Dementophobia: Symptoms, Causes And Treatment Of This Phobia
Mental health is something to which, fortunately, increasing levels of attention are being paid. Little by little, the population is becoming more aware of the existence of different psychiatric alterations and disorders and the difficulties they entail, and it is no longer rare to hear of someone with depression or anxiety disorders, and the need to seek professional help in the presence of symptoms
However, there is still a great social stigma towards mental disorder, especially in cases such as schizophrenia, as well as a great fear towards everything it represents.
In some people, an excessive, disabling and even pathological fear also arises towards the fear of suffering from a psychiatric disorder, which is colloquially called (although it is a derogatory, imprecise term that ignores a large number of variables and generates a separation between “healthy” and “clinical” subjects that is not as bipolar as it appears) to “go crazy,” or to lose one’s mind. This is what happens to people with dementophobia
Also called agaetophobia or maniaphobia, dementophobia is conceptualized as the phobia of the possibility of going crazy or losing one’s mind. It is a specific phobia that can cause severe limitations in the life of those who suffer from it. As a phobia, it involves the appearance of an irrational and disproportionate fear with respect to the danger that a certain stimulus actually implies In general, fear is usually recognized as excessive by the subject himself.
Exposure to the stimulus itself or the possibility of its appearance triggers a high level of anxiety, which in turn usually generates physiological alterations such as sweating, tremors, tachycardia, hyperventilation or even anxiety attacks. This anxiety drives active avoidance or escape from the situation in which the phobic stimulus appears or may appear.
In the case at hand, the fear of “going crazy” implies a high level of anxiety before any situation that generates this possibility or exposure to situations in which the subject may lose control or have diminished capabilities, as well as the connection of his or her own person with that which is related to the mental disorder (especially if it is severe). . This fear of loss of reasoning can be in situations in which there is a permanent loss of abilities, but it can also appear in situations in which the loss is temporary.
It must be taken into account, as with other phobias, we are talking about a fear that must be disproportionate and irrational. We are not talking about there being a certain fear of suffering from a psychological problem: it is highly doubtful that there is someone who really wants to suffer from a mental disorder, since it is something that in all cases generates great suffering or limitation for those who suffer from it. This is not to mention disorders that generate cognitive impairment, such as dementia. It is natural to fear to some extent the possibility of suffering a limitation or a progressive loss of capabilities.
The problem exists when said fear itself generates a limitation in the subject’s life and prevents normative performance in his or her daily life, to the point of avoiding certain stimuli or people, and generating anxiety at the slightest possibility of for this to happen.
Symptoms in daily life
Although it may seem that we are not generally exposed to situations that someone with fear of losing their mind might fear, the truth is that in serious cases we can find ourselves with a severe limitation in daily life
People with dementophobia can suffer great anxiety in any type of situation in which they can interpret that they are suffering a loss of faculties or control over reality. Thus, for example, the loss of memory that occurs at a normative level with age will be a cause of great distress and quickly associated with dementia. Alterations such as memory lapses due to stress or fatigue or phenomena such as the tip of the tongue (that you do not finish evoking the word you want to say although you have the feeling that it is there) also generate a high level of suffering.
Another aspect to take into account is the possible appearance of compulsive checking behaviors, frequently evaluating your mental state or abilities. The appearance of rigid and inflexible behavioral patterns that make alterations in your mental state difficult is also likely (although it is natural that our abilities, emotions, motivations and activation levels vary from day to day).
In addition The presence of perceptual alterations usually generates a high level of anxiety, avoiding any situation that could generate it. This could include the consumption of alcohol or other substances, but also some medications.
They also tend to avoid mental health centers and contact with people with different disorders, sometimes expressing a clear rejection of them. Although less common, it is also possible that exactly the opposite happens: that the fear of suffering from some type of problem or going crazy leads them to constantly contact professionals in the sector who confirm that they do not suffer from any alteration.
In extreme cases, the subject can become completely isolated, harming the social, interpersonal or even work spheres (since it is likely that they avoid stressful situations).
Causes of this phobia
There is no single cause for dementophobia to appear, this phobia having a multi-causal origin that can be affected by various variables. Firstly, it is possible that there is a possible biological predisposition to suffer phobic reactions, born from a high physiological reactivity, which can end up triggering a phobia if the necessary environmental conditions for this are met.
Taking into account that suffering from a mental disorder implies a certain level of difficulties and suffering, dementophobia arises from a fear that is to a certain extent adaptive in the sense that aims to protect the subject from a state considered aversive Likewise, the high social stigma that, although it has decreased today, continues to exist around mental health problems conditions the subjects, in such a way that the association of loss of control with pain, loss and social marginalization increases the probability of suffering from this type of phobia.
In this sense, the fact of having grown up in an environment and with rigid parental models in which special emphasis has been placed on the importance of reason and control can also favor the appearance of dementophobia. In the same way, the opposite situation can also favor it: overprotective educational models in which the minor does not have exposure to reality and the existence of diversity in mental functioning between people.
The interpretation given to the mental disorder in the home of origin It can also be decisive: if it is seen as a punishment, or as something horrible that directly impedes the person’s life, the fear will be greater.
Likewise, having observed during development (especially in childhood) and/or throughout life how people in our environment have suffered some neurodegenerative process or a mental disorder that generates a high level of dysfunctionality or that has caused damage to one’s own affected person or others can trigger the fear of suffering from a similar problem, to the point of causing great anxiety and culminating in the appearance of a phobia.
Treating dementophobia
The treatment of dementophobia is certainly complex, since unlike what occurs with phobias such as animal phobias (for example, spiders or dogs) or specific situations such as storms, airplanes or heights, there is no clear stimulus that the subject avoids physically, the fear being directed towards a mental aspect not visible to the naked eye.
In any case, dementophobia is treatable Although the situations that generate fear can be very diverse, it is possible to develop a hierarchy with the patient in order to carry out gradual exposure therapy or systematic desensitization. This point is one of the most fundamental, since it causes the subject to be able to resist anxiety in situations that generate it and over time it dissipates.
Likewise, another fundamental point and especially in this type of phobia is the treatment of the patient’s beliefs and fears, in such a way that not only anxiety decreases but also they learn to interpret reality in a more adaptive way. First of all, it would be necessary to analyze the meaning of what it means to “go crazy” or lose one’s mind for the subject, if they have experienced any situation in which this has occurred or what it could imply for them. Also the fears that may be behind it. After that, a cognitive restructuring would be carried out posing the subject’s beliefs and fears as hypotheses and subsequently trying to construct other interpretations about it.
In extreme cases, the use of tranquilizing and anxiolytic drugs may be valuable in order to reduce the level of activation and be able to work more efficiently on a psychological level.
