As social animals, human beings need to interact with other people, sometimes closer to us such as family or friends and, on other occasions, with people with whom we have little or nothing to do.
The people closest to us are those in whom we place great trust. We share impressions, we debate topics that interest us, we confess intimacies and opinions, etc. However, there are times when we can feel disappointed or betrayed by them. This fact can even have an impact on the way we will relate to others from that moment on.
When this happens, the person who experiences it may be afraid to trust the same person or another person again for fear that the same thing will happen to them again. This phenomenon is known as pistanthrophobia. Keep reading this Psychology-Online article in which we talk to you about pistanthrophobia: what it is, symptoms and how to overcome it.
What is pistanthrophobia?
Pistanthrophobia is the term used to describe the fear that a person feels of trusting other people again caused by a bad experience. In fact, pistanthrophobia is spoken of as “the fear that does not allow you to love again.”
The term is not included as such either in the main diagnostic classifications of mental disorders or in the psychology dictionary of the American Psychiatric Association. It should also be said that there is not enough scientific literature to provide data on pistanthrophobia in particular.
However, in this article we are going to try to frame pistanthrophobia within the clinical characteristics of specific phobias in order to try to give shape to such a little-studied phenomenon.
Pistanthrophobia and social phobia
It refers to a person’s fear of being negatively evaluated by others. This type of patient fears situations such as going to a party or even eating or drinking in front of people.
The irrational fear of trusting other people again as a result of a bad experience would not be related to negative judgment from others, but rather to the fear of establishing trusting relationships and the negative repercussions of these.
Problems in diagnosing pistanthrophobia as a phobia
Although in this article we are going to analyze pistanthrophobia as a specific phobia, it shows certain peculiarities that make it different.
Inaccuracy of the phobic stimulus
The phobic object in the rest of the phobias is usually well defined and limited: an animal, blood, heights, etc. Pistanthrophobia does not have a well-defined and specific phobic object, which would mean that this problem does not fit perfectly with the criteria of specific phobia. Furthermore, the fear of trusting people again would have some peculiarity that would make it different from other fears:
- First of all, the phobic object is not tangible as blood or snakes can be.
- In second place, The presence of the phobic object is not limited to a specific situation or is delimited in time. A snake can appear before us and quickly leave scared, but how long does the fear of trusting others again last?
Immediate anxiety reactions
These particularities would affect the applicability of other criteria. For example, the second criterion states that the phobic stimulus (i.e., trusting someone again) will almost always provoke immediate fear or anxiety. How do we know when the phobic stimulus occurs? When is the moment we start to trust a person? How might we then measure the immediacy of the anxiety response?
Another criterion establishes that the situation is avoided or endured with intense fear or anxiety. When is the person enduring the situation with fear or anxiety? The second part of this criterion would probably have no application to pistanthrophobia as such.
Symptoms of pistanthrophobia
Trying to frame pistanthrophobia within specific phobias and safeguarding the difficulties in doing so, we will follow some of the DSM-5 symptoms that may best fit pistanthrophobia.
- The person would show a disproportionate and unrealistic fear of trusting again. in the others.
- Active avoidance of trust again in the others. The person with pistanthrophobia could avoid establishing more intimate relationships that involve trust with people. Avoidance, if we follow the DSM-5 criteria for specific phobia, would be prolonged over time, specifically at least six months.
- Establishing superficial relationships. Derived from the previous symptom, people would establish only superficial relationships with people.
- Fear causes unrest and social deterioration. On the one hand, the person would feel bad when experiencing difficulty in trusting others again. On the other hand, the inability to trust others again due to fear could cause a deterioration in the person’s social sphere, since they would not be able to establish relationships of trust.
Possible causes of pistanthrophobia
This fear would be caused by a situation of betrayal, disappointment or another similar thing that violates the person’s trust. It would, in turn, be maintained by the constant avoidance of establishing relationships of trust with others.
Another aspect that would be interesting to know regarding the origin and maintenance of pistanthrophobia would be the existence of irrational thoughts (in the same way that they can appear in other phobias), since these could be playing a fundamental role.
How to overcome pistanthrophobia or the fear of trusting
As we have seen, pistanthrophobia could show particularities compared to the rest of the phobias and, therefore, a good evaluation of the case will be essential when establishing guidelines to overcome it.
Exposure
Although it is the first choice in the treatment of phobias, in the case of pistanthrophobia we will find difficulties in carrying it out due to:
- The phobic object is not concrete and is not well defined. What exactly can we expose the patient to?
- Exposure requires a long time to take effect. How long does it take for one person to trust another? How do we know when she has started to trust someone?
Cognitive therapy
The evaluation of the case will reveal the existence or not of irrational ideas, negative automatic thoughts, etc., such as “if this person cheated on me, anyone could do it” or “all people are going to cheat on me.” If they are present, cognitive techniques could be a good tool to address the case. In this article you will find information about the .
As we have already seen, pistanthrophobia is not a phenomenon widely studied in scientific literature. Given that there is not much data in this regard, it is difficult to frame this phenomenon in a diagnostic category, define its symptoms, know appropriate intervention strategies and even know what degree of impact it has among the general population.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
If you want to read more articles similar to Pistanthrophobia: what it is, symptoms and how to overcome it.we recommend that you enter our category.
References
- American Psychiatric Association (2014). DSM-5. Reference guide to the diagnostic criteria of the DSM-5-Breviary. Madrid: Panamericana Medical Editorial.
Bibliography
- American Psychiatric Association (2014). DSM-5. Reference guide to the diagnostic criteria of the DSM-5-Breviary. Madrid: Panamericana Medical Editorial.
- Sosa, CD and Capafóns, JI (2014) Specific phobia. En Caballo, VE, Salazar, IC and Carrobles, JA (2014) Manual of Psychopathology and Psychological Disorders. Madrid. Pyramid.