Antlophobia (A complete guide)

This article will give a brief idea about Antlophobia. Then it will focus on the causes and symptoms of Antlophobia.

Then it will highlight the treatment of Antlophobia, both psychotherapies, and medications.

ANTLOPHOBIA:

Antlophobia refers to the irrational fear of floods. Phobias are a type of anxiety disorder that can disturb a person’s life miserably.

It includes panic like condition in which a person feels sudden breathlessness, sweating and trembling with a mere thought of flood or even from seeing news of floods took place in different countries or so.

For instance, an area where the person lives suffer from heavy rains and are surrounded by a river, there are chances of having floods in the area and the person fears about it all the time, that fear is known as Antlophobia.

CAUSES OF ANTLOPHOBIA:

There is no particular cause has been found so far for Antlophobia, but environmental factors and genetic factors are responsible for it as it is for almost all other phobias.

If a person’s family history has had some anxiety or phobic disorder or as a matter of fact any mental disorder, it is most likely for the individual to develop Antlophobia.

Environmental factors might include childhood trauma or experiences in which the person must have experienced floods and might have lost someone close to him in that flood.

It might be a dreadful experience which may haunt and eventually develops the phobia.

There are high chances of developing other disorders as well if the patient has never gotten a cure for PTSD because of the past traumatic event.

SYMPTOMS OF ANTLOPHOBIA:

The symptoms depend on the severity of the phobia and the most common symptom would be panic attacks.

Some of the common symptoms are:

• Severe anxiety with a mere thought of floods
• Muscle tension, body aches
• Breathlessness, choking sensations
• High blood pressure
• Sweating, nausea, fainting
• Dizziness, restlessness, nervousness
• Lack of concentration
• Avoidance of the areas where a flood can easily occur

There are chances that a person suffering from Antlophobia makes a conscious choice of the place they might want to live, as they might want to live in the city rather than countryside or in the rural areas where there are rivers which make higher chances of floods.

TREATMENT FOR ANTLOPHOBIA:

There is no particular treatment that has been found for this phobia but a mixture of treatments which have been found helpful for the people suffering from phobia and anxiety can be helpful for Antlophobia as well.

Psychotherapies:

• Talk Therapy:

Talk therapy seems very simple and easy but it’s quite opposite. A person is about to talk about his weaknesses, it’s not easy at all.

But it sure does wonders to the client as once he lets out all the emotions, it becomes easy for him to focus on the bright side of life.

• Exposure Therapy:

Although exposure therapy is one of the best therapy for anxiety and phobias but it’s a bit tricky in this case.

In this case the therapist might start with the imagination of floods happening in the close proximity of the client and then can continue to do it until he becomes okay with the thought.

But nothing more can be done other than this.

• Relaxation Therapy:

Relaxation Therapy on the other hand can be very helpful with these patients as it helps in calming down the racing of thoughts.

JPMR helps a person in focusing on his breathing and his one muscle at a time, which helps the client in letting go of the negative thoughts of being forgotten and the focus stays on himself only.

This helps in the long run with acceptance.

• Mindfulness:

Mindfulness might be a good choice for the patients with the fear of being forgotten as the main purpose of mindfulness is to accept everything and being in the present.

It makes sure that a person’s senses are widened and opened. This will again help the client with acceptance.

• CBT:

CBT is one of the best Therapy which focuses and challenges the negative automatic thoughts and it has proven to be helpful with all kinds of anxiety and phobias and it can be helpful with Antlophobia as well. 

Medications:

• Antidepressants:

These medicines are not only used for the patients suffering from depression or have a comorbidity of depression, but it also helps with the patients suffering from anxiety and phobias as well.

• Anti-anxiety medicines:

These medicines help the client in controlling the symptoms of anxiety but it cannot cure the phobia.

To get a cure from phobia one has to mix the treatment of medications with psychotherapy.

Although one must not take any medication without consulting with the Doctor.

CONCLUSION:

This blog has briefly been described about Antlophobia. Then it has focused on the causes and symptoms of Antlophobia.

Then it has highlighted the treatment of Antlophobia, both psychotherapies, and medications.

Please feel free to comment or leave a suggestion below. We would really appreciate it.

FAQ:

CITATIONS:

psychtimes.com