Xanthophobia: symptoms, causes and treatment

In popular culture there are certain myths and superstitions regarding various phenomena and objects. People, even though we consider ourselves to be very rational, always end up believing things of doubtful evidence, but that it is very difficult for us to stop believing.

Amulets, rituals and various customs are associated with bringing good luck, but we also have things that we believe that they are going to bring us misfortunes, and among them we have the popular belief that yellow can give us bad lucky.

The irrational and extreme fear of the color yellow is known as xanthophobia And, although it is a somewhat debatable phobia, it makes sense considering how in Western culture we see this color as a bad thing. Next we will see what it consists of.

• Related article: "Types of Phobias: Exploring Fear Disorders"

What is xanthophobia?

Xanthophobia (from the Greek "xanthos"; yellow and "phobos"; fear) is the irrational and excessive fear of the color yellow. Based on this definition, it can be understood as xanthophobic behavior

rejecting any object or substance that has the striking property of being yellow, in addition to avoiding wearing anything that has that color in daily life.

It is difficult to consider xanthophobia as a real mental disorder. To be one, specifically a specific phobia, it must meet the diagnostic criteria of this type of psychological conditions, criteria that can be found in the DSM-5 and the ICD-11. In both diagnostic systems it is emphasized that phobias do not only imply that the person feels a great fear towards a stimulus in specifically, in this case the color yellow, but also the associated avoidance behavior significantly interferes with their life daily.

Xanthophobia does not seem to be a common problem in the population. Nor does it seem to imply a high degree of interference in the daily lives of those who say they suffer from it, which is why there is not much scientific literature that addresses this phobia in depth. In fact, it is considered that it would be really difficult to diagnose it as a real phobia or even consider that it is a real mental disorder.

In any case, xanthophobia, more than a specific phobia of the color yellow it would be a superstition, an irrational belief with a broad cultural base since in some societies this color is associated with bad luck. In this sense, the reason why someone rejected things of yellow color, such as clothing, vehicles with that color or any yellow object would be mere superstition.

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Symptoms

As we said, it is difficult to consider xanthophobia as a real phobia. However, if it were a real specific phobia, a set of symptoms would have to appear that are typical of this type of disorder, which would appear in the presence of colored objects yellow. These symptoms can be grouped into cognitive, behavioral and physiological, and would manifest themselves when the person who has an irrational fear of the color yellow saw something with that color or think she has to find herself in a situation where there might be some color yellow.

In the cognitive aspect, those who suffer from xanthophobia clearly and unequivocally believe that color causes bad luck or is the source of some kind of harm. This is a superstitious thought, an irrational idea that can condition your way of seeing and understanding the world. For example, a person with xanthophobia may believe that if she sees a yellow car while going to work on her vehicle, she may be more likely to have an accident.

At the behavioral level, patients with a specific phobia often actively avoid the phobic stimulus or situation. In this case, a patient with xanthophobia would avoid any yellow-colored object, in addition to also avoiding using yellow clothes for situations in which she wants to have good luck, such as a first date, a job interview, taking an exam in the college...

Most phobias involve physiological symptoms such as tachycardia, nausea, dizziness, sweating, bradycardia, or increased blood pressure, symptoms that would appear from seeing a yellow object in the case of xanthophobia.

Causes of xanthophobia

Xanthophobia is a peculiar phobia. As we have mentioned, it is about the irrational phobia of the color yellow, the superstitious idea that this color is synonymous with bad luck. This belief seems to have its explanation in a very widespread legend in the western world related to the theater.

It is said that the famous French playwright Molière died presenting his play "The Imaginary Sick" (1673) while he was dressed in yellow garments. Since then, this color has been associated with bad luck, especially wearing yellow.

In the cognitive-behavioral model it is argued that the development and maintenance of certain phobias is given by classical conditioning. In the case of xanthophobia, the fear of the color yellow would occur when associating this color with another stimulus aversive, as Molière's contemporaries must have done when they related wearing yellow to the death of the playwright.

The phobia would be reinforced by operant conditioning, since those who avoided wearing yellow, considering that they had no bad luck, would attribute it to avoiding wearing that color and, consequently, they would avoid wearing yellow clothes even more.

Although in the XXI century this superstition should be more than overcome, the truth is that it has been transmitted from generation to generation and, although xanthophobia in particular is not common, the superstition that yellow brings bad luck. Fears can be learned through vicarious learning, observing the reaction of other people to certain stimuli. It may happen that if we have parents who fear the color yellow and avoid using it, we also acquire that fear.

Treatment

As we mentioned, it is difficult to consider xanthophobia as a real disorder since it is difficult to find cases of people who have a pathological fear of the color yellow, in addition to that it is really difficult to say that this can be a big problem in the lifetime. The affected person would have to avoid in a very exaggerated way being near or touching yellow objects to consider it a serious problem.

However, if the patient does have a pathological fear of yellow, it will be necessary to intervene with a treatment. In this case, as with the rest of specific phobias, the treatment of choice is cognitive therapy behavioral along with drug treatment, specifically the administration of anxiolytics to reduce the anxious symptomatology.

One of the fundamental tools in the treatment of specific phobias is the exposure technique. This consists of exposing the patient to the phobic stimulus in sessions of varying duration and progressively bringing him closer to what he fears. In the case of xanthophobia, the specific phobic stimulus must first be detected, since this phobia as it is conceptualized may involve being afraid of yellow things in general, or simply avoiding wearing yellow or using transportation with that color. color (p. eg, taxis, buses, planes ...)

Once the phobic stimulus has been identified, exposure therapy will consist of making the patient find himself in situations in which that stimulus is present. For example, if he is afraid of wearing yellow, what you can do is, first, get him used to the presence of garments of that color without wearing them so that, later, you can wear them for a little while. The idea is that you get used to the presence of your phobic stimulus, reducing your anxiety through habituation.

As a cognitive component in CBT we have the work on irrational beliefs, in this case the superstition that yellow brings bad luck. The patient may have some very extravagant ideas about what the color yellow implies, among which we can find out that if you dress that color you may die or that if you see something yellow you will have bad lucky. The range of irrational beliefs can be very wide, and each case will require specific treatment.