Luiphobia (fear Of Contracting Syphilis): Symptoms, Causes And Treatment
The fear of contracting certain diseases can be considered something “normal” and common in people. These types of fear are adaptive, since they protect us from danger or harm. In this article we will know one of them, luiphobia: phobia of contracting syphilis
Syphilis is a very common sexually transmitted disease (STD), so it is logical to fear it; However, when this fear becomes pathological, the phobia appears. Let’s learn the characteristics of this phobia, how it appears and how it can be treated.
Luiphobia consists of a persistent, abnormal and unjustified fear of contracting syphilis. Syphilis is a very common sexually transmitted disease (STD), which is spread through vaginal, anal and oral sex. Syphilis causes sores in the genital area (called chancres).
As the feared stimulus or situation can be identified and specified (in this case, syphilis), luiphobia is considered a specific phobia (in addition to its symptoms, typical of a specific phobia, as we will see below).
People with luiphobia will fear the disease even when they are not at risk of becoming infected ; This can affect your emotional and sexual life (and your life in general), as well as reduce your quality of life.
syphilis
Luiphobia can make the person who suffers from it believe that they have really contracted the disease they fear.
In this case, fear appears in the face of syphilis, a chronic sexually transmitted disease (STD) that in its first phase produces chancres (open wounds) on the skin, and that if not treated can end up affecting the nervous system, producing diseases. mental and trigger death.
Currently there are treatments for syphilis based on penicillin, and a person with syphilis can recover when the disease is treated in its early stages
On the other hand, it is recommended to adopt preventive behaviors to avoid contracting syphilis; In this case, take precautions during sexual relations to avoid contracting syphilis and other STDs (use of condoms during genital, oral and anal sexual relations, as it significantly reduces the risks).
Other phobias of getting sick
Luiphobia is one of the many phobias related to contracting a certain disease. Other cases of phobias of certain diseases are, for example, leprophobia (phobia of leprosy), carcinophobia (phobia of cancer) and dermatophobia (phobia of skin diseases).
Symptoms
The symptoms of luiphobia correspond to the symptoms of a specific phobia (defined in the DSM-5). These are the following.
1. Marked and persistent fear
This fear is excessive or irrational and is triggered by the presence or anticipation of a specific object or situation (in this case, irrational fear of contracting syphilis).
2. Anxiety
Exposure to the phobic stimulus (to situations that lead to initiating or maintaining sexual relations, for example, or to having unprotected sexual relations) almost invariably provokes an immediate anxiety response which can take the form of a situational anxiety crisis or more or less related to a certain situation.
In the case of children, anxiety can translate into crying, tantrums, inhibition or hugging. In this case, luiphobia is understood to be very rare in the child population.
3. Avoidance
The phobic situation(s) are avoided or endured at the cost of intense anxiety or discomfort.
4. Interference in normal routine
Avoidance behaviors, anxious anticipation, or discomfort caused by feared situations They interfere markedly with the person’s normal routine with work (or academic) or social relationships, or cause clinically significant discomfort.
5. Duration
The symptoms of luiphobia last at least 6 months to be diagnosed.
6. It is not explained by other disorders
Anxiety, panic attacks or phobic avoidance behaviors associated with specific objects or situations cannot be better explained by the presence of another mental disorder
Causes
The causes of luiphobia are the same as the causes for specific phobias, although depending on the type of phobia, these may vary.
In the case of luiphobia, it may have appeared due to classical conditioning (by associating risk behavior with the appearance of syphilis), or also may have appeared due to traumatic experiences (direct conditioning), if the person has previously suffered from syphilis.
On the other hand, luiphobia may also have been “inherited,” that is, it may have been acquired by observation (vicarious conditioning) (for example, the person knowing someone in the environment with syphilis), or by information conditioning processes. (that the person in question has heard news of syphilis epidemics, or has been told of new cases of syphilis, with the suffering and discomfort that this disease entails).
The psychological treatment of luiphobia would be the same as for a specific phobia; So, live exposure is used as treatment par excellence (behavioral treatment). In this case, the exposure would be to situations that can trigger the contraction of syphilis, or the maintenance of sexual relations, approaches, etc., without escape behaviors appearing (with exceptions).
Variants of exposure therapy can also be applied: exposure in imagination or exposure through virtual reality.
On the other hand, sand cognitive behavioral therapy can be used with the aim of eliminating the cognitive distortions associated with the phobia, as well as the dysfunctional beliefs and the meaning attributed to syphilis and other behaviors by the person.
At a pharmacological level, anxiolytics can be used (to reduce anxiety), although it is not advisable to use them in exposures 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 (as well as some antidepressants).
