Enochlophobia (fear of crowds): symptoms and causes

One of the most frequent reasons why people visit a psychologist is for a phobia: the fear of flying (aerophobia), social phobia wave claustrophobia are some of the most common.

Enochlophobia or demophobia (that is, the phobia of crowds) also leads many individuals to seek psychological help., since phobic disorders are not rational fears, but are pathologies that seriously affect the life of the person who suffers from them. Phobics know that this irrational fear does not disappear even knowing that nothing has to happen to them when they are faced with the feared stimulus.

In other words, fear is so intense that it becomes uncontrollable, and discomfort forces person to avoid any contact or idea that may cause him the great anxiety characteristic of this disorder. Luckily, phobias can be cured, and scientific studies have shown that the help of a psychologist is key to overcoming enochlophobia, among other irrational fears. In this article we will talk about oenochophobia and we will delve into its symptoms, its causes and its treatment.

What is enochlophobia

Albert Einstein, once said: "I hate crowds and having to give speeches in front of a large audience." This well-known character was a genius. So if you identify with his words, you can rest easy: everyone can suffer from irrational fears, and brilliant people too.

What Einstein said, in extreme cases, could represent a common phobia such as social phobia (for fear of evaluation by other people) or claustrophobia (fear of being in spaces closed); however, this fear (the one in the example) has to do with the fact of being in front of a large crowd of people, so it would be about oenoclophobia.

Enochlophobia can happen to anyone, but research shows the proportion is higher in terms of the number of women than men, and usually develops when it begins in adulthood early. In most cases, oenophobes hide their feelings of fear and try to act normal, but inside they feel great discomfort when faced with the sensation of fear, and they avoid any possibility of find themselves in this feared situation, because when they are in a crowd, they can feel that they are having an attack to the heart. They get very anxious and nervous.

Causes of this phobia

Enochlophobia or demophobia, like any type of phobia, is a learned irrational fear, which generally occurs as a consequence of some traumatic experience from the past. This learning happens by classical conditioning, which is a type of associative learning that was first studied by Ivan Pavlov and then by the conductor john b. Watson. The latter is responsible for one of the most controversial studies in the history of Psychology, in which managed to get a little boy named Albert to learn to be afraid of a white rat that at first he adored.

Watson thought that human beings could learn strong emotions by conditioning and then generalize them to similar situations, and he used children to do this. Little Albert was only 8 months old at the time of the study, and during the first sessions he played quietly with the white rat, but as the sessions progressed, Watson began to pair the animal's presence with the loud sound of metal hitting the ground. hammer. After a few sessions, Albert stopped playing with the rat, and every time he appeared he walked away. as a consequence of his having associated the presence of the rat with the sound that frightened him. Not only that, but the little guy was also afraid of other furry animals. According to classical conditioning theory, a generalization phenomenon had taken place.

Today, this study could not be carried out as the ethical guidelines governing research would not allow it. Below you can view a video explaining Watson's study.

Classical and vicarious conditioning

Classical conditioning is not the only way to learn a fear, but vicarious conditioning is In other words, observational learning can also cause a person to suffer fear of being among a crew.

Some cognitive factors such as irrational beliefs cause enochlophobia, and some experts claim that Biological factors are also important, since people can develop fears of certain stimuli with more ease. This is so because it has been useful for our survival as a species. These fears would be developed by primitive and non-cognitive associations, which is why they are not easily modifiable by logical arguments.

Symptoms and warning signs

Phobias present cognitive, behavioral, and physical symptoms. Cognitive symptoms, therefore, would refer to the anxiety, fear and anguish that a person feels. person, which in turn would cause a narrowing of attention, confusion, lightheadedness, difficulty concentration… 

These symptoms would cause other physical and physiological symptoms such as headaches, stomach pain, chest tightness, etc. Behavioral symptoms would refer to the fact that the person would avoid situations that cause anxiety.

In summary, the symptoms of enochlophobia are:

• Thoughts of impending death
• extreme anxiety and fear in the presence or imagination of the phobic stimulus
• Thoughts that the person is going to run out of air
• Lack of concentration
• hyperventilation
• hypersweating
• racing heartbeat
• tremors
• Chest pain or tightness
• Lightheadedness, nausea, dizziness, and headaches
• Avoidance behaviors

Treatment

Like any phobia, and according to scientific data, the treatment of this disorder is effective cognitive behavioral therapy. For this, some techniques are used such as cognitive restructuring, which helps the patient realize that his thoughts are irrational; the relaxation techniques, which are useful to reduce symptoms at the time when the disorder manifests itself; and expository techniques. Regarding the latter, the ideal treatment is carried out with the systematic desensitization technique, that gradually exposes the patient to the feared stimulus while learning coping strategies effective.

Currently, other forms of psychotherapy are also used, how can they be Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and the Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, both encompassed within the group of contextual therapies. They are used for their good results in the treatment of anxiety disorders, according to research carried out to verify their effectiveness.

Drug treatment is only recommended in extreme cases. Always under medical or psychiatric supervision and in combination with psychological therapy.

New technologies applied to phobias

The treatment of phobias has also benefited from the advancement of new technologies, and Some specialized centers use Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality as part of the treatment. In addition, there are different mobile applications in the market that allow the patient to make use of these new forms of therapy.

• You can learn more about these applications in our article: “8 apps to treat phobias and fears from your smartphone”

.