Rectophobia (or Proctophobia): Causes, Symptoms And Treatment
Phobias are very common anxiety disorders, and there are different types that are usually included in three groups.
Specific phobias, social phobia and agoraphobia. Within specific phobias we can find arachnophobia (fear of spiders), cynophobia (fear of dogs) or rectophobia (fear of anorectal diseases).
In the following lines we will talk about rectophobia a strange phobia that is also called proctophobia, and we will delve into what it is, what its symptoms are, its causes and its treatment.
Rectophobia is a phobia, and therefore, an irrational fear of a phobic stimulus; in this case, anorectal diseases. Human beings, unconsciously, are capable of being afraid of situations, objects and even thoughts.
This fear causes great discomfort and great anxiety , and that is why this pathology is included within anxiety disorders. A characteristic of phobic disorders is that the person who suffers from this condition tends to avoid the feared stimulus. A person with cynophobia will avoid contact with dogs, in the case of arachnophobia contact with spiders and in rectophobia any situation that could lead the person to suffer some type of disease in that area of ​​the body is avoided.
Possible causes
Phobias usually have their origin in associative learning known as Classical Conditioning. Ivan Pavlov was one of the key figures in providing knowledge about this phenomenon for the first time. Classical Conditioning is a form of learning that involves automatic or reflex responses. This differentiates it from another form of learning known as Operant or Instrumental Conditioning.
Classical Conditioning is the creation of a connection between a new stimulus and an existing reflex (in the case of phobia, fear). If we look at the formation of a phobia, the learning of this disorder would have its beginning in an originally neutral stimulus, which does not provoke a response (for example, spiders, thoughts about a rectal disease or getting on a plane).
Through a traumatic experience that would provoke a strong fear response, an associative connection of the originally neutral stimulus with said negative experience could occur. This would cause the patient with a phobia to unconsciously respond with fear, anxiety and discomfort to the stimulus that did not previously provoke this response. Learning does not always occur through direct experience, but can also occur through observation.
Although Pavlov was the pioneer in Classical Conditioning research, John Watson made it popular in the West and was the first to provide knowledge about the relationship between emotions and this type of associative learning.
What role does genetics play?
Although there is a certain consensus in stating that Classical Conditioning has its origin in learning, other authors affirm that genetics make some people more prone than others to suffer from this type of pathology. Furthermore, according to Seligman’s preparation theory, we are biologically predisposed to suffer from phobias, since we may more easily associate some stimuli with fear.
The reason for this is that fear is an adaptive emotion and in this way it would favor the survival of our species. Phobias would occur due to primitive and non-cognitive associations, which are not easily modified by logical arguments.
The different types of phobias usually have very similar symptoms caused by the presence of the phobic stimulus. Anxiety and irrational fear are, without a doubt, characteristic symptoms of rectophobia. So is the desire to avoid the feared stimulus and the avoidance of it.
It is important to note that this disorder has a strong relationship with other disorders such as Hypochondria or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and is usually a secondary symptom of these. Now, if the irrational fear is more pronounced than the obsessions or compulsions, the main diagnosis is rectophobia.
In summary, the symptoms of rectophobia are:
Treatment and therapy
As I said, phobias originate from Classical Conditioning, and are characterized because the person who suffers from them has an irrational fear of the phobic stimulus. Scientific studies have shown that behavioral therapies, both second and third generation, work very well and are very effective in treating this pathology.
When referring to second generation therapies I am referring to cognitive behavioral therapy, which Its objective is to modify those thoughts, beliefs or behaviors that cause discomfort in the patient. In intervention for phobias, relaxation techniques and expositional techniques are ideal to help the patient control the negative symptoms of the phobia and make them understand that their fears and beliefs about the phobic stimulus are irrational.
An exposure technique widely used by cognitive behavioral therapists is systematic desensitization, which consists of gradually exposing the patient to the phobic stimulus while learning different coping tools.
Regarding third generation therapies, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, which consist of the acceptance of the phobic experience, among other principles, so that the patient relates in a different way to the events they experience. They cause discomfort.
