Androphobia: fear of men

There are all types of phobias: agoraphobia, arachnophobia, claustrophobia… However, one of the most striking is androphobia; which implies a abnormal and persistent fear of men and everything related to the masculine.

Now, before starting to talk about androphobia, we believe it is necessary to start with something more general so as not to get lost along the way. So we will start by explaining what exactly a phobia is.

What is a phobia?

Phobias are defined as a fear intense and irrational toward a person, object, or situation that involves little or no danger. The word comes from the Greek term phobos which means ‘panic’.

According to the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), Specific phobias, such as androphobia, have the following characteristics:

Fear or intense anxiety about a specific object or situation (e.g., flying, heights, animals, giving an injection, seeing blood…)The phobic object or situation almost always provokes immediate fear or anxiety.The phobic situation is actively avoided or resisted with fear or intense anxiety.Fear or anxiety is disproportionate if we analyze the real danger posed by the specific object or situation and the sociocultural context. The fear, anxiety or avoidance is persistent and typically lasts six or more months.Anxiety, fear, or avoidance cause clinically significant distress or impairment in the social, work dimension or other important areas of functioning.

It is quite common for people to have multiple specific phobias. In fact, Approximately 75% of people with specific phobia fear more than one situation or object. It is said that people with a phobic life are closely linked to a feeling of anguish.

What is androphobia?

Androphobia could be considered a type of sexual phobia, which is usually directed towards a person’s gender or towards a certain aspect of sex. In the case at hand, that of androphobia, it is a anxiety disorder that produces a constant, intense and abnormal fear of men.

People with androphobia feel very nervous when they feel the presence of men. This irrational fear of men makes them tend to avoid them.. These situations can occur even with family members or male friends and hinder the personal, professional and interpersonal life of the affected person.

The person is usually aware that all men pose no real threat. Even so, You can’t help but feel an irrational panic at his presence.

Likewise, they do not usually express their emotions for fear of social rejection. So they tend to make excuses and avoid situations in which they have to deal with a man..

However, in some cases, social pressure or necessity causes these people to form couples and even form families, or work and study alongside men; which involves high amounts of anxiety in your daily life.

Causes

Androphobia is suffered mostly by women between 18 and 40 years old, although men and children can also suffer from it. The root of this type of phobia is in some traumatic event experienced whose main protagonist was male.. Although, it has also been “learned” by observing some type of traumatic situation.

These traumatic events could be rape, psychological abuse, a terrible relationship with a father figure, etc.. It could even occur for cultural reasons when women are educated to be submissive and obedient.

Symptoms of androphobia

It’s important to put attention on The symptoms of androphobia can vary between people and depend on the resources and tools that each one has acquired throughout their life. However, the main symptoms are usually the following:

Tachycardia.Difficulty breathing or labored breathing.Excessive sweating.Tremors.Nausea.DizzinessFainting. Stomach pain. Avoidance of possible situations in which there are men.Catastrophic thoughts linked to men.

Androphobia treatment

The treatment of androphobia is the same as that of any other type of specific phobia: psychotherapy. In this case, one of the most effective is cognitive behavioral therapy, which uses the exposure technique, in combination with other techniques, so that the affected person learns to see and face, in a more adaptive way, the object or situation. feared

For its part, Exposure therapy has also been found to be effective in treating specific phobias. This focuses on changing the way the patient reacts to the feared object or situation, resorting to gradual and repeated exposure to the source of the phobia. Likewise, this type of therapy offers resources so that the person learns to face anxiety and can progressively overcome it.

If you suffer from this disorder, we recommend that you visit a specialist psychologist. We are sure that it will be able to help you.

Androphobia is not the same as misandry

To conclude, we emphasize that androphobia should not be confused with misandry. Well, while androphobia refers to feelings of fear and anxiety towards men, and occurs involuntarily; Misandry refers to a chosen hatred towards men.

In most cases, Misandry is born as a response to misogyny (hatred of women) and a feeling of struggle against the machismo that prevails in society. To consider that a person suffers from androphobia and not misandry, they must feel an irrational and disproportionate fear that destabilizes their daily life.

You might be interested…