- Characteristics of apeirophobia
- Anxiety response
- Diagnosis of apeirophobia
- Causes
- Direct or classical conditioning
- Vicarious conditioning
- Verbal information
- Non-associative theories
- Cognitive factors
- Treatment
- -Exposition
- Virtual reality
- Exposure in imagination
- -Relaxation techniques
- -Cognitive techniques
- References
The apeirofobia is excessive and irrational fear of infinity. It includes the avoidance of situations in which there is an infinity-related stimulus, anxiety responses, and anxious anticipation.
When we talk about apeirophobia, it is appropriate to start by noting that this psychological alteration corresponds to a specific group of anxiety disorders, that is, to a specific phobia.
Specific phobias are quite common in world society, however, the feared elements in these disorders are not usually infinity. In general, the feared elements in specific phobias tend to have less abstract properties and are usually made up of tangible or easily perceptible elements.
Clear examples of this type of phobia are the fear of spiders, blood, heights, traveling by plane, being in closed spaces, driving, certain types of animals, etc.
Characteristics of apeirophobia
Apeirophobia, despite having different properties regarding the feared element, is not different from the rest of the more well-known specific phobias with regard to the response of the person who suffers from it.
In this way, both a phobia of spiders and an apeirophobia are characterized by the fact that the person makes a certain fear response when exposed to their feared element.
The response of a person who suffers from spider phobia when exposed to these animals can be practically the same as that presented by an apeirophobic person when exposed to infinity.
Obviously, the exposure in one case and another will vary, since it is not the same to expose a person to a spider (a perfectly identifiable animal) than to expose a person to infinity (a more abstract element).
Anxiety response
The most important factor in this type of problem is not so much the feared element but the anxiety response that it produces. To determine the presence of an apeirophobia we have to focus on the fear that the person experiences when exposed to the idea of infinity.
To claim that someone suffers from apeirophobia, they must experience the following type of fear when exposed to their feared stimulus:
- The fear is disproportionate to the demands of the situation.
- The fear cannot be explained or reasoned by the individual.
- The fear is beyond voluntary control.
- The fear reaction leads to avoidance of the feared situation.
- The fear experienced persists over time. ç
- Fear is totally maladaptive.
- The fear experienced is not specific to a certain phase or age, so it persists over the years.
Diagnosis of apeirophobia
The conditions that must be met to make the diagnosis of apeirophobia are the following:
- Presenting a strong and persistent fear that is excessive or irrational, triggered by the presence or anticipation of the specific object or situation that triggers the idea or thought of infinity.
- Exposure to the phobic stimulus almost invariably provokes an immediate anxiety response, which can take the form of a crisis of situational or more or less situation-related anxiety.
- The person who suffers from apeirophobia recognizes that the fear he experiences regarding the idea of infinity is excessive or irrational.
- Phobic situation (s) are avoided or endured at the cost of intense anxiety or discomfort.
- Avoidance behaviors, anxious anticipation, or discomfort caused by the feared situation (s) interfere markedly with the person's normal routine, with work (or academic) or social relationships, or cause clinically significant discomfort.
- In those under 18 years of age, the duration of these symptoms must have been at least 6 months.
- Anxiety, panic attacks, or phobic avoidance behaviors associated with specific objects or situations cannot be better explained by the presence of another mental disorder.
Causes
Apeirophobia is a rare type of specific phobia, so the characteristics of this mental disorder have been little studied.
However, due to the enormous similarities that all specific phobias possess, there seems to be some consensus in admitting that the causes of apeirophobia need not differ from other specific phobias.
All types of specific phobia, including the less common cases, belong to the same mental disorder, with possible common causes and, most of them, with the same response to the indicated psychological treatments.
Through the multiple studies carried out on the pathogenesis of specific phobias, we can mention six main factors that would explain the acquisition of apeirophobia. These are:
Direct or classical conditioning
This factor would explain how before a neutral stimulus such as the idea of infinity, the person is able to match it with an aversive stimulus that causes anxiety.
The idea of infinity would be paired with independent aversive elements to the point that the person would end up responding in a totally phobic way to it.
For this to happen, many factors can be involved: early traumatic experiences, rigid thinking styles, specific educational styles or personality types in need of excessive control over their own life.
Vicarious conditioning
According to this theory, apeirophobia could not be acquired through experiences lived in the first person but through learning or external visualization of elements that are capable of pairing the idea of infinity with aversive stimuli.
In these cases, it is especially important that during childhood, parents or someone close to them experiences this type of phobia or some type of fear similar to apeirophobia.
Likewise, behaviors or functioning styles excessively modulated by fear or the need for control witnessed by the person during their childhood or adolescence could also participate in the acquisition of apeirophobia.
Verbal information
Another aspect that has proven to be relevant in the acquisition of specific phobias is the direct and verbal information to which a person is exposed.
If an individual is exposed to repetitive manifestations or information about the negative meaning that the ideas of infinity have, this could end up acquiring an apeirophobia.
Non-associative theories
Other theories refer to the genetics of phobias and to affirm that fear is an innate element in people.
The fear response is an innate element that, although it can manifest itself in different ways in each person, all human beings possess and experience it during our lives.
Thus, a part of the phobia could be explained through a genetic predisposition to experience apeirophobia.
Although there does not seem to be a high specificity in terms of the genetic transmission of phobias, it does seem that the fear response in a general sense may contain important genetic components
Cognitive factors
These factors seem to be especially important in the maintenance of apeirophobia and not so much in its genesis.
In other words, cognitive factors most likely do not explain the acquisition of apeirophobia but they can explain why this alteration is maintained over time.
In fact, unrealistic ideas about the harm that can be received if exposed to the dreaded stimulus is the main factor that maintains specific phobias.
Likewise, cognitive factors explain the attentional biases that people with apeirophobia present, paying greater attention to any threat related to the phobic element.
Finally, the main indicator of recovery from apeirophobia lies in the exposure of the person suffering from this alteration to the feared elements.
Treatment
The treatment of specific phobias, as established by the Society for Clinical Psychology (APA), is fundamentally based on two intervention techniques.
-Exposition
The first one focuses on exposing the person to the situation that has been most effective in eliminating phobic thoughts. That is, exposing the person to their feared element in order to get used to the phobic stimulus and eliminate their irrational thoughts about their fears.
Irrational thoughts about the feeling of danger or fear produced by the phobic element are maintained because the person's own fear makes him unable to expose himself to the stimulus and verify that his fearful thoughts are not real.
When the person is exposed to their feared element for a long time, they see, little by little, that their thoughts are irrational and they reduce their anxiety response until the phobia is completely extinguished.
However, apeirophobia presents a barrier in its exposure treatment, since a person with this type of phobia cannot expose himself to his fears live since they are not made up of real elements but thoughts about ideas of infinity.
Thus, people with apeirophobia present a phobic anxiety response when exposed to thought about the universe, infinity or the sensation of falling into an endless void. These elements are not tangible, so we cannot directly expose the person to their dreaded stimulus.
Virtual reality
Exposure in apeirophobia must be done through virtual reality; With this technology, the person can be exposed to infinite situations that generate phobic anxiety through computer programs.
Exposure in imagination
Another treatment methodology consists of the exposure in imagination where the person is exposed to his feared thought through the imagined situations that the therapist guides him.
-Relaxation techniques
Finally, in parallel to the exposure treatment, two more treatments can be performed.
One of them, relaxation techniques, are especially effective in reducing a person's anxiety levels prior to exposure to its feared elements.
Before starting exposure therapy, a relaxation treatment is carried out so that the person is exposed to their fears with the lowest possible level of anxiety.
-Cognitive techniques
Finally, cognitive techniques can be applied to further modify irrational thoughts that have not disappeared during exposure therapy.
References
- American Psychiatric Association (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 4th edition. Washington: APA.4
- Amutio, A. (2000). Cognitive and emotional components of relaxation: a new perspective. Behavior Analysis and Modification, 10 9, 647-671.
- 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.
- Muris P, Schmidt H, Merckelbach H. The structure of specific phobia symptoms among children and adolescents. Behav Res Ther 1999; 37: 863–868.
- Samochowiec J, Hajduk A, Samochowiec A, et al. Association studies of MAO-A, COMT, and 5-HTT genes polymorphisms in patients with anxiety disorders of the phobic spectrum. Psychiatry Res 2004; 128: 21–26.