Hello, dear readers of the site! Dorophobia is an irrational fear of receiving and giving gifts.
And today we will try to figure out why it occurs, what symptoms it can be diagnosed with and what to do in general to recover.
What is it like?
The term comes from the Greek word «doron», which means, of course, a gift. And also the words «phobos» — a strong fear.
In principle, this phobia does not particularly affect a person’s life, only on the eve of the holidays does he begin to feel anxiety and anxiety.
After all, not all people in his environment can be informed about what experiences he has to face. And just the likelihood of being even an accidental witness to the presentation of presents can end in a panic attack.
Therefore, dorophobe prefers to celebrate birthdays, New Year and other significant dates in complete solitude.
He closes at home, for example, having issued a sick leave in advance, taking a vacation, turns off his phones so that not a single congratulation reaches the addressee and just tries to survive these days.
He cannot watch TV, in which they constantly play advertisements about the most beautiful gifts for a loved one, beloved, and so on.
Symptoms
If it so happened that a dorophobe received a festive box with a beautiful bow, horror overtakes him.
From which he simply freezes, that is, freezes. Then a panic attack begins, which is characterized by a feeling of suffocation, pain in the chest and stomach.
Phob at such a moment it seems that he will simply die of fear, either from suffocation, or from a heart attack. Against the background of experiences, his pressure jumps, which threatens with loss of consciousness, vomiting and nausea.
His arms and legs are shaking, his voice is trembling and a nervous tic is observed. This is when the facial nerve, mainly in the eye area, twitches uniformly and involuntarily for a certain amount of time.
It mostly stops when the person calms down. But it can also bother you for several hours. It’s annoying and stressful.
When panicking, he is unable to control himself and his reactions. Therefore, when he sees a gift or hears congratulations, he may try to flee without explaining anything, breaking away and praying for help.
Obsessive thoughts, especially, as already mentioned, on the eve of the holidays are brought to the onset of insomnia. A person is simply unable to fall asleep, and if he succeeds, he wakes up from nightmares. This gradually leads to nervous exhaustion and depression.
Causes
Most often, the cause of the development of any kind of phobia is a negative experience, especially received in childhood.
The child does not yet have the necessary resources to successfully cope with serious stress, which is why information is stored in his subconscious that he could not bear.
For example, if classmates ridiculed him when they saw how he handed a gift to a girl he liked, this may well provoke the emergence of dorophobia.
Having experienced shame and rejection, he will then each time remember these unpleasant feelings at the sight of a beautifully packaged box with a bow.
Or, for example, if they wanted to play a trick on him and hid a dead mouse or firecracker in a gift bag. Not expecting a catch, the kid could also be frightened, so much so that in the future he would experience horror at the sight of packaging bags and so on.
And it happens that the culprits for the development of this mental disorder are parents who reproached the child every holiday for spending money on him and he is now simply obliged to fulfill all their requests and, in general, obey until the end of his days.
In this case, the gift is an association with the fact that it is necessary to take on new obligations, to be due and guilty.
But not joy and pleasure. Therefore, dorophobes cannot give presents to others, they do not want to strain and upset someone.
Treatment
Despite the fact that this phobia is not particularly dangerous and difficult, it is still necessary to go to a psychotherapist.
Because it is important to find out the root cause of this condition. Only then will it be clear how to deal with it and how to get rid of the constantly tormenting anxiety and anxiety.
If physical health suffers, a psychiatrist will help. Let’s say that for insomnia, he will prescribe sleeping pills, thanks to them you can again relax and restore the resources spent during the day.
Antidepressants and sedatives will help you feel calm and peaceful. You will understand that in addition to anxiety and horror, there is also a whole gamut of feelings that have been forgotten so long ago due to anxiety.
For independent work on yourself, practice yoga, swim and be outdoors more often.
Completion
And that’s all for today, dear readers!
Finally, we recommend that you read the article about the fear of chickens, which is called electrophobia. In the section «Phobias and Fears» you will find a lot of interesting and unusual phobic disorders.
Take care of yourself and be happy!
The material was prepared by a psychologist, Gestalt therapist, Zhuravina Alina