Phobia is a fear of people

There are various phobias and it is impossible to list them all. Sometimes they can be so strange that it is impossible to understand why a person experiences such fear. Some phobias are more common, some are less common. For example, the desire to spend as little time in society as possible is a fairly common phobia. Fear of people (anthropophobia) can take bizarre forms. The patient can experience fear of certain people: old people, children, foreigners, men, bearded people, and everyone at once, and the age and gender of the object of fear do not matter to them.

Why does anthropophobia arise?

Science has not yet been able to give a comprehensive answer to this question. A psychological trauma that was once received can give an impetus for this phobia to appear. Fear of people is often observed in those who experienced an insult from an adult, deception, violence in childhood. At first, the child withdraws into himself, closes himself off. Then this behavior becomes a person's character, he constantly tries to distance himself from people, does not trust anyone, is indecisive, avoids communication.

Experts suggest that this phobia may also arise from individual psychological characteristics of a person. Fear of people appears even in those who have never experienced strong emotional stress.

Anthropophobia will not go away on its own, so treatment is necessary. Fears, in addition to causing discomfort to the patient, also tend to worsen and cause other mental disorders. Only a specialist can understand the reasons that prevent the patient from living a normal life and provide assistance.

How does fear of people manifest itself?

There is such a thing as social phobia. Fear of people is a type of it. The difference between them is that those suffering from social phobia are afraid of large crowds, while those suffering from anthropophobia are afraid of people in general.

At first glance, it may seem that this is a harmless phobia. Fear of people, in fact, can cause the patient to develop a huge number of neuroses, develop mental disorders that subsequently require serious treatment. The person becomes increasingly asocial, and over time this becomes more noticeable.

Stress and discomfort during contact with strangers are constant companions of such a disease as this phobia. Fear of people creates another problem that, if necessary, the patient simply cannot ask people for help, since he does not have the skills to communicate and make contacts. A person is often forced to remain alone with his fears and problems. Moreover, not every person who has this phobia can admit the fact that he urgently needs help.

Fear of people can lead to the point that, for example, if an anthropophobe suddenly feels unwell on the street, and passers-by notice, he will tell them that everything is fine and refuse to provide assistance.

How to treat fear of people?

Treatment begins with a conversation, during which the doctor determines the features of the disease, analyzes the patient's actions. The patient, in turn, must realize that his recovery depends directly on how soon he begins to interact with strangers, otherwise the treatment will never bring results.

It is necessary not only to rely on the doctor, but also to try to help yourself. The patient must try to do at least some actions so that his phobia disappears. Fear of people can be overcome if a person tries to make friends with someone or, for example, forces himself to say hello to neighbors, smile at a stranger, ride public transport. These seemingly insignificant actions will help a person feel like a full-fledged member of society again.