AGLIOPHOBIA (FEAR OF PAIN): SYMPTOMS, CAUSES, TREATMENTS - ARTE - 2024

The agliofobia is a psychopathological disorder that is characterized by an irrational, excessive and unjustified pain to fear. People with this disorder fear, above anything else, feeling and experiencing pain sensations. Fear of painful stimuli can significantly affect your behavior and performance during your day to day life.

Likewise, when subjects with agiophobia suffer painful sensations, they respond with a marked anxiety response that is highly unpleasant. However, the newer psychological treatments are effective in intervening this disorder. By applying the appropriate techniques and psychotherapies, a person with agiophobia can overcome their fear of pain.

Today, the literature on this disorder is very abundant, a fact that allows an adequate understanding of agiophobia and the development of effective interventions to treat it.

Characteristics of agiophobia

Agiophobia is an anxiety disorder, specifically it is one of the many types of specific phobia that have been described today.

Specific phobias are a group of disorders that are characterized by the presence of clinically significant anxiety in response to exposure to specific feared situations or objects.

In the case of agiophobia, the feared element is pain, which is why this disorder is defined as the phobic fear of painful elements.

Pain is a remarkably subjective and personal experience. There are people who may be more intolerant to these sensations and individuals who may be more used to pain. This fact causes agiophobia to be a slightly more complex disorder than other types of specific phobia.

In cases like the phobia of spiders or the phobia of heights (two very common types of specific phobia), the feared elements are clearly identifiable.

However, in agiophobia the feared stimuli can be much more variable. They depend on each case, since each individual can perceive different painful elements and situations.

Symptoms of agiophobia

The symptomatology of agiophobia is mainly anxious. When the person with this alteration is exposed to their feared elements, they respond with a high anxiety response.

In fact, certain symptoms of anxiety and nervousness can appear even without the presence of the dreaded element. The simple anticipation that pain may be experienced at a certain time can lead to anxious manifestations.

The anxiety of agiophobia is characterized by affecting three different planes of the person: the physical plane, the cognitive plane and the behavioral plane.

-Physical plane

Agiophobia causes a wide range of physical alterations on the person. In fact, when it is exposed to its phobic stimuli, the first manifestations are physiological.

The physical manifestations of agiophobia can be variable in each case. Not all people have the same symptoms or a unique group of disorders.

However, the physical symptomatology of agiophobia lies in an increase in the activity of the central nervous system of the brain. Thus, people with this disorder present some of the following manifestations.

1. Increased respiratory rate.
2. Increased respiration
3. Feeling of suffocation
4. Muscle tension.
5. Shaking chills.
6. Excessive sweating
7. Pupillary dilation.
8. Nausea or dizziness
9. Feeling of unreality.
10. Dry mouth.

- Cognitive plane

The cognitive plane encompasses an infinity of thoughts that the person with agiophobia can develop regarding the fear of pain.

These cognitions can be multiple and vary in each case. However, all of them are characterized by presenting a high load of negative and fearful attributes towards the experience of pain.

These thoughts motivate the avoidance of pain-related stimuli. And when the individual is exposed to them, they feed back with physical symptoms to increase the fear and anxiety experienced.

-Behavioral plane

Finally, agiophobia is characterized by being a disorder that significantly affects the behavior of the person. The two most prevalent behaviors are avoidance and escape.

Avoidance refers to all the behaviors that the person develops throughout the day that allow them to avoid contact with their feared stimuli.

Escape, for its part, refers to the escape behavior performed by individuals with agiophobia when they fail to avoid the feared stimulus and come into contact with it.

Both behaviors are motivated by fear of pain and pursue the same goal: to avoid anxiety and discomfort caused by being in contact with feared stimuli.

Diagnosis

The diagnosis of this disorder should be made by a medical professional. Which, through the administration of various tests such as questionnaires and interviews, will determine the presence or absence of agiophobia.

In order to make this diagnosis, a series of criteria must be met. These are:

1. Intense fear or anxiety about the experience of pain, or specific elements and situations that are related to it (phobic elements).
2. Phobic elements almost always provoke immediate fear or anxiety.
3. Phobic elements are actively avoided or resisted with intense fear or anxiety.
4. The fear or anxiety is disproportionate to the actual danger posed by the specific object or situation and to the sociocultural context.
5. The fear, anxiety, or avoidance is persistent, typically lasting six or more months.
6. Fear, anxiety, or avoidance cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
7. The disturbance is not better explained by symptoms of another mental disorder.

Cause

There is no single cause that can cause this disorder. In fact, today there is a high scientific consensus in stating that different factors can contribute to the development of agiophobia.

In this sense, classical conditioning seems to be one of the most important. Having lived traumatic experiences, having visualized unpleasant elements or having received negative information related to pain, seem to be factors that play an important role.

Likewise, some authors postulate the presence of genetic factors in the disease. Not all people are equally likely to develop phobic fears. Individuals with family members with anxiety disorders would be more susceptible.

Finally, certain cognitive factors such as unrealistic beliefs about the harm that could be received if exposed to the feared stimulus, attentional bias towards threats related to phobia, low perceptions of self-efficacy and exaggerated perception of danger are elements that could be important in maintaining agiophobia.

Treatment

The intervention that has shown the greatest efficacy in the treatment of agiophobia is psychotherapy. Specifically, the application of cognitive behavioral treatment shows remarkably high recovery rates in this disorder.

This intervention is based on exposing the subject with agiophobia to its feared elements. In this way, the individual gets used to stimuli and little by little he overcomes his fear of them.

To achieve this, a hierarchy of stimuli is built, so that the person can be exposed gradually. Likewise, the intervention focuses on avoiding the anxiety response when the person is exposed to its feared elements.

In the case of agiophobia, it is recommended that such exposure be done through virtual reality. This technique allows the individual to focus on interactive play.

In fact, a recent study carried out at the University of Barcelona showed the positive influence that virtual reality exerts on reducing pain perception.

In addition, other psychotherapeutic techniques can be applied. The most used are relaxation techniques to reduce anxious symptoms and provide a state of tranquility, and cognitive techniques to modify altered thoughts about pain.

References

1. Antony MM, Brown TA, Barlow DH. Heterogeneity among specific phobia types in DSM-IV. Behav Res Ther 1997; 35: 1089-1100.
2. Craske MG, Barlow DH, Clark DM, et al. Specific (Simple) phobia. In: Widiger TA, Frances AJ, Pincus HA, Ross R, First MB, Davis WW, editors. DSM-IV Sourcebook, Vol 2. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press; 1996: 473–506.
3. Curtis G, Magee W, Eaton W, et al. Specific fears and phobias: epidemiology and classification. Br J Psychiat 1998; 173: 212–217.
4. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSMIII). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association; 1980.