Atephobia (A complete guide)

This article will brief about Atephobia and how PTSD can be the triggering factor for Atephobia.

Then it will highlight the symptoms and causes of Atephobia. And at last, it will hight treatment plans for Atephobia- long-term and short-term.

ATEPHOBIA:

Atephobia refers to the fear of ruins or physical destruction of some buildings or places.

Ruin doesn’t always mean decaying of the old building only, it also can refer to the new buildings which have gone through something destructive and have been destroyed.

The reason behind this fear of ruins might be because of the past traumatic events that must have deeply hurt the individual and seeing such scenes again may lead to reliving the past.

Sometimes it can be referred to as exaggerated or irrational fear and people know about it but unable to accept it.

Association Atephobia with PTSD:

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder in which a person relives a past traumatic event whenever he comes across a similar event.

For instance, a person had a car accident in which lost his mother but he survived, develops the fear of being in the car or in a busy road.

Therefore, when he comes up to the idea of a road or car, he might feel the same fear.

The cause of Atephobia is almost similar as it mostly depends on the environmental factors.

SYMPTOMS OF ATEPHOBIA:

Atephobia is a type of phobia, which is a mental disorder. The symptoms include:

• Fear of panic attack– 

If a person with Atephobia happens to see any ruins, it is more likely that he might have a panic attack. 

• Increased heartbeat-

After seeing a place that has been ruined, it might trigger the traumatic experience of the individual and thus the rapid heartbeat is likely to happen. 

• Shortness of breath or breathlessness:

This is another symptom that is common for a sufferer of Atephobia as soon as the sufferer gets triggered. 

CAUSES OF ATEPHOBIA:

As we have discussed earlier that environmental factors play a very important role in developing Atephobia.

Having some past experience or trauma is usually the case for having Atephobia.

But sometimes genetics also play an important role in it. If phobia runs in the family then for an individual to develop Atephobia increases.

One must not have atephobia to pass it’s genes on, any phobia or any mental illness in the family increases the chances of developing any disorder.

TREATMENTS OF ATEPHOBIA:

For the treatment, one should be clear about his condition.

There are chances that people don’t recognize Atephobia as an illness they might find it weird to accept any illness like this.

But the truth is truth when anything starts hampering the socio-occupational functioning of an individual it means that something is not right.

Psychotherapies:

For a disorder like Atephobia, long-term treatment is required and therefore psychotherapies are perfect for it.

Some of the following psychotherapies can work on treating Atephobia-

Relaxation Exercises:

Relaxation Exercises like Jacobson Progressive Muscle Relaxation (JPMR) technique, the symptoms of fear, uneasiness, hyperventilation, and fatigue can vanish within a few sessions.

Mindfulness:

Mindfulness is another technique via which one can have full control over his present and becomes easy for the person to let go the past.

It helps in realizing the sense of reality and feelings of gratitude emerges therefore, mindfulness can be the best technique to make a person relax.

Medications:

Although medications would only work for the short term only to vanish the symptoms of phobia, but one should go to a practitioner.

As it seems the short term relief but remember therapy also works when the symptoms are under control.

But one should not try to self-medicate, it can be harmful for you.

CONCLUSION:

In this blog, we discussed what is Atephobia and how it can be associated with PTSD.

Then we learned about the symptoms and causes of Atephobia.

And at last, we focused on the Treatments used for the long-term as well as for the short-term. 

Please feel to comment or put suggestions, we would appreciate that.

FAQ:

CITATIONS:

Atephobia- rightdiagnosis.com