Fear of penises (phallophobia): causes and symptoms

Phobias are one of the most frequent reasons why patients visit the psychologist.

There are different types of phobias, and within the specific phobic disorders we can find hydrophobia (fear of water), aerophobia (fear of flying) wave arachnophobia (fear of spiders), among others. One of the not so common specific phobias but which is very curious is phallophobia, the irrational fear of penises.

In this article we will talk about this phobia and we will delve into its symptoms, its causes and its treatment.

what is phallophobia

Fallophobia is usually included within the different sexual phobias or erotophobias, among which coitophobia (fear of sexual intercourse), gymnophobia (fear of nudity) or haphephobia (fear of contact or being touched), among others. It is usually considered a sexual phobia because many people who suffer from it, especially in the case of women, avoid sexual contact to avoid having to deal with the phobic stimulus. Now, both men and women can suffer from this type of phobia.

The irrational fear is both towards flaccid and erect penises (medortophobia). The penis, whether erect or not, is natural and most people understand it that way. However, there are men and women who fear seeing, thinking about or having an erect penis. For many phobic personalities, andThis can cause a lot of anxiety and discomfort, causing them to avoid these uncomfortable situations..

Causes: traumatic situations

It is generally accepted that phobias arise from a combination of external events (i.e. events traumatic) and internal predispositions (i.e., heredity or genetics), although the first option. That is, many phobias have their origin in a triggering event from the past, usually a traumatic experience that occurs at a young age. For example, photophobia may have its origin in a bad sexual relationship in the past, which has caused great pain to the person who suffers from it.

The learning of phobias occurs by classical conditioning, a type of associative learning.

• If you want to know more about classical conditioning, you can read our article: “Classical conditioning and its most important experiments”

The biological origin of phobias

Although this is usually true in almost all cases of specific phobia, social phobias and agoraphobia can have more complex causes.

As for the biological causes, it seems that the body is designed to fear certain stimuli as a way of survival. Something that may have been very useful in the past, but not so much today. Therefore, phobias would occur due to primitive and non-cognitive associations, and logical arguments would be ineffective in modifying these associations.

Symptoms

The symptoms of phobias are common in all types of phobia, as these pathologies belong to the group of anxiety disorders. That is why the main symptom is anxiety and discomfort, and the main characteristic that patients with phobia present is the avoidance of the feared stimulus.

The phobic stimulus produces a great fear and anxiety, and that is why the person tries to stay away from any situation in which he could feel this way. If sexual relations include the possibility of seeing the phobic stimulus, patients with phallophobia avoid having sexual relations and, therefore, present serious difficulties in their lives loving.

In summary, phallophobia presents the following symptoms:

• physical symptoms: hyperventilation and shortness of breath, hypersweating, tachycardia, tremors, chills, tightness in the chest, dry mouth, stomach pain, dizziness, headaches...
• psychological symptoms: distorted and catastrophic thoughts and great anxiety, discomfort and fear.
• behavioral symptoms: avoidance behaviors in the presence of the phobic stimulus: penises.

Treatment

Like any phobia, psychological treatment can be very effective.. Psychotherapy, therefore, is the best option, although in extreme cases drugs can also be applied.

Psychologists often use different techniques to treat this disorder, and therapy usually works very well. cognitive behavioral, which aims to correct those beliefs or behaviors that interfere with the well-being of the patient. The most used techniques are usually relaxation techniques and exposure techniques. As for the latter, highlights systematic desensitization, which consists of gradually exposing the patient to feared situations while learning adaptive tools. Additionally, the therapist can help the patient understand the natural function of the human body and why erections occur, what they mean and what they don't mean.

In recent times, contextual therapies such as mindfulness wave Acceptance and commitment therapy are proving very effective for the treatment of any type of anxiety disorder, since help the patient to accept the anxious experience and, in this way, decrease the intensity of the symptoms. The hypnotherapy it can also work very well for some patients.

In severe cases, drugs prescribed by a psychiatrist can also be administered, but this therapeutic option should always be accompanied by psychotherapy, since studies show that it is not effective in the long term if it is carried out as the only way to treatment.

New technologies and the treatment of phobias

In recent decades, new technologies have broken into our lives in different ways. Now it is possible to buy furniture online, read the daily newspaper from the computer, study a master's degree without the need to go to the university or perform psychological therapy online.

Besides, it is possible to treat phobias from the mobile itself, since in recent years applications have appeared that use virtual reality and augmented reality to expose the patient to phobic stimuli.

• You can learn about the best applications on the market in our article: “8 apps to treat phobias and fears from your smartphone”