Decoding Eremophobia — The Fear of Isolation
Do you dread being alone? Perhaps just the thought being in isolation gets you so badly scared that you’re unable to be your usual self.
While we all crave attachment and attention, some of us might suffer anxiety and panic attacks over our morbid fear of loneliness. If that’s the case with you, you most likely suffer from Eremophobia.
Let’s learn all about Eremophobia meaning, causes, and treatment.
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The Basic Information About Eremophobia
Eremophobia is the fear of what, you must be thinking? Also known as Monophobia, Autophobia, and Isolophobia, Eremophobia is the morbid and inexplicable fear of isolation or being alone.
It is true that we have been hard-wired into believing that attention, relationships, and intimacy with others are the key to our survival. This makes us fearful of separation and isolation. For some, it takes an ugly, more serious turn by the name of Eremophobia.
People who suffer from Eremophobia do not enjoy solitude. They need to stay around people or have company all the time. Just the thought of being left alone can be distressing for them and impact their life negatively.
Eremophobia Meaning
Eremophobia is derived from the Greek word “erēmia”, meaning desert (a barren piece of land), and “phobia”, meaning fear.
How Do You Pronounce Eremophobia?
The phonetic spelling, which can help you figure out the pronunciation of eremophobia, is as follows:
er-e-mo-pho-bia
Eremophobia Causes
There are various reasons that can cause you to develop Eremophobia.
A traumatic childhood event where you felt abandonment or experienced something negative when you were alone can be a major trigger factor of Eremophobia.
It is highly possible for you to develop a fear of isolation because one of your ancestors had it too. Fears can be passed from generation to generation through genetic composition.
The environment can also play a role in instilling fear into your system. What you grow up seeing and imbibing can reflect through your actions. If you grow up seeing a close one being afraid and scared of being left alone, you start considering it as a potential fear for yourself too.
What Do You Think Eremophobia, The Fear Of Oneself is like?
Being left isolated or enduring the feeling of loneliness varies from person to person. Your idea of isolation and loneliness might differ for your friend or a family member. You cannot compare your struggles with others.
So, Eremophobia would be different for everyone facing it. The common link between Eremophobia, and most phobias for that matter, is anxiety.
Your anxiousness takes a new face when you are suffering from a phobia. You become afraid of yourself and your own company. Any time that you are away from people, alone with your thoughts, your body, both mentally and physically, takes an ugly turn and you start exhibiting multiple symptoms that are related to your fears.
Eremophobia is unique from other phobias because the fear stimulus is always present, even though it has no physical trigger.
Symptoms of Eremophobia
The symptoms that come with Eremophobia are similar to any other phobia that exists. These symptoms are generally uncontrollable and can easily take over your normal life.
To ascertain whether you suffer from Eremophobia or not, be on the lookout for the following symptoms that your body is likely to exhibit:
Psychological Symptoms
– Getting anxious and restless at the most trivial situations
– Lack of concentration and lack of will to complete a task
– Being easily distracted from completing daily chores
– Developing a feeling of being unloved and craving attention at all times
– Lack of independence and always wanting to rely on other people for support
– Feeling of seclusion even in a large group
– Inability to relax and calm oneself down
– Losing temper and getting easily irritated
Physical Symptoms
– Panic attacks
– Seizures
– Heart palpitations
– Shortness of breath
– Nausea
– Goosebumps
– Dizziness
– Body ache and pain
– Excess sweating
– Migraines and headaches
– Dry mouth
How Do You Deal With Eremophobia?
When you are trying to deal with eremophobia, first identify if it is the fear of isolation that you are suffering or the disgust of it. Fear should not be confused with disgust.
The emotion of fear is manifested when you are afraid of a dangerous outcome that may ascent from your source of fear — isolation in the case of eremophobia. Disgust, on the other hand, is the emotion that you exhibit when you sense a potential disease, illness, sickness, or contamination from the source.
You deal with Eremophobia as you would deal with any other phobia. There are a few conclusive treatment options the benefits of which you may avail. Let us have a detailed look at them below.
Self Help – What Can You Do To Help Yourself?
If you feel that you have Eremophobia, confide about your phobia to someone you trust. This could be anyone from a friend to a family member or even a colleague. Talking about your fears is one of the best ways of overcoming them.
Try and understand where your fear comes from. You might have developed Eremophobia as a result of separation anxiety. Collect your thoughts and write them down in a journal.
Meditate. Meditate. Meditate. Meditation is a form of self-help that will clear your energies and create a blanket of positive aura around you. This will motivate you to move ahead of your fears and live a better, more fulfilling life ahead.
Professional Help for the Fear of Isolation- The Options Available
Presently, there are no concrete treatments available that will make you completely free of Eremophobia. However, there are a few professional psychotherapy options that will help decrease the symptoms that are associated with your fears. Let us have a look at them:
Exposure Therapy is one such treatment. It involves the exposure of the individual to the phobic stimulus in a controlled and comfortable manner. The initial stages of this therapy are performed in a safe and comfortable zone, gradually making it more challenging by the day. This therapy helps in the reduction of anxiety and similar mental disorders that result from Eremophobia.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is another practical approach towards facing a fear where the therapist makes you face your fears and makes a note of all the behavioral changes that you demonstrate, physically and mentally alike.
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is a healing practice based on the principles of exercising, meditation, yoga, and wellness. This form of therapy helps you to combat the issues of stress, anxiety, depression, and other psychological agonies through mindfulness.
How To Cope With Eremophobia?
Coping with a phobia, which is as severe as eremophobia, requires a special kind of attention and devotion. Some of the best ways to cope with it and emerge stronger and better as a person are:
Fear is a natural response that you evoke to an unknown danger. That danger that you perceive due to your fears is lesser in magnitude than you think it to be. Most of the time, it doesn’t even exist. Your fears are in your head, and only you can remove them from there. Use affirmations. Tell yourself every day that you are much more than your fears. Don’t let your fears defeat you and get the better of you.
Face your fears. No matter how daunting it might seem to you in the beginning, the results always outweigh the difficulty it possesses. Running away from Eremophobia will not make it go away. Facing it and identifying the problems it brings with itself is the only way you will be able to overpower it.
Final Words
Being fearful of a certain object or a situation is a normal feeling. What is not normal is living with it long enough so that it feeds onto your soul, little by little every day.
When your battles with Eremophobia seem like a tough end, rely on self-help techniques or seek professional help to find your way out. Your fears are only as big as you make them to be. So give yourself a chance to live free of fear.