There are several types of phobias: agoraphobia, arachnophobia, claustrophobia? Androphobia is one of the most impressive, those who suffer from it experience feelings of intense panic when they see a man or a group of them.
Before we start talking about androphobia, we think it’s necessary to start with something more general, so you don’t get lost along the way. Let’s start by explaining what exactly a phobia is.
- Phobias are defined as an intense and irrational fear of a person.
- Object or situation that presents little or no danger.
- The word comes from the Greek term phobos meaning “panic”.
In Greek mythology, Phobos was also the son of Ares, god of war, and Aphrodite, goddess of love, personified fear. Alexander the Great prayed to Phobos before each battle to protect himself from fear.
According to the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), specific phobias, such as androphobia, have the following characteristics:
It is common for people to have several specific phobias; in fact, about 75% of people with a specific phobia fear more than one situation or object. People with phobic lives would be closely related to a sense of anxiety.
Androphobia can be considered a type of sexual phobia, sexuality is an issue that has always generated tensions in society, sexual phobias can be directed towards people’s gender or some aspect of sex.
The causes of sexual phobias can be many and varied, in the case of androphobia it is a disorder that produces a constant, intense and abnormal fear towards men.
People with androphobia feel very nervous when they feel the presence of men or talk to one of them, this irrational fear of men avoids them. These situations can occur even with male family or friends and interfere with the personal, professional and interpersonal life of the person concerned.
Androphobia mainly affects women, but it can also occur in men, the root of this type of problems lies in a traumatic fact lived whose main protagonist was the male sex, can it also be?Learned, observe some kind of traumatic situation.
These traumatic events can be physical abuse, psychological abuse, bad relationship with the father figure, etc. This can even happen for cultural reasons, when a woman is educated to be submissive and obedient.
The person is aware that not all men pose a real threat, yet he cannot help but feel an irrational panic in his presence, the people most affected by androphobia are women between the age of 18 and 40.
Although they generally know that they suffer from irrational fear, they are unable to express their emotions, they do not do so out of fear of social rejection, these people generally apologize and avoid situations in which they have to deal with a man, they do it to avoid a fear that can cause terrible anxiety.
Androphobia and misandria should not be confused. Those who suffer from androphobia want to be cured, in the second case, it is a feeling of hatred towards man developed for various reasons.
Misandry was born, in most cases, in response to misogyny (hatred of women) and a sense of combating machismo that prevails in society. To consider that a person suffers from androphobia and not misandria, he must feel an irrational and disproportionate feeling. fear that destabilizes his daily life.
The treatment of androphobia is the same as that of any other specific type of phobia. A set of cognitive behavioral psychological techniques in which live exposure predominates is used to treat this disorder. If you have this disorder, we recommend that you see a specialist. psychologist We’re sure it can help you.