Fear of long words

Why shouldn't people be afraid?! Although many phobias are based on a real, albeit exaggerated fear of falling, drowning, getting sick, being cut, or being bitten, there are objects of fear that cause, at least, bewilderment, since they do not pose any danger. For example, the fear of long words.

It would seem, how can a written or spoken word cause fear? However, it can. Moreover, at the height of a phobia, that is, with vegetative manifestations up to fainting or panic attack. This fear has nothing to do with a simple reluctance to pronounce hard-to-reproduce words.

What is the name of the fear of long words? The name was chosen not without humor: hippo monstrosesquipedaliophobia. Synonyms are shorter, but also not easy to pronounce: hypomonstrascuedalophobia, sesquipedalophobia. By reaction to these words, you can immediately diagnose. 

But if it's no joke, then 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 the resulting psychotrauma, chronic or isolated, but very strong, associated with some object. In our case, these are long words, which are not easy to pronounce correctly without mixing up the syllables and without “breaking” the tongue. In addition, the individual experienced a situation when, as a result of an unsuccessful pronunciation of a complex word, he was laughed at or made a remark. Not everyone will develop a phobia after such a failure, for this you also need to have certain personal characteristics - impressionability, resentment, suspiciousness, a tendency to "get stuck" in 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 presence of hereditarily determined personality traits, speech defects, negative experience of public speaking, pedagogical errors - constant criticism, incorrect remarks, punishments are considered as risk factors for the occurrence of hippopotomistrosesquipedaliophobia. In addition, you can learn to be afraid of something specific from your 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 the most susceptible to them during certain life periods, when the defenses of his body decrease: after severe debilitating diseases, poisoning, trauma, physical and mental overload, during hormonal changes.

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

Isolated hippopotamus monstrosesquipedaliophobia is a subtype of anxiety disorder.

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

The neurobiological aspects of phobia pathogenesis are still being studied. Like other mental phenomena, pathological fear and subsequent somatic symptoms are associated with impaired neurotransmitter metabolism in the serotoninergic and other systems. Modern methods of neuroimaging show that the pathogenesis of phobic disorder involves the brain structures responsible for higher nervous functions: analyzers and stores of information received from the senses - the prefrontal cortex, the hippocampus; responding to alarms, triggering autonomic reactions and reinforcing attitudes towards a catastrophic perception of a dangerous object - the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, the amygdala, the dorsal nucleus of the suture (an accumulation of serotoninergic neurons, immediately responds to fear and fixes 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 distortedly perceive signals coming from outside.

The fear of long words is considered a common phobia. According to polls, about 3% of the world's inhabitants try to avoid them. Most often it occurs in schoolchildren and students.

Symptoms fear of long words

The symptom of this isolated phobia is fear, which arises when there is a perceived need to say a long word. Moreover, fear is not ordinary, with which you can cope, but growing and accompanied by autonomic reactions characteristic of any phobic disorder:

• the state of anxiety arises every time, even at the sight of a printed long word, only at the thought that it will have to be pronounced;
• the prospect of experiencing another contact with the object of fear causes rejection, it is avoided by any means, whenever possible;
• psychologically, the fear of long words is manifested by a premonition of catastrophe from the mere sight of a text with long words or a hypothetical need to pronounce them aloud, while anxiety and anxiety are growing; the patient becomes absent-minded, feels "emptiness" in the head; he becomes hypersensitive to sounds and light; he may temporarily lose his memory from excitement, in addition, he expects a deterioration in his physical condition, which only aggravates the anxiety.

Vegetative symptomatology arises as mental stress increases and can manifest itself in a very diverse way on the part of almost all body systems. Such manifestations provoke hyperactivity of the sympathetic nervous system, accompanied by involuntary muscle tension. Symptoms of a phobia attack may be a pressing headache (the so-called "neurasthenic helmet"); hyperhidrosis; tremor of the limbs; dizziness and ringing in the ears; haze or flies before the eyes; tachycardia or bradycardia; feeling of a lump in the throat; breathing disorder; pain in the sternum, similar in localization to the heart; myalgia; dry mouth; gastralgia; urge to empty the bowels and bladder.

From meeting to meeting with the object of fear, it grows uncontrollably and each time the experiences are stronger. With a presumed frightening situation, panic attacks can develop - a growing intense fear with pronounced vegetative manifestations. The cognitive effect of anxiety is also gradually increasing, consisting in the fact that a person prone to a phobia does not adequately assess the accompanying physical symptoms. He assumes that he is developing a serious disease, for example, a brain tumor, or is expecting myocardial infarction, stroke.

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

Hippopotomone monstrosesquipedaliophobia usually develops in childhood and adolescence and can pretty much "fray" the nerves of a schoolchild or student subject to it. It is even possible to develop obsessive-compulsive disorder. If at the initial stage fear arises only at the immediate "threat" of the inevitable uttering of long words, later - at the very thought of them. For some, these thoughts become obsessive and regularly arise for no reason.

It is believed that even the risk of suicide in people susceptible to any kind of phobia is higher than in those who do not.

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

Nevertheless, 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 autonomic symptoms, depersonalization / derealization syndrome. The patient may experience sleep disorders: nightmares in which he speaks or answers a lesson, stumbling over long words and all the listeners laugh at him. During the "viewing" of such dreams, the patient wakes up in horror with a strong heartbeat, mostly not understanding what awakened him. True, with simple phobic disorders, he may later fall asleep again and sleep until morning.

People suffering from phobias try with all their might to avoid a frightening situation, fearing to look ridiculous in the eyes of others, because they are aware of the inadequacy of their fear. In addition, thoughts of developing insanity, 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 the child is sick), 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. When interviewing, it is established that the patient is trying with all his might to avoid a frightening situation. With an 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 can be prescribed, since in advanced cases of a simple phobic disorder, the massiveness of the patient's complaints, as a rule, does not correspond to his state of health. Sometimes there is a need for several meetings with the patient and consultations of other specialists.

Differential diagnosis

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

Treatment fear of long words

Preference in the treatment of isolated phobias is given to non-drug methods of treatment: classes with a psychologist, psychotherapist, hypnotic sessions.

The help of psychologists and psychotherapists is provided individually, in the form of conversations, during which the patient and the doctor exchange information. Classes are reduced to psychological education, when a specialist helps the patient to master a certain amount of knowledge about the origin of obsessive fears and introduces the skills and techniques for their elimination, suggests the tactics of behavior in a phobic situation. Specialist consultations help to find answers to questions of interest to a particular 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 psychotherapeutic practices that allow to identify the causes of anxiety-phobic disorder, teach the patient to adequately respond to the object of fear, independently redirect negative thoughts, analyze the situation, relieve tension and control their behavior. Various patient management techniques are used, but CBT is the treatment of choice. Neuro-linguistic programming, rational psychotherapy, psychological assistance are also used.

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

As additional methods of treatment, various relaxing techniques are used: 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 ease 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 in the formed rituals. Psychotropic drugs successfully stop psychotic and autonomic manifestations, however, they require extreme caution from the doctor and adherence to the doses and timing of admission from the patient, since they have many side effects, can be addictive, and non-compliance with the rules of admission can cause a paradoxical deterioration of the state and even expand the list of objects of fear...

Prevention

Nobody currently knows the exact reasons for the development of phobias, they are only suggested, however, there is a high probability that it is correct.

Hereditary tendencies are not yet amenable to correction, but the influence of exogenous provoking factors can be minimized. Since the birth of a phobia is preceded by stress and some physical disorders, it is necessary to start prevention from birth. A healthy lifestyle (feasible physical activity, optimal diet, adherence to sleep-wakefulness) 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 parenting style.

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

Forecast

Childhood fears of speaking 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 in the initial stage. It is believed that younger students are better susceptible to psychotherapeutic influence of a suggestive nature, and adolescents 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.