Aperirophobia or fear of infinity is a very special phobia that few people know, before explaining what this phobia consists of we will briefly talk about the concept of phobia and all that this disorder entails, in order to better understand what characterizes this problem.
Is a phobia an intense and irrational fear of certain situations, objects, people or activities classified in the DSM-5?The American Manual on Mental Illness? As an anxiety disorder, one of its main features is the desire to avoid or escape the scary causes in order to decrease the levels of anxiety and discomfort experienced.
- In addition.
- It is important to differentiate between phobia and fear.
- To understand the difference you have to pay attention to the intensity of the sense fear and the consequences it generates.
- In this way.
- If a fear begins to interfere significantly in the life of the person.
- Increasing in intensity and causing behaviors of avoidance or escape.
- We are talking about a phobia.
The emergence of a phobia cannot be associated with any specific cause, even if there are genetic, social and learning factors. Phobia has also been linked to traumatic childhood experiences, for example, if a child sees a documentary about the possibility that stars absorbed by black holes in the universe can create a deep fear of being absorbed. While this is absolutely unlikely, the resulting sense of fear is immense and real.
Apeirophobia is excessive and irrational fear at the moment when we face the concept of infiniteness and eternity. This fear causes great discomfort and can manifest itself at any time and time of day or night. Simply have an intrusive thought about infinity to cause a serious anxiety problem.
In this way, the idea of being in contact with infinity produces a huge sense of vertigo, the person feels that there is no point of support, which generates a sense of control over the situation, so people have escapism behaviors in relation to situations that have an infinite stimulus, such as the sky, the sea, endless digital sequences and activities related to introspection and imagination related to immensity.
Apeirophobic people tend to struggle to live their lives in the most predictable way possible, to move away from their obsessive thoughts that the universe is infinite.
Like any phobia, aperirophobia has no single cause, some relationships have already been found with genetic, environmental, social and learning factors, so there may be a cluster of causes that, when overlapped, lead to a phobia. Sigmund Freud, for example, a neurologist and father of psychoanalysis, became interested in the study of phobias and theorized that they came from the two-moment event:
“Fear is suffering caused by the expectation of evil. “Sigmund Freud
Another explanation from a more biological point of view would result from the combination of genetic inheritance and brain chemistry, so by merging these factors with life experience, the person could develop any phobia, but it is given according to the elements of experience, such as this case of infinite aperirophobia.
The fluoric response begins when a person is exposed to the object or situation associated with danger, this response may even evolve into a panic attack, the most relevant characteristics of the fluoric response are:
The main features of aperirophobia are
All phobias are conditioned on the presence of fear in relation to something specific, but fear sense must have certain characteristics:
Like all phobic disorders, aperirophobia should be addressed and treated by specialists, such as psychologists or psychiatrists, only they will be trained to decide the best form of treatment for each case.
Phybic disorders are usually treated with psychotherapy. Only in the most severe cases, where many areas of the person’s functioning are affected and daily life becomes impossible, pharmacological treatments will be indicated in conjunction with psychotherapy. A psychiatrist must first evaluate the patient to decide the approach to follow.
As you can see, aperirophobia can cause great discomfort in the person with this disorder, so it is important to consult a specialist when we detect the appearance of these uncomfortable symptoms that prevent the person from leading a normal or quiet life. . Avoidance and obsessive behavior consume a lot of energy and can become a source of exhaustion for the body.
“Are emotions that are never expressed to die. Are they buried alive and expressed after the worst possible way?-Sigmund Freud-