- What is enochlophobia? What kind of phobia is it?
- Enochlophobia: characteristics
- Is it normal to fear crowds?
- Symptoms
- Causes
- Treatment
What is enochlophobia? What kind of phobia is it?
This is a specific phobia, suffered by those people who feel a great fear of crowds. However, we must differentiate it from agoraphobia (in which fear arises from the possibility of not being able to escape in an emergency situation or when suffering from a panic attack).
In this article we will explain some of the characteristics of this phobia, and we will also analyze what causes can originate it, what are its characteristic symptoms and its treatments.
Enochlophobia: characteristics
Enochlophobia (also called demophobia) is the fear of crowds. That is, it is a specific phobia (an anxiety disorder); its main symptom is fear, as well as intense fear or high anxiety in situations where there are a lot of people.
Regarding its characteristics, enochlophobia is more common in women than men; on the other hand, it typically develops in early adulthood.
It may happen that people with oenochophobia hide this discomfort associated with being surrounded by people (that is, they endure such situations with high anxiety), or it may be that they simply avoid these types of situations.
The main symptoms of enochlophobia are: restlessness, nervousness, sweating, dizziness, anxiety, etc. People who suffer from it may even feel that they will soon have a panic attack.
Is it normal to fear crowds?
Is it normal to fear crowds? The poet and writer W alter Savage Landor said “I know you may call me proud, but I hate crowds” Although, is hate the same as fear? Logically not, and as we know in phobias the main symptom is an excessive fear of something.
So, although fears are generally irrational and/or disproportionate in phobias, it is also true that they always hide some truth or reality. That is to say, the feared stimuli, on occasion, can also do harm, what happens is that in the phobia the fear that appears is excessive, rigid and too intense (it cannot be modulated).
In this way, trying to answer the question of whether it is normal to fear crowds (understanding “normal” as “usual” or as “regulatory”), we will say that it is partly normal to fear crowds, since in cases of human avalanche, for example, we can be in danger.
Although this type of situation does not have to happen, when we are in a closed place, not very big, etc., we can feel that anxiety, and it is logical. We can get overwhelmed. What happens is that, in the case of enochlophobia, fear is exaggerated, and causes interference in the life of the individual.
Symptoms
Like any specific phobia, enochlophobia presents a series of characteristic symptoms These are at a cognitive level (for example, thinking "I'm going to die”), physiological (for example tachycardia) and behavioral (for example avoidance). We are going to see them in a little more detail, throughout this section.
Thus, added to the irrational, intense and disproportionate fear of crowds (which can be aroused by the mere idea of being with a lot of people, or seeing crowds on television, etc.), Add other types of symptoms.At a cognitive level, for example, attention and/or concentration difficulties may appear, a feeling of lightheadedness, confusion, narrowing of attention, etc.
On the other hand, on a physical/psychophysiological level, in enochlophobia symptoms appear such as headaches, chest tightness, sweating, etc. At the behavioral level, we are talking about the characteristic avoidance of phobias; In the case of enochlophobia, the person would avoid situations where there are large crowds of people (for example, demonstrations, nightclubs, shopping malls, etc.
It should be clear that crowds are referring here to a lot of people together, and “together” (that is, not simply “many people”, but people close to each other).
To summarize, some of the most important symptoms of enochlophobia are
Causes
Specific phobias are anxiety disorders that are acquired for one reason or another; that is, it is not that we are "born" with one of them, but rather that we "learn" it.Generally, phobias are acquired through traumatic experiences related to the phobic stimulus or situation.
In the case of oenochlophobia, it is likely that the person has experienced a traumatic situation related to crowds, such as; that you have felt short of breath at a given moment with many people nearby, that you have been "crushed" in a kind of human current, that you have been hurt by a crowd, that you have suffered a panic attack in situations similar, etc.
Let's remember the tragedy of the “Madrid Arena”, in 2012, in which 5 girls died due to a human avalanche in a closed space (a pavilion), where there were more people than legally allowed. Experiences like this, for the surviving people, can cause enochlophobia.
Treatment
The main psychological treatments to combat specific phobias are: cognitive therapy (or cognitive-behavioral therapy) and exposure therapy.
In the case of cognitive therapy, we will work with the patient to eliminate irrational thoughts associated with crowds, as well as the erroneous beliefs they have in relation to them (for example, thinking that one /a will die imminently, thinking that they will die crushed or drowned by people, etc.).
That is, these beliefs will be analyzed to assess, together with the patient, their degree of realism or plausibility, and an attempt will be made to change them to other more realistic, adaptive and positive beliefs. The objective will also be to eliminate that great fear of being among so many people, although the fact of avoiding large crowds of people is not bad (in fact, many people avoid them), it is not being able to lead a "normal" life because of it ( at least, it is not adaptive, and can impair one's quality of life).
Regarding exposure therapy, different versions of exposure techniques are usedThese consist of exposing the patient to the feared situation; In the case of enochlophobia, the patient would be progressively exposed to being among many people.
This is all done through a hierarchy of items; You could start by seeing places full of people from afar, to gradually increase "the difficulty" (increase proximity, number of people, contact, etc.).
We must not forget that for these treatments to be effective, the patient must really want to overcome his or her enochlophobia. This decision should be yours, since only in this way is the necessary motivation for change achieved.