The dermatopathophobia, Dermatosiophobia or dermatophobia is the irrational, extreme and unjustified fear of skin diseases and any type of injury that occurs in these regions. This alteration constitutes a rare specific phobia and can cause high levels of discomfort.
People with this disorder often have very high levels of anxiety. Likewise, it is common for the fear caused by the possibility of suffering a skin disease to cause a behavior of constant evaluation of the state of the skin itself.
For this reason, dermatopathophobia is not a minor pathology. Its presence can greatly impair the functioning of the person and it is essential to be able to treat it correctly.
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Dermatopathophobia is one of the many types of specific phobia that exist. It shares many characteristics with other more known disorders such as spider, heights or blood phobia.
The main characteristic of dermatopathophobia consists of the appearance of anxiety before the exposure of a stimulus that indicates the presence of a skin disease.
Obviously, the detection of the feared stimuli of this disorder is somewhat more complex than that of other phobias. In spider phobia the feared element is spiders and in blood phobia the stimulus that causes anxiety is the blood itself.
However, defining which stimuli provide the idea of suffering from a skin disease is more complex. In fact, the interpretation of the stimulus is totally subjective, so these tend to vary in each subject.
A person with dermatopathophobia can interpret having very dry skin as an element that indicates the presence of a skin pathology. On the other hand, another may think that the use of gel damages his skin and another subject may believe that having itchy back is the symptom that predicts the presentation of the disease.
Typically, each individual presents a large group of feared stimuli, which are associated with the probability of suffering from a skin disease. In addition, many studies have shown how these elements are not static, so that a person can present more and more feared stimuli.
The main element that defines dermatopathophobia is the experimentation of an extreme fear of skin diseases. This fear is defined as phobic and presents a series of characteristics that define it. Thus, not all fears of skin diseases configure the presence of dermatopathophobia..
The main characteristics that define the fear that is present in a person with dermatopathophobia are:
The fear experienced in dermatopathophobia is totally disproportionate to the demands of the situation.
Totally neutral stimuli usually elicit an extremely high anxiety response. The feared elements in dermatopathophobia are not a real danger, but the individual interprets them as such.
Thus, real or justified probabilities of suffering from a skin disease or specific symptoms that indicate a poor condition of the skin are not the elements that define the presence of dermatopathophobia..
The fact of fearing neutral, harmless stimuli that do not cause any harm to the person is irrational. However, the irrationality of dermatopathophobia goes further. Fear is not only irrational for others, but it is also irrational for the individual who suffers from the disorder.
Thus, dermatopathophobia does not imply the presence of a delusion, in which the person begins to interpret things in an unreal or extravagant way. The individual with this type of specific phobia is fully capable of rationalizing his fear and realizing that it is irrational.
Despite the fact that the individual is aware that his fear is irrational and, therefore, has no reason to present it, he continues to experience it immovably.
This fact is explained by another of the qualities of fear, uncontrollability. Fear is beyond the voluntary control of the person, so that no matter how much they do not want to have it, they are unable to avoid it.
Apart from being disproportionate, irrational and uncontrollable, the factor that best defines the fear of dermatopathophobia is its intensity. The fear of different stimuli related to the possibility of suffering from a skin disease is experienced with high intensity and maximum discomfort.
The very fear of conceiving a skin pathology modifies the individual's behavior. This will try to avoid by all means the feared situations and elements.
For example, if a subject fears a specific type of gel because he believes it will harm his skin, he will avoid its use altogether. The same can happen with exposure to the sun or any other element that can be associated with having a skin disease.
An important characteristic of dermatopathophobia is that the fear that is experienced is not transitory; the disorder persists over time and does not remit.
This fact highlights the need for psychopathology treatment. If it is not intervened properly, a subject with dermatopathophobia will continue to present it throughout his life.
The fear of multiple, remarkably unpredictable stimuli associated with the likelihood of suffering from a skin disease can seriously affect the individual's functionality.
The fear of dermatopathophobia does not allow the subject to adapt well to the environment, quite the contrary. For this reason, it is classified as maladaptive and pathological fear.
Finally, it should be noted that, as with the rest of specific phobias, dermatopathophobia is not a specific disorder of a certain phase or age.
It does not appear only in adulthood, adolescence or childhood, but can originate in any of them and persist over time.
The symptoms of this disorder are usually quite varied, so there is no single group of delimited manifestations that occur in all cases.
However, all the symptoms that are connoted in dermatopathophobia belong to anxiety. The manifestations respond to an increase in activation, due to the direct effects of the fear that is experienced.
In general terms, the symptoms can be grouped into three large areas: physical symptoms, cognitive symptoms and behavioral symptoms. Thus, this disorder affects the three great spheres of the human psyche.
When the subject with dermatopathophobia is exposed to one of its feared elements, he reacts with a clear anxiety response. Anxiety disorders inevitably cause a series of specific physical changes.
In the case of dermatopathophobia, these manifestations may vary slightly in each case. However, all of them respond to increased activation of the central nervous system.
The physical symptoms that can cause dermatopathophobia are:
The physical symptoms cannot be explained without the fear of skin diseases. In other words, the fear of dermatopathophobia causes the body to activate, increase its anxiety and present symptoms.
Thus, bodily manifestations appear as a function of the emergence of a series of thoughts. These thoughts motivate anxiety and at the same time feed into physical symptoms, a factor that causes a progressive increase in nervousness and feelings of anxiety..
The cognitive symptoms of dermatopathophobia can be very varied. The feared elements can be multiple and the association between these and the fear of suffering from a skin disease also.
Thus, in dermatopathophobia a series of distorted thoughts are witnessed, both regarding the fear of conceiving a skin pathology and regarding the feared stimuli that indicate this probability.
Finally, the intensity of the above symptoms motivates a clear behavior modification. The person with dermatopathophobia will try to avoid the feared elements in order to also avoid physical and cognitive symptoms, which generate high discomfort..
Therefore, this alteration affects the normal behavior of the person. It will begin to be governed by your fears and may limit its functionality. In addition, multiple studies have shown that avoidance (or escape when it cannot be avoided) from feared situations and / or elements is the main factor that aggravates and maintains the disorder.
The fact that the individual runs away from his fears and is not able to face the elements he fears, means that the phobia does not subside and remains throughout the time.
The pathogenesis of specific phobias shows that there is no single cause that causes these disorders, but that there are many factors that intervene or may intervene in their genesis.
With regard to dermatopathophobia, 5 different causes have been postulated that could play an important role.
The fact of having been exposed to situations that motivate fear of skin diseases seems to be an important factor in dermatopathophobia.
Specifically, receiving educational styles during childhood that place a high emphasis on the dangerousness of skin diseases could be a factor related to the disorder..
Likewise, having suffered lesions in the skin regions or having experienced traumatic situations with the skin could also influence.
The conditioning of the fear of skin diseases does not necessarily have to be acquired directly, but can also be done vicariously.
In this sense, having visualized or observed unpleasant or shocking elements about alterations in the skin, could motivate the appearance of dermatopathophobia.
Finally, along the same lines as the two previous points, acquiring verbal information about the danger of skin diseases can also contribute to the genesis of dermatopathophobia..
Some authors postulate the presence of genetic factors in dermatopathophobia. However, nowadays there are still no clear data about the heritability of the disorder..
Unrealistic beliefs about self-harm, attentional biases towards threats, or low perceptions of self-efficacy are cognitive factors that are associated with the genesis of dermatopathophobia.
However, there is a notable consensus in stating that these factors play a more relevant role in the maintenance of phobias than in their origin.
Treating dermatopathophobia is essential to eradicate phobic fear, anxiety symptoms and the disorder itself. In fact, if not properly intervened, the alteration can be chronic and seriously affect the person..
The first-choice intervention for this psychopathology is psychological treatment. Specifically, cognitive behavioral treatment has shown very high efficacy rates for dermatopathophobia.
In these treatments, systematic desensitization is usually used, in which the subject is progressively exposed to its feared elements, with the aim of getting used to them.
Likewise, the incorporation of relaxation techniques and cognitive therapy tends to be beneficial in most cases..
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