Iophobia (fear of being poisoned): symptoms, causes and treatment

There are as many phobias as there are objects, stimuli or situations in the world. In this article we will know Iophobia, which consists of the phobia of being poisoned, either accidentally or provoked.

But why does this phobia appear? What symptoms does it entail? How can we treat it? We will answer all these questions and, finally, we will make your differential diagnosis.

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

Iophobia: What does it consist of?

The word iofobia comes from the Greek "ios" (poison, toxic) and "phobos" (phobia, fear). Therefore, iophobia consists of the disproportionate fear or phobia of poison. Specifically, it is an abnormal and unjustified fear of poison, being poisoned or toxic.

Thus, iofobia consists of the feeling of fear or fear of consuming, ingesting, breathing or having some type of contact with any poisonous substance; on the other hand, the person may also be afraid of being accidentally poisoned, and therefore iophobia is related to toxicphobia or toxophobia.

• You may be interested: "Toxicophobia (fear of poisoning): symptoms, causes and treatment"

A specific phobia: symptoms

Iophobia consists of a specific phobia, since in this case you are afraid of a specific stimulus or situation. In specific phobias, it is generated in the person intense fear or anxiety about the stimulus or situation, for at least 6 months.

In iophobia, the phobic situations would be the possibility of being poisoned and / or dying poisoned, and the objects or stimuli would be, for example, substances, chemicals, liquids, etc.

These feelings of fear that are born in the individual, provoke the intense urge to flee from the stimulus, as well as the avoidance of both exposure to it and situations where it could appear (if the situations are not avoided, they are endured with high anxiety or discomfort).

All these symptoms alter and interfere with the normal functioning of the person, in all areas of her life.

Causes

There may be various causes for the appearance of iophobia (the origin may be different). Let's see some of them:

1. Conditioning

Receiving or repeatedly seeing news of people who have been poisoned (and / or have died from poisoning), either accidentally or caused (by themselves or by third parties), together with a predisposition or personal vulnerability to suffer from a phobia, can generate Iophobia.

We may also have experienced a poisoning situation ourselves (traumatic experience). Thus, the person with iophobia can acquire the phobia conditioned by past experiences (own or vicarious).

As we have seen, if it is vicariously, it is produced by visualization of poisoning through direct observation, reading or audiovisual media.

2. Other related phobias

It may also be that the person already has a certain fear (or directly, the phobia) of different plants and animals.

This can be related to Seligman's preparation theory, which argues that there would be certain stimuli or situations more likely to trigger phobias (since they would be prepared phylogenetically, that is, we would “inherit” these fears from our ancestors when they faced dangerous situations or life or death). For example, fear of lions, a snake bite or some herbs or poisonous substances (all these stimuli can lead to death).

Thus, the human being would have "inherited" the fact of being afraid of certain animals or plants and would have learned to avoid them, feeling an innate fear or disgust towards them.

3. Predisposition

We also find a predisposition (be it genetic, biological, social ...) at the base of many phobias, including iofobia. Thus, the person could have this vulnerability, added to the generalization of previous fears of dying or get sick from an external agent not directly visible (for example a poisonous substance, bacteria, etc.)

It would be fulfilled like this an adaptive function when the person would avoid said stimuli that could cause death (increasing your chance of survival)

Treatment

The most effective psychological therapy today to treat specific phobias is exposure therapy. In this type of therapy, the individual is exposed to the feared stimulus or situation (generally gradually after the elaboration of a hierarchy of items between patient and therapist).

In the case of iophobia, the exposure will not be "real", that is, the subject will not be exposed to being poisoned in a real way, but it will Exposure therapy can be performed in imagination (where the individual must imagine in detail that he is being poisoned). On the other hand, the situations avoided by the subject as a consequence of iofobia can also be worked on.

We can illustrate all this with an example; Imagine a person with iophobia who does not drink from any glass that is served to him in a restaurant. In this case, the therapy would consist of exposing the subject to drink from the glasses that serve him and not to avoid such a situation. Another example would be exposing the subject to using cleaning products, or simply eating out.

Secondly, the cognitive restructuring technique can also be used (within cognitive behavioral therapy); This will be aimed at discussing the irrational beliefs and fears of the patient, as well as the meaning attributed to these beliefs, as well as the poison itself.

• You may be interested: "Intervention in phobias: the exposure technique"

Differential diagnosis

Finally, a good differential diagnosis should be made, mainly with:

1. TOC

OCD patients may manifest obsessions and compulsions related to cleaning (this is not an iophobia per se).

2. Psychotic disorders

Patients with schizophrenia, delusional disorder or others, may manifest the delusion of being poisoned (It wouldn't be an iophobia either).

Bibliographic references:

• Horse (2002). Manual for the cognitive-behavioral treatment of psychological disorders. Vol. 1 and 2. Madrid. XXI century (Chapters 1-8, 16-18).
• Belloch, A.; Sandín, B. And Ramos, F. (2010). Manual of Psychopathology. Volume I and II. Madrid: McGraw-Hill.
• American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Fifth edition. DSM-5. Masson, Barcelona.