Talk:Phobophobia

Phobophobia is Not Rare, It Underlies All Phobias

Phobophobia is Not Rare at all-- It Underlies All Phobias: The fear of anxiety is what keeps all anxiety disorders going.

The way free of anxiety is to accept one's fear (reversing the underlying phobophobia)-- that is what stops them.

But of course it's much easier said then done (it is the key to all therapies and self-help methods for overcoming anxiety-- but often requires a lot of therapy and/or a lot of self-help work to achieve. Even though it is the main fear underlying most phobias, along with perhaps the fear of death).

In terms of a good citation, any books on anxiety by Claire Weeks would be a good source. (She is dead by the way, I am not trying to sell her books). There are plenty of other good sources too. Anything on "anxiety and acceptance" (from any good source) is really addressing the near-universal presence of phobophobia underneath of all other phobias.

69.171.160.158 (talk) 03:45, 10 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I removed the word 'rare' since this is inaccurate, although a sentence explaining phobophobia's ubiquitous foundational role in most anxiety disorders along with a citation should added.

69.171.160.158 (talk) 03:58, 10 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

i take it "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself" did not count on this twist of irony152.91.9.153 (talk) 04:45, 4 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Phobophobia does not underlie all phobias. There are many exceptions. Blood-injury-injection phobia, for example, is not a fear-of-fear; it is a fear of the *consequences* of exposure to blood etc. stimuli (e.g., fainting and the consequences of fainting, such as injury or embarrassment).

Proposed merge of Anxiety sensitivity into Phobophobia

Reason: the articles are largely overlapping. See also the translated text of the German-language Wikipedia article. --Chris Howard (talk) 10:19, 22 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Phobophobia is not a scientific term in the psychological and psychiatric literature. It is vaguely defined. In comparison, anxiety sensitivity is a more precisely defined construct with empirically validated measures and a good deal of evidence to support its construct validity. Moreover, empirical research shows that "phobophobia" is an inadequate concept. People who report having high levels of "fear of fear" are often not simply afraid of "fear itself" (refuting the cliché); rather, they are afraid of the anticipated consequences of high levels of autonomic arousal. Commonly feared consequences of excessive arousal or anxiety include (a) mental incapacitation (e.g., "going mad), (b) catastrophic physical consequences (e.g., death, enduring physical impairments), or (c) social consequences (e.g., fears of rejection or ridicule for appearing anxious in front of others). There is empirical research to support these assertions (e.g., Taylor et al., 2007, Psychological Assessemnt). These assertions form part of the concept of anxiety sensitivity. There are no comparable assertions in the vague, amorphous concept of "phobophobia")/

Etymology

Aibophobia, a fictional phobia defined as the fear of palindroms. Etymologically speaking: thoose two words are the same because are compounded of words "phobia" and "phobia".

Is there phobiaphobiaphobia?

It would be the fear of this thing. Just wondering Wikiuserpidea (talk) 19:49, 17 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]