Asthenophobia (fear of fainting): symptoms, causes and treatment

They give us bad news, we get up too quickly, we exercise too much, we suffer from heat stroke or we feel such extreme pain that we lose consciousness. These are all situations that can lead us to faint, which is understood as a loss of consciousness that occurs transiently and that is extremely common.

Nobody or almost nobody likes to faint, since this implies a feeling of discomfort before and after losing consciousness and puts us in a situation of vulnerability; But for some people, the mere idea that they might do it generates an intense panic that makes their day-to-day life very difficult. It's about asthenophobia, disorder about which we are going to talk along these lines.

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

What is asthenophobia?

Asthenophobia is understood to be extreme fear or phobia of fainting. It is a specific phobia, which implies the existence of a high level of panic and anguish in the presence or exposure of a specific stimulus or situation.

This alteration is classified within the group of phobias to blood-injections-injury or SID. This problem can appear in a unique way and without other problems, but also

It is usually linked to other psychiatric disorders such as agoraphobia, in which there is fear of suffering some type of mishap in situations in which it is difficult to receive help (such as in spaces open where there are large crowds or where there are very few people, or in closed and crowded places such as transportation public).

likewise also may be related to panic disorder. And it is that the typical anticipatory anxiety of this disorder facilitates symptoms that can be associated with dizziness and weakness or even in some cases to cause fainting.

Symptoms

Interestingly, phobias linked to damage and blood can have a physiological response that can lead to fainting or sensations linked to debilitation and the presence of damage, something that makes the phobia itself favor the arrival of the situation that generates panic.

Physical sensations such as sweating, dizziness, or a feeling of weakness are common in anxiety, but they are also common shortly before fainting. In this way, anxiety itself feeds back on itself, something that makes this problem something that It causes a lot of suffering to those who experience it..

This panic and anguish can generate a strong physiological activation, causing tachycardia, hyperventilation, sweating, tremors, tingling… and even anxiety crisis.

The fear that it will happen usually generates anticipatory anxiety, which leads the person to avoid any situation in which what is feared may appear or that is linked to it.

Affectation in daily life

Asthenophobia is a very common condition in multiple conditions such as the aforementioned agoraphobia, and can cause great affectation in people who suffer from it. It must be borne in mind that the sensations of weakness and dizziness can come for multiple reasons.

So, exercise, intense heat or nervousness can cause anxiety in these people if they come to consider that they are a risk or associate it with the possibility of fainting, especially if it has already happened before. They may also avoid crowds or public transport, if they also suffer from or end up suffering from agoraphobia. This can hinder their leisure time or even cause alterations in their work performance depending on the occupational field in which they work.

In addition, health problems such as low blood pressure, febrile episodes or that produce weakness or dizziness They can be experienced as something traumatic since they can be associated with the possibility of fainting. Pregnancy can also be a highly distressing stage, due to hormonal changes and the risk that fainting can also cause damage to the baby.

In addition to this, the fear of fainting will cause you to avoid actions that could pose a risk in case you lose consciousness. among them we can find, for example, driving or operating heavy machinery. Also can lead to situations of dependence on others, not being able to leave the home alone for fear of fainting.

• You may be interested in: "Types of Anxiety Disorders and their characteristics"

Possible causes of this disorder

The exact causes of this or other phobias are not known, but in general we can talk about the interaction of a wide variety of factors and There are many theories about it..

First of all, it must be taken into account that this phobia may have an evolutionary meaning: fainting means lose consciousness and be left in a state of vulnerability which, in nature, could mean the death. In this sense, it could be a type of phobia for which there is a certain inherited predisposition, since it prevents us from harm.

Another common explanation can be found in the experience of aversive and even traumatic experiences that have been associated with fainting. For example, having fainted in public and being teased and harassed about it, having suffered or witnessed some type of traumatic event in which unconsciousness ended up having repercussions painful. It is even possible that the aversive event with which the fainting has been associated happened to someone else.

It is also possible that the phobia was born by the acquisition of cognitive schemes in which fainting is linked to weakness. This is especially relevant in rigid environments where vulnerability is not allowed and punished. Thus, there may be an affectation at the level of educational patterns that have been received throughout life.

Treatment

Asthenophobia can be a disabling problem, but fortunately it is possible to treat it from psychotherapy. As in the rest of phobias, the most successful is exposure therapy.

This type of therapy involves developing a hierarchy of anxiety-producing situations between patient and therapist that can be ordered according to the level of discomfort that they generate, to subsequently and starting with the medium level ones, make an exposure to the feared stimuli, until the anxiety subsides by itself (or, if another procedure known as systematic desensitization is used, until lowered by activity incompatible with the anxiety).

Little by little and as the subject manages to lower their level of anxiety (minimum up to half), they will move up the hierarchy.

In the case of asthenophobia, exposure can be made to situations avoided for fear of fainting in order to reduce the affectation on a day-to-day basis. But it is also advisable, to truly treat it, to perform an interoceptive exposure. That is, exposing the subject to sensations similar to those he would experience when he is close to fainting.

It is also necessary to work on a cognitive level: we must discuss the reason for this fear, which implies for the subject or how much limits it, in addition to restructuring possible biases and beliefs maladaptive. It may be helpful to question the actual risk and probability of fainting, or in the event of traumatic events (a rape or a car accident for example) this factor should be worked on carefully and contribute to reprocessing the event in a way that does not limit the life of the patient.

Finally, the use of relaxation techniques can be useful, or even in extreme cases it could lead to prescribe some anxiolytic in order to be able to work the problem more easily (although it is not usually recommendable).