Fear of women (gynephobia): causes and symptoms

Gynephobia or fear of women is a strange phobia that usually occurs among men (although it can also affect women) and, therefore, it is an irrational fear of any person of the female sex. This pathology, which causes great discomfort, anxiety and fear, should not be confused with the misogyny, which is hatred towards women.

In this article we will talk about gynephobia and detail the most important aspects of this phobic disorder, as well as its causes, symptoms, and treatment.

Gynephobia: what is it

Phobias are anxiety disorders that are characterized by the fact that the people who suffer from them feel a great fear of a stimulus that they try to avoid to reduce discomfort. There are different types of phobias, which are usually included in three groups: social phobia, agoraphobia and specific phobia. The fear of women belongs to the latter group, and can prevent the phobic from not having any kind of relationship with women., even intimate relationships and, therefore, is unable to develop an intimate relationship or the project of starting a family.

Gynephobia can cause serious relational problems that can affect different areas of people's lives, since the phobic will avoid any place where the phobic stimulus can be found, generally recruiting himself in his own home, avoiding not going to work or taking transportation public. It is a serious disorder that must be treated.

Causes of this disorder

The causes of this phenomenon can be varied. Sometimes, the low self-esteem of the subject leads him to be afraid of women, other times it can be the result of bad experiences in the intimate relationships with them or a consequence of irrational beliefs, such as that women want to hurt and are bad for nature.

However, in most cases the traumatic experiences of the past are behind this disorder, so they usually develop by a type of associative learning called conditioning classic. This type of learning is primitive, and although the first person to investigate it was Ivan Pavlov, the term became popular thanks to John B. Watson, one of the creators of one of the most important currents of Psychology: behaviorism.

Watson was the first to investigate classical conditioning and phobias in humans. One of the characteristics of this type of learning is that it involves automatic or reflex responses, not voluntary behaviors, so Watson thought it was possible to learn negative emotions, such as fear, by this process. To do this, he carried out one of the most controversial experiments in the history of Psychology, since it provoked that a boy named Albert learned to be afraid of a white rat with whom he used to enjoy playing. Watson did it; however, this experiment could not be carried out at present as it is considered unethical.

You can delve into classical conditioning and Watson's experiment in our article: “Classical conditioning and its most important experiments”

Are we biologically programmed to suffer from phobias?

Researchers believe that classical conditioning is not the only cause of phobias, as many people learn these types of fears through observation, is what is known as vicarious conditioning, which is not the same as learning by imitation (as we explained in our article "Vicarious conditioning: how does this type of learning work?”).

In addition, other authors believe that we are biologically predisposed to suffer from phobias., because fear is a negative emotion that has been very useful in the past because it has allowed the survival of human beings. This type of learning activates the brain regions that belong to what is known as the primitive brain, which is why it is characterized by primitive and non-cognitive associations. That is, these fears are difficult to modify by logical arguments. This idea stems from Martin Seligman's preparation theory.

Symptoms of fear of women

Like other specific phobic disorders, fear of women presents similar symptoms. The only difference is that the phobic stimulus that elicits it is different. Therefore, anxiety, discomfort and fear are manifested in the presence of this stimulus, which leads the person to want to avoid it to reduce symptoms.

These symptoms occur on three levels: cognitive, behavioral, and physical. The cognitive symptoms are fear, anguish, confusion and difficulties to maintain attention, as well as the irrational thoughts that the person has. Avoidance is the most characteristic behavioral symptom. Physical symptoms include: blushing. shortness of breath, nausea, hypersweating, tremors, etc.

Treatment

Phobias cause a lot of suffering; however, they have a high success rate when treatment includes psychological therapy. In some severe cases, patients receive drug treatment, especially anxiolytics, but the basis of treatment should include psychotherapy so that the improvement is maintained over time.

Psychologists who are experts in the treatment of phobias usually include cognitive behavioral therapy techniques that have proven to be more effective, according to scientific studies. Among these, the following stand out: relaxation techniques and exposure techniques.

Both techniques are combined in a therapeutic method known as systematic desensitization, which consists of progressively exposing the patient to the stimulus phobic, but first he must have learned relaxation techniques, as they will allow him to better face the situations in which he must face his fear pathological. If you want to know more about this technique, you may be interested in reading our article “What is systematic desensitization and how does it work?”

Despite the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy in treating this type of disorder, other methods have also been shown to be useful. They are known as contextual or third-generation therapies, among which stand out the Acceptance and commitment therapywave Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, which take into account how the context (and the patient's relationship with it) influences the development of the pathology, and emphasize the acceptance of the experience as a way to reduce anxious symptoms and, therefore, reduce the discomfort.

Differences between gynephobia, misogyny and caligynephobia

It is important not to confuse gynephobia with caligynephobia, which is characterized because the man, generally because of his low self-esteem, feels intimidated by the beauty of the woman. It is also important not to confuse gynephobia with misogyny, which is a type of prejudice in which the person feels hatred towards people of the female sex.

• Related article: “Stereotypes, prejudices and discrimination: why should we avoid prejudging?”