Scriptophobia is a rare phobia ; It consists of the irrational fear of writing in front of other people or in public situations.
Although it may seem like a somewhat strange phobia, the truth is that quite a few people, especially students, manifest it. Below we address it in more depth.
Scriptophobia is the extreme fear of writing in public (from the Latin “scripto”, “to write” and “phobos”, “fear, fear”). It is considered a phobia that has characteristics to also be considered a specific form of social anxiety. Like the rest of phobias, this one produces feelings of stress, anxiety and suffering in those who suffer from it.
Although it may seem like a very rare specific phobia, it really affects thousands of people around the world, even without them knowing that they have a problem that prevents them from leading a normal life. The others that They know they have a problem, they recognize that their phobia is irrational, but they still have serious difficulties to adaptively face situations in which they have to write in front of others.
Some of the especially problematic situations for scriptophobic people are: taking a job in which you have to write in front of other people (e.g., teacher, notary,…), taking notes in class, giving a telephone number on paper, sign a contract…
Graphophobia is another phobia closely related to writingophobia, with a similar definition, although it is more specific. In this case, it would be an extreme and irrational fear of writing manually.
Symptoms
The symptoms of writingophobia are very similar to those of other phobias, however they appear when a situation occurs in which the person has to write something in front of others. They occur automatically and become uncontrollable, either because you are faced with a situation in which you have to write in front of other people or because you think about possible situations of this type, without finding yourself in one of them.
People with this phobia They try to avoid any situation in which they have to write in front of other people In fact, in some cases the phobia is so serious that the person only dares to write at night, without anyone at home being awake nor in the situation where they can be found writing. If the person is of student age, it is likely that the person skips classes with the intention of avoiding being seen writing at all costs.
The most notable physiological symptoms are dry mouth, palpitations, dizziness, needle-like sensation in the skin, headaches and in the rest of the body, excessive sweating, nausea, shortness of breath and fatigue.
As for the more psychological area, we have problems relaxing, mood swings, fear, anxiety, stress and thinking that we are going to make a fool of ourselves or that we are not going to be able to get out of this without feeling humiliated.
Possible causes
Normally, the fear of writing in front of others is caused by the experience of a negative event at some point in life that was related to this In many cases, scriptophobic people are afraid of making a fool of themselves when writing or that people will think their handwriting is ugly. It is common for those who have this phobia to have experienced a time in which they were made fun of for their type of writing or for having made spelling mistakes. This could have been experienced with such intensity that it has encouraged the person to suffer panic attacks.
There are people who see in his way of writing an act similar to that of someone who undresses. That is to say, There are those who have the feeling that writing on a piece of paper is a way of expressing their intimacy either doing it in the form of words explicitly related to this idea (e.g., a personal diary) or because they take their way of writing as something very personal that, if another person sees, it is as if they were seeing inside themselves , and they don’t like it.
It may seem like a somewhat far-fetched explanation, but the truth is that there are quite a few people who would express this phobia because of this fact.
Treatment
As with the rest of phobias, treatments focused on scriptophobia are mostly cognitive-behavioral and usually share features with other treatments that address anxiety disorders. Exposure to the phobic situation, in this case the act of writing in front of other people, is usually the main method to work on the phobia although progressively and always with the security provided by professional consultation.
Cognitive behavioral therapy and exposure
Cognitive-behavioral therapies have defended the idea that many phobias, especially those such as scriptophobia and other contextual ones, are due to a style of thinking that harms the person. The thought that they are going to make a fool of themselves for writing makes the person imagine the worst case scenario which causes feelings of anxiety.
Therapy attempts to get the person to explain exactly why they think they are going to make a fool of themselves or why they think others might laugh at them. It’s about addressing the type of thinking and changing it so that anxious feelings are not as high.
It is also in this type of therapy that the person tries to get used to writing in front of other people. It would first be done in front of the therapist, or, if the person feels safe with a family member or friend, have them come to therapy and participate in the treatment under the direction of the professional.
Psychoanalysis
Psychodynamic therapy takes into account the events and influences throughout the patient’s life that have contributed to the feeling of scriptophobia, in addition to taking into account their personality traits and seeing to what extent they have contributed to the formation of this disorder. of anxiety.
The main objective of psychoanalytic therapy is to help the person explore, understand and resolve the causes of their phobia.
Other options
Although the alternatives we are going to talk about are not treatments and the person would continue to have a phobic disorder, in fact, they could be considered avoidant behaviors, the truth is that they would serve to start therapy or, at least, facilitate better well-being before seeking professional help.
As we already saw, some scriptophobic people are afraid of writing in front of others because They do not think that their type of writing is pleasant or they are afraid of making spelling mistakes These are the simplest cases, given that going to classes to improve handwriting, in addition to being more careful when writing and avoiding making mistakes would be behaviors that would significantly help in the writing process.
Also, and thanks to the fact that we live in a highly computerized society, you can choose to write on the computer or any other electronic device with a keyboard. Word processors contain checkers that detect spelling mistakes, and you can change the font of the letter and its size.
Obviously, scriptophobia it does not involve the simple fear of writing manually in front of other people There are many more aspects to take into account that prevent the person from being able to carry out this, such as feeling observed, being afraid of making a fool of themselves, thinking about what others are thinking…
That is why the alternatives listed in this section, as we have already mentioned, are not a treatment in themselves, but rather simple ways to improve the course of the disorder before going to a professional, since they help the person to take some control over themselves. your problem.
