Fear of long words

What are people afraid of?! Many phobias are based on a real, albeit exaggerated fear of falling, drowning, getting sick, cutting oneself, being bitten, but there are objects of fear that cause, at the very least, bewilderment, since they do not represent any danger. For example, the fear of long words.

It would seem, how can a written or spoken word cause fear? Nevertheless, it can. And at the height of phobia, that is, with vegetative manifestations up to fainting or panic attack. This fear has nothing in common with a simple unwillingness to pronounce difficult to reproduce words.

What is the name of the fear of long words? The name is not without humor: hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia. Synonyms are shorter, but also not easy to pronounce: hypomonstresquipedalophobia, sesquipedalophobia. Based on the reaction to these words, you can immediately make a diagnosis.

But seriously, such a phobia can complicate life in some cases. After all, it is not always possible to get by with short words.

Causes fear of long words

Fear at the height of a phobia is born as a result of psychological trauma, chronic or isolated, but very strong, associated with some object. In our case, these are long words, which are difficult to pronounce correctly, without mixing up syllables and “breaking” the tongue. In addition, the individual experienced a situation when, as a result of an unsuccessful pronunciation of a complex word, they were laughed at or reprimanded. Not everyone will develop a phobia after such a failure, for this you also need to have certain personal characteristics - impressionability, touchiness, suspiciousness, a tendency to “get stuck” on certain experiences. These features contribute to the fact that a person experiences an unpleasant event for a long time, is afraid of its repetition, programming himself in advance for failure.

The risk factors for the development of hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia include the presence of hereditary personality traits, speech defects, negative experience of public speaking, pedagogical errors - constant criticism, incorrect comments, punishments. In addition, one can learn to be afraid of something specific from parents or close friends who also suffer from such a phobia and regularly share their experiences, as if imposing their fear.

A person prone to phobias becomes most susceptible to them during certain periods of life, when the body's defenses are weakened: after severe debilitating diseases, poisoning, injuries, physical and mental overload, during hormonal changes.

The pathogenesis of simple or specific phobia, which includes the fear of pronouncing long words, presumably comes down to the following: in an individual predisposed to anxiety, after several stressful situations associated with unsuccessful pronunciation of long words, a chain of pathological reactions is fixed in the subconscious. The need to pronounce a long word is firmly associated with a catastrophe (shame, ridicule, condemnation), which causes pathological anxiety even at the sight of a printed, difficult to pronounce word, leading to a disorder of the autonomic nervous system. Individual links in the pathological chain maintain psychological stress in a person. The resulting somatic symptoms provoke further development of catastrophic thinking: the increased heartbeat that occurs each time, weakness (even the legs give way), sweating, dizziness is interpreted as a pre-infarction or pre-stroke condition, a veil before the eyes - as a threat of collapse.

Isolated hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia is a subtype of anxiety disorder.

Phobias often develop in people with mental pathologies, but in this case the symptoms are more varied and phobias are considered in the context of the mechanism of development of the underlying disease.

Neurobiological aspects of phobia pathogenesis are still being studied. Like other mental phenomena, pathological fear and subsequent somatic symptoms are associated with disruption of neurotransmitter metabolism in the serotonergic and other systems. Modern neuroimaging methods show that the pathogenesis of phobic disorders involves brain structures responsible for higher nervous functions: analyzers and storage of information received from the senses - the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus; responding to alarm signals, triggering vegetative reactions and reinforcing attitudes towards catastrophic perception of a dangerous object - the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, amygdala, dorsal raphe nucleus (a cluster of serotonergic neurons that immediately responds to fear and reinforces such a reaction), the blue nucleus, responsible for vegetative manifestations.

Psychologists believe that the main source of any phobia is a predisposition to catastrophic thinking. Such people a priori perceive signals coming from the outside in a distorted way.

Fear of long words is considered a common phobia. According to surveys, about 3% of the planet's inhabitants try to avoid them. It is most often found in schoolchildren and students.

Symptoms fear of long words

The symptom of this isolated phobia is fear that arises when it is assumed that a long word must be pronounced. Moreover, this fear is not the usual kind that can be overcome, but rather it is growing and accompanied by vegetative reactions that are characteristic of any phobic disorder:

• a state of anxiety arises every time even at the sight of a long word printed, just at the thought that it will have to be pronounced;
• the prospect of experiencing further contact with the object of fear causes aversion, it is avoided by any means possible;
• psychologically, the fear of long words manifests itself in a premonition of a catastrophe from the mere sight of a text with long words or the hypothetical need to pronounce them out loud, while anxiety and worry increase; the patient becomes absent-minded, feels an “emptiness” in his head; he develops hypersensitivity to sounds and light; he can temporarily lose his memory from excitement, in addition, he expects a deterioration in his physical condition, which only aggravates the anxiety.

Vegetative symptoms arise as mental stress increases and can manifest themselves in a variety of ways in almost all body systems. Such manifestations are provoked by hyperactivity of the sympathetic nervous system, accompanied by involuntary muscle tension. Symptoms of a phobia attack may include a pressing headache (the so-called "neurasthenic helmet"); hyperhidrosis; tremor of the limbs; dizziness and ringing in the ears; haze or spots before the eyes; tachycardia or bradycardia; sensation of a lump in the throat; difficulty breathing; pain in the sternum, similar in localization to cardiac pain; myalgia; dry mouth; gastralgia; urge to empty the bowels and bladder.

From encounter to encounter with the object of fear, it grows uncontrollably and each time the experiences become more intense. In the case of a supposedly frightening situation, panic attacks may develop - increasing intense fear with pronounced vegetative manifestations. The cognitive effect of anxiety gradually increases, which consists in the fact that a person subject to a phobia inadequately assesses the accompanying physical symptoms. He assumes that he is developing a serious disease, for example, a brain tumor or expects a myocardial infarction, stroke.

In isolated phobia, panic fear occurs in strictly defined situations associated with the need to pronounce a long word. Outside of this situation, the person is absolutely adequate and is aware that his reaction to long words is not quite normal, but uncontrollable.

Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia usually develops in childhood and adolescence and can seriously "get on the nerves" of a schoolchild or student who is susceptible to it. It is even possible to develop obsessive-compulsive disorder. If at the initial stage the fear arises only with the immediate "threat" of the inevitable pronunciation of long words, later - already with the mere thought of them. For some, these thoughts become obsessive and regularly arise without reason.

It is believed that even the risk of suicide in people who suffer from any phobia is higher than in those who do not suffer from it.

It is unlikely that such a person will choose a profession associated with constant speeches, for example, a lawyer, a teacher, a TV journalist. Apparently, partly at a later age, many manage to avoid frightening situations associated with publicly pronouncing long words.

However, it is better to get rid of this pathology, and as soon as it is noticed. Without treatment, the fear of long words can be complicated by more pronounced vegetative symptoms, depersonalization/derealization syndrome. The patient may have sleep disorders: nightmares in which he speaks or answers a lesson, stumbling over long words and all the listeners laugh at him. While "watching" such dreams, the patient wakes up in horror with a strong heartbeat, mostly not understanding what woke him up. However, with simple phobic disorders, he can later fall asleep again and sleep until the morning.

People suffering from phobias try to avoid the frightening situation with all their might, afraid of looking ridiculous in the eyes of others, because they realize the inadequacy of their fear. In addition, thoughts of developing madness, serious and fatal somatic diseases come to their minds.

Diagnostics fear of long words

When diagnosing a pathological fear of long words, the doctor relies on the results of a conversation with the patient himself, his parents (if a child is ill), and the patient's personal and family history. The main diagnostic marker is the patient's complaint that his uncontrollable fear is caused by the need to pronounce a long word, even reading it causes an inadequate reaction. During the survey, it is established that the patient is trying with all his might to avoid the frightening situation. In isolated phobia, there is a primacy of psychological and somatic manifestations, and not delusional obsessive thoughts.

To assess the general condition of the patient, examinations may be prescribed, since in advanced cases of simple phobic disorder, the massiveness of the patient's complaints, as a rule, does not correspond to his state of health. Sometimes it is necessary to meet with the patient several times and consult other specialists.

Differential diagnosis

Differential diagnostics are carried out with other phobias, delusional disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, OCD, depression, schizophrenia, in the symptom complex of which phobias may be observed as concomitant conditions.

Treatment fear of long words

When treating isolated phobias, preference is given to non-drug treatment methods: sessions with a psychologist, psychotherapist, hypnosis sessions.

Help from psychologists and psychotherapists is provided individually, in the form of conversations during which the patient and doctor exchange information. Classes are reduced to psychological education, when a specialist helps the patient master a certain amount of knowledge about the origin of obsessive fears and introduces skills and techniques for eliminating them, suggests tactics of behavior in a phobic situation. Consultations with a specialist help find answers to questions of interest to a specific patient. The patient learns to control his fear, in relation to a frightening situation, analyze his behavior and develop adequate reactions.

The most effective in getting rid of phobias are considered to be psychotherapeutic practices that allow identifying the causes of anxiety-phobic disorder, teaching the patient to adequately respond to the object of fear, independently redirect negative thoughts, analyze the situation, relieve stress and control their behavior. Various techniques of working with the patient are used, but the method of choice is cognitive-behavioral therapy. Neuro-linguistic programming, rational psychotherapy, psychological assistance are also used.

An effective and fast-acting method of treatment is hypnosis, it is usually used in cases where working with a psychotherapist does not lead to an improvement in the condition.

Various relaxation techniques are used as additional treatment methods: art therapy, sand therapy, self-hypnosis, meditation. Treatment approaches are individual, depending on the patient’s age and psychological resources.

Drug therapy is used as an additional method to alleviate the symptoms of phobic manifestations. The patient may be prescribed mild sedatives (often herbal or homeopathic); β-blockers to minimize most physical manifestations; psychotropic drugs: antidepressants and tranquilizers to reduce anxiety, antipsychotics for established rituals. Psychotropic drugs successfully relieve psychotic and vegetative manifestations, but require extreme caution from the doctor and compliance with the doses and timing of administration from the patient, since they have many side effects, can cause addiction, and failure to comply with the rules of administration can cause a paradoxical deterioration in the condition and even an expansion of the list of objects of fear.

Prevention

At present, no one knows the exact reasons for the development of phobias; they are only assumed, although there is a high probability that they are correct.

Hereditary tendencies cannot be corrected yet, but the influence of exogenous provoking factors can be minimized. Since the birth of a phobia is preceded by stress and some physical disorders, prevention should begin from birth. A healthy lifestyle (feasible physical activity, optimal diet, sleep-wake schedule) and a positive attitude in the family will contribute to the upbringing of a stress-resistant personality. In addition, parents themselves need to get rid of the authoritarian style of upbringing.

If the development of a phobia could not be avoided, it is necessary to understand that this is simply a disease and it needs to be treated. Timely contact with a qualified psychotherapist helps to overcome a phobia in literally one or two sessions.

Forecast

Children's fears of pronouncing long words, caused by temporary speech defects, often go away on their own. In other cases, it is better to seek advice. Avoidance tactics do not always work, and any phobia is more effectively eliminated at the initial stage. It is believed that younger schoolchildren are more susceptible to suggestive psychotherapeutic influence, and teenagers and adults - to rational psychotherapy. This is in general, and an individual approach is selected for a specific patient. Simple phobias that are not neglected are curable.