Blenophobia (phobia of viscosity): symptoms, causes and treatment

Blenophobia is the persistent and intense fear of slimy textures.. Such textures include, for example, some foods, body fluids, and the skin of various animals. It is an experience little documented and frequently confused with an aversion.

In this article we will see what blenophobia is, what are the conditions that must be met to be considered a specific phobia, and in what cases it can be considered as an aversion. Finally we will see some treatments for each case.

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

Blenophobia: fear of stickiness

The term "bleno" is made up of the Greek "blennos", which means "mucus", and "phobos" which means "phobia". In this sense, blenophobia can be defined as a persistent and intense fear to slimy or viscous consistencies. To be considered a phobia, this fear must provoke an immediate and disproportionate anxiety response; and it should not be justified by the cultural codes of the person (it is considered like this, an irrational fear).

In addition, to be considered a phobia, this fear must significantly interfere with the person's daily activities. That is, the fear of being exposed to viscous textures would generate

both anxiety symptoms and constant avoidance of such exposure.

Some examples of textures to which blenophobia refers are the skin of a snail or a fish, the consistency of an egg and raw meat, or one's own and others' bodily fluids. All of them represent stimuli capable of developing a phobic fear.

However, the fear of viscosity has not been described by the scientific literature as a specific phobia. It is already like that, although it is quite common for viscous textures to generate rejection, it is not so common for them to generate phobic fear.

Frequently this rejection produces a significant aversion, but it does not necessarily interfere with the person's daily activities or trigger disproportionate anxiety responses. In this sense, it is important to remember that not all aversions are phobias, but some phobias can be accompanied by different aversions.

Phobia or aversion? main symptoms

As we saw before, the main characteristic of specific phobias is irrational, persistent and intense fear, which generates disproportionate anxiety responses. These responses are produced by the activation of the autonomous nervous system, which is responsible for regulating involuntary motor responses in our body. Among these are visceral activity, breathing, palpitations, among others.

Thus, the response triggered by exposure to the stimulus that causes the phobia generates sweating, hyperventilation or, sensation of suffocation, increased heart rate, decreased gastrointestinal activity. And sometimes it causes nausea, dizziness and panic attacks (the latter are more frequent in disease-related specific phobias).

In addition, this anxiety response significantly interferes with the person's life, since, in order to avoid it, the person experiencing it generates avoidant and defensive behaviors. For example, avoiding places or circumstances where the stimulus is present.

On the other hand, specific phobias are considered as such in the event that fear and anxiety cannot be explained by other clinical pictures (such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, or social phobia).

In the case of blenophobia, it would be a question of avoiding contact with any viscous texture, since otherwise a significant anxiety experience is triggered. The latter should not be able to be explained by other means, for example, it should not be one of the manifestations of other diagnoses where frequently there is a significant sensitivity to textures.

On the other hand, an aversion can be defined as the strong repulsion to touch, taste or listen to things, to which most people are indifferent or even find pleasant (Bados, 2005). They are similar to phobias in that they cause discomfort and are generated by specific stimuli.

However, they differ in that the discomfort does not interfere with the person's life, and they are also different in general symptoms. Aversions cause chills, paleness, cold, deep breathing, and sometimes nausea. Some of the most typical are precisely the aversions to textures.

Main causes

The causes of specific phobias are mainly the following:

• Having had direct or indirect negative experiences with stimuli that have a high probability of becoming phobic.
• Having fewer positive experiences with the stimulus, compared to negative experiences.
• The severity and high frequency of negative experiences to which the person has been exposed, either directly or indirectly.
• Biological preparation (phobias are more easily triggered by stimuli that put biological integrity at risk).
• The expectation of danger corresponds to the negative experience lived.
• Ways in which threatening information about the stimulus has been transmitted
• Having gone through a process of misassociation or superstitious conditioning triggered by false alarms.

For his part, aversions are generated by the reinforcement of unpleasant sensations associated with the stimulus, accompanied by a constant reinforcement of the avoidant behaviors related to it. Although they do not usually significantly affect the person's life, they can generate avoidance behaviors constant, which in extreme cases could lead, for example, to avoiding the same foods under any circumstance.

Treatment

The most widely used psychological treatments for specific phobias are in vivo exposure, the participant model, cognitive restructuring, introspective exploration, exposure by imagination, the relaxation techniques, systematic desensitization and modeling. The latter is especially useful in children and when there is a need to teach different skills.

For their part, aversions usually decrease without the need for treatment, but in extreme cases a graduated exposure can be used that allows a non-aversive approach to the stimulus.

Bibliographic references:

• Bados, A. (2005). Specific phobias. Faculty of Psychology. Department of Personality, Assessment and Psychological Treatment. University of Barcelona. Retrieved September 26, 2018. Available in http://diposit.ub.edu/dspace/bitstream/2445/360/1/113.pdf.
• Blenophobia (2018). Phobias.net. Retrieved September 25, 2018. Available in http://www.fobias.net/Blenofobia.html.
• Etymology of BLENO (2018). Etymologies.dechile.net. Retrieved September 25, 2018. Available in http://etimologias.dechile.net/?bleno.