Autophobia (A complete guide)

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

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

AUTOPHOBIA:

Autophobia refers to the irrational fear of being alone or lonely. It is also known as Monophobia. This type of fear can occur anywhere even in the comfort of one’s own house.

They have a constant need of other people or persons around them for the comfort else they end up having anxiety with the mere thought of being alone.

Phobias are a type of anxiety disorder that can disturb a person’s life miserably.

It includes panic like condition in which people suffering from this disorder experience a high amount of anxiety or panic-like condition from the mere thought of being alone or lonely.

People suffering from Autophobia try their best in order to make themselves feel loved.

They try to be around people all the time and make excuses for being around them. They give up their own comfort zone just to make sure they are having enough attention from the people they love.

Sometimes it creates a nuisance in other people’s lives as it tends to suffocate the other people.

CAUSES OF AUTOPHOBIA:

There is no particular cause that has been found so far for Autophobia, 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 more likely for the individual to develop Autophobia.

Environmental factors might include childhood experiences and trauma where the child either had some incidents where he felt left out or lonely or had parents who used authoritarian parenting styles or neglecting parenting styles. 

There are chances that the person suffering from Autophobia also suffers from GAD, OCD or Depression.

Or that person might develop any of these disorders as a comorbid disorder.

SYMPTOMS OF AUTOPHOBIA:

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 being alone or lonely
• Derealization, depersonalization
• Muscle tension, body aches
• Breathlessness, choking sensations
• High blood pressure
• Sweating, nausea, fainting
• Obsessively worrying about being alone
• Lack of concentration
• Avoidance of situations where they are supposed to be alone

There are chances that a person suffering from Autophobia makes a conscious choice of their living standards and particularly choose a lifestyle where they don’t have to be alone.

These individuals have high chances of developing OCD as well.

TREATMENT FOR AUTOPHOBIA:

There is no particular treatment that has been found for this phobia but a mixture of treatments that have been found helpful for the people suffering from phobia and anxiety can be helpful for Autophobia 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 it’s a bit tricky in this case.

In this case, the therapist might start with the imagination of being alone, first in the comfort zone of their house than in another place, then the therapist may try to make the person experience it in person in the session itself where the therapist leave the person alone in a room for some time till his anxiety provokes.

This way the individual slowly desensitizes with the fear.

• 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 alone or lonely 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 alone or lonely, 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 Autophobia 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:

Being alone is the saddest feeling and everyone feels is overwhelmed when faces this situation, but a person suffering from autophobia is likely to have a panic attack when feels that he is going be alone.

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

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

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FAQ:

CITATIONS:

healthline.com