladaptive beliefs. It may be useful to question the risk and real probability of fainting, or in the case of traumatic events (a rape or a car accident for example) this factor should be worked on carefully and contribute to reprocessing the event. in a way that does not limit the patient’s life
Finally, the use of relaxation techniques may be useful, or even in extreme cases, an anti-anxiety medication could be prescribed in order to be able to work on the problem more easily (although it is not usually recommended).
