Enochlophobia (phobia Of Crowds): How To Deal With This Feeling Of Being Overwhelmed By Crowds?
What is enochlophobia or phobia of crowds? What are the symptoms that indicate that you suffer from this irrational fear of crowds? Discover how to detect it and deal with it.
The enochlophobia refers to the phobia of crowds. Not everyone who feels uncomfortable in a crowd lives with enochlophobia. This extreme fear of people involves irrational thoughts and behaviors that are excessive in relation to the actual danger in a situation. In other words, people with a phobia of crowds or enochlophobia often cannot explain this fear and feel powerless to control it.
You might even be at the point of completely avoiding the crowds of people or the places where you fear there may be these crowds of people. This irrational fear can end up having a limiting effect on your life, since crowds are a very important part of life today. Furthermore, you cannot control whether you will be among many people or not, so these fears can generalize in various situations.
The symptoms of enochlophobia They are very similar to those that can be suffered in other anxiety disorders. Generally, when suffering from a specific phobia, people can have bodily reactions (physical), in their thoughts (cognitive) and their avoidance (behaviors). Mainly, we can list the following symptoms:
These are some of the main symptoms that people with phobia of crowds or crowds If this is causing you a problem in dealing with your daily life, it is important that you go to a mental health professional as soon as possible.
Causes of enochlophobia
Behind fear of crowds There is no single cause. In reality, there are certain factors that may be more likely to cause this phobia of crowds:
Experiencing trauma: If you have suffered a bad situation in a crowd this may be a reason to develop enochlophobia
Excessive worry: People who have too many negative thoughts or worry tendencies can develop a phobia of crowds
Overprotective parents: People who have been raised by overly protective parents may be more likely to develop the extreme fear of crowds
Genetics: Having family members who suffer from this phobia or another specific phobia can also increase the chances that someone will end up developing a irrational fear of crowds
Disorders related to enochlophobia
Although there is no diagnosis enochlophobia specific, there are several disorders that are related to this condition. Some are the following:
Other specific phobias: The enochlophobia It can be diagnosed as a specific phobia when they meet the criteria established in the DSM-5. These types of phobias generally develop during childhood or adolescence and last a lifetime if left untreated. Enochlophobia can be diagnosed as a specific phobia if it meets the DSM-5 criteria. A specific phobia is fear
Agoraphobia: Agoraphobia is a phobia that involves being in a place where it may be difficult to escape if you were to have a panic attack, such as a crowd, a bus, an elevator, etc. The specific fear is that if you get distressed, there will be no way to escape or get help.
Social anxiety disorder: Social anxiety disorder refers to the fear of feeling judged by others. In fact, this type of disorder can end up affecting both the personal and professional spheres.
Therapy is the main treatment for enochlophobia Typically, these types of treatments focus on the following methods:
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT): This therapy can help overcome enochlophobia because it involves learning to replace irrational thinking habits with more rational ones.
Exposure therapy: This is a form of desensitization where people are gradually exposed to the crowds
Virtual reality technology: An emerging therapy today is exposure therapy, where people can become desensitized to crowds without having to physically be in them.
Vision therapy: With this therapy, photos and images of crowds are shown to help you reshape the way you think before real-life exposure.
group therapy: Group therapy can connect you with other people who also deal with similar phobias.
In some cases, drugs can be used to relieve anxiety symptoms due to enochlophobia Typically, these are medications such as antidepressants and sedatives.
How to deal with the phobia of crowds?
What can you do on your own to deal with enochlophobia? There are several strategies you can employ to try to reduce your fear of crowds:
Relate something positive to crowds: To break the negative association with crowds, you can associate these moments with certain positive sensations to deal with the anxiety related to these moments.
Have an exit strategy: To face this phobia of people It is important to try to have a strategy to get out of these types of situations when you need to. For example, you can position yourself near the ‘edges’ of a crowd so that you are comfortable leaving when you need to.
Breath deeply: If you feel overwhelmed by anxiety in a crowd, you can focus on breathing deeply to relax from these feelings.
Keep your mind busy: If you find yourself in a crowd, you can counteract feelings of overwhelm by trying to distract your mind, such as by listening to music.
Practice meditation: To develop stress tolerance and calm our mind, meditation can help us deal with these types of thoughts.
A mental health professional can help you find coping strategies to help you deal with the enochlophobia Don’t let this irrational fear limit your life and your experiences with others.
