The phobia of impulses is the extreme fear of following a impulse, losing control and hurting yourself or others. Some diagnostic classifications treat impulse phobia as a variant of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (ODO), as it is an intrusive thought that invades or distracts the individual’s mind, so the individual performs a certain type of behavior or thinking (compulsion) to reduce the anxiety that thought causes.
Here’s how to identify impulse phobia and how it can be treated.
- From a professional point of view.
- Impulse phobia is a variant of ODO.
- However.
- Regardless of whether it is considered as a type of ODO or as a phobia in itself.
- We are talking about a diagnosis characterized by an intense fear of impulses themselves.
The main clinical characteristics that define this disorder are
People who seek an appointment and are diagnosed with impulse phobia are usually able to identify thoughts that involve fear of hurting family members (spouse, parents, children, etc. ), throwing themselves from the balcony, taking a sharp turn behind the wheel. wheel driving on the road or playing in front of the subway In all cases a fusion of thought and action is observed in the patient.
The process of developing impulsive phobia is:
“People who consult a psychologist for impulse phobia often refer to thoughts that cause family members (spouse, parents, or children) to fear harm.
Any type of ODO or phobia (if the object of fear is present every day) results in a significant decrease in the patient’s quality of life, this occurs as a result of a person’s effort to control fear and avoid situations that cause anxiety. Gradually and inadvertently, he ends up giving up different aspects of his personal life, consuming much of his energy trying to control his fear.
One of the main consequences of impulse phobia is the feeling of having the enemy inside you, since it is an egodisistonic disorder (there is a dissonance between what the person thinks and what he wants), the requirement to control his thoughts is very high, at the same time that the person has the feeling that he is fighting himself.
That is, obsession and fear of impulse invade the patient’s attention, but he believes that because it is external, he can control it, when he does not, he feels that he or she is the one who causes the obsession. and, therefore, the feeling of “fighting what my head says. “Over time, this infighting leads to anxiety and depression that must also be addressed in therapy.
Treatment of impulse phobia, regardless of the object of obsession (if it harms yourself or others), should always be psychological; it can be associated, if anxiety is extreme, with psychopharmacological treatment determined by a psychiatrist. In general, the therapeutic approach to this phobia follows the treatment guidelines used for ODO cases.
Any type of ODO or phobia (if the object of fear is present every day) results in a significant decrease in the patient’s quality of life.
We say that the treatment should always be psychological because it is the psychologist who has the training and experience to get the patient (using a series of psychotherapeutic techniques) to make changes at the following points:
Finally, it should be noted that while there are different types of psychological approaches to establishing treatment for impulse phobia, there are studies on the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral strategies.
This does not mean that other approaches are not valid, but cannot be scientifically proven whether they work or not, probably because no studies have been conducted on other more complicated therapeutic models of standardizing (e. g. short strategic therapy).
If in your case you identify as a person with a phobia of impulses, keep in mind that this is a psychological problem that the sooner you face, the sooner you can free yourself The psychologist is your best ally!If you need it, take the first step: ask for help.