Automatonophobia (fear of dolls): symptoms and causes

There are many stories created around the idea of ​​evil dolls, evil puppets and androids that threaten to end the human race.. So the feeling of discomfort that many people feel around them is more than justified.

However, when this discomfort turns into terror or exaggerated anxiety responses, we speak of automatonophobia. Throughout this article we will talk about this strange phobia, its causes and its treatment.

What is automatonophobia?

Of all the existing phobias, automatonophobia is perhaps one of the most curious, but at the same time one of the easiest to understand. This specific phobia consists of experiencing an exaggerated and irrational fear of anything that falsely symbolizes or personifies a sentient being.

That is to say, the person feels a great fear towards entities or objects, both animate and inanimate, that represent a living being. These objects are usually dolls, mannequins, statues, etc.

When a person is in front of one of these objects, a great response of anxiety and anguish in it, which can lead the person to avoid meeting one of these objects in question at all costs.

• Within this category of specific phobia, other phobias related to them can be classified. These are:
• Pupaphobia or fear of puppets
• Pediophobia or fear of dolls
• Coulrophobia or phobia of clowns and mimes

Symptoms

As in the rest of the phobias, the exacerbated fear was towards all kinds of objects that simulate or represent some living being, especially those who pretend to be people, cause a series of anxious symptoms in the person.

This symptomatology is distinguished because the individual manifests a large number of anxiety symptoms of a very accentuated intensity accompanied by a sensation of anguish and torment that is practically unbearable. Despite this, on very few occasions the person ends up suffering from a panic attack.

Due to the intensity of the symptoms, these are easily recognizable in the person, since the number of changes and imbalances in physical functioning are highly visible.

These physical changes of San upon the appearance of the feared stimulus and include:

• Increased heart rate
• Increased respiratory rate
• palpitations
• Tachycardia
• Muscular stiffness
• Choking sensation
• headaches
• pupil dilation
• dizziness
• Nausea and/or vomiting

Regarding the cognitive and behavioral symptoms of automatonophobia, This is related to irrational negative thoughts about the feared elements and the need to avoid or escape from them..

Avoidance behaviors are all those behaviors or carried out by the person in order to avoid encountering these stimuli. While escape behaviors are all those acts that it performs to flee or escape from the feared situation.

In summary, the signs or manifestations that indicate that a person suffers from automatonophobia are:

• Anxiety crisis in the presence or appearance of objects that represent people such as dolls or statues
• Nightmares with these objects
• Aversion to objects or cartoons
• Physical symptoms such as tachycardia, sweating or muscle tension

Causes

It has been observed that cases of automatonophobia are much more frequent in children and adolescents than in adults, in most of these cases the origin of the phobia is in an unpleasant experience in relation to some horror movie or story that leaves a great mark on the psyche of the child.

It is hypothesized that the cause of these experiences intensifying or permeating more in the child population is the characteristic great imagination of this stage, by which they are able to extrapolate the fear felt during the film to real life and before the appearance of one of these objects.

However, the specific causes of this phobia in children and adults are still unknown. As for the adult population, it is theorized that exposure to threatening figures or symbols with traumatic consequences could give rise to this type of phobia.

Besides, The role that the brain plays in this type of phobias has also been highlighted. The idea is that he perceives this type of inanimate but human-like object as something disturbing and therefore dangerous.

What is certain is that, like other phobias, automatonophobia can originate from a predisposition genetics, as well as a series of personality traits that can make a person susceptible to developing some type of phobia.

Diagnosis

There are a number of diagnostic guidelines when evaluating a person with possible automatonophobia. Although these patterns are more or less the same for all phobias, the central phobic stimulus changes from one to another.

These diagnostic requirements are:

• Fear and feelings of intense anxiety before inanimate objects with human form
• Feeling of fear or intense anxiety before the phobic stimulus
• Avoidance or escape behaviors before the appearance of the phobic stimulus
• The sensations of fear are considered disproportionate taking into account the real threat represented by said stimulus.
• Symptoms present for more than six months
• The symptomatology and the consequences of this cause a clinically significant discomfort, thus it supposes an interference in some of the patient's contexts.
• The symptoms are not explained by any other mental disorder or anxiety

Treatment

Like the rest of specific phobias, the most effective treatment or intervention consists of psychotherapy. Specifically, the systematic desensitization provided by the cognitive-behavioral current is the one with the highest success rate.

This intervention consists of progressive exposure to the feared elements and accompanied by relaxation training to calm the anxiety response. and accustoming the patient to the presence of said stimulus.

In addition, cognitive therapy sessions are added in order to end the irrational thoughts and beliefs that the person associates with all those objects that are the center of their phobia.