PHALACROPHOBIA (FEAR OF BALDNESS): SYMPTOMS, CAUSES, TREATMENT - ECONOMÍA - 2024

The falacrofobia or fear of baldness is excessive and irrational fear of losing hair or go bald. This term is also used to indicate the fear or fear of bald people.

Hair loss is very common and affects a high percentage of the population, some studies indicate that three quarters of men will end up losing their hair for genetic reasons. For the most part it is due to the so-called androgenetic alopecia, which is also known as male pattern baldness.

Although nowadays there are other causes why we lose our hair, stress, lifestyle, lack of vitamins and minerals or a low protein diet are related to this loss.

The result is that many people are concerned about the possibility of going bald, and they do rituals such as counting the hairs that remain on the pillow when they get up, or analyzing those that remain on the brush after combing.

Previously it was considered that this phobia was related only to the fear of bald people, but the true magnitude of the problem lies in the fear of losing one's hair. This fear occurs even in people with abundant hair and without apparent or justified indications that hair loss will occur.

Very serious cases have been detected in which the person has a distorted vision of reality and when he looks in the mirror he sees little or bald hair, despite having abundant hair and totally healthy.

Causes

Phobias are irrational, intense and uncontrollable fears of certain situations or elements in particular. This fear persists even if the person is aware that they do not represent a real threat.

Experiences

Phobias normally develop during childhood and adolescence, and there is no single cause for their appearance, but there are usually several reasons that converge for their development.

In this specific phobia, it is possible that the person who develops it had some unpleasant experience during his childhood or adolescence with a bald person that left him marked. Later, when she saw a subject without hair, she would associate her with that fact, producing the same fear as at that moment.

Predisposition

But it is not only necessary a traumatic event to develop a phobia, because not all people who live an unpleasant experience develop it. At this point, genetic predisposition or inheritance becomes important to trigger that fear.

In other cases, phobias are acquired by learning, that is, if a father has a phobia of going bald, it is possible that his son also ends up developing it because he has learned it that way.

Evolution

Other phobias have their origin in the development of the human being as a species. Thousands of years ago, being afraid of a storm or a spider was necessary to save your life. Although this is not the case today, we have inherited that fear that was adaptive at the time.

And finally there are so-called cultural phobias. In the case of this phobia, it is necessary to take into account the cultural factor for its development. That is, what is traditionally considered attractive or virile or the fact of seeing baldness as a defect or weak point.

In most cases, the person does not remember when he began to develop the phobia or what was the cause that triggered it. But the usual reaction to a phobia is to avoid exposing yourself to it.

In this case, avoid meeting or seeing people without hair, seek treatments, ask for information to prevent their loss or develop behaviors such as controlling the daily amount of hair they lose.

Symptoms

The symptoms that appear in this phobia are like those that are manifested in other types of phobias and are divided into three levels: physiological, cognitive, and behavioral reactions.

Among the physiological reactions the most typical are: excessive sweating, palpitations, increased blood pressure, shortness of breath, nausea and / or vomiting.

On the cognitive level, a series of beliefs and thoughts appear about the feared stimulus, the situation or their inability to face it. And at the level of behavior, the most common thing is to flee quickly from the situation and try to avoid it at all costs in the future.

In extreme cases, the confluence of all these symptoms can trigger a panic attack when faced with a bald person or viewed on television or in photography. This episode can also occur before the thoughts and imagination of the baldness itself.

Treatment

Most of the treatments that have been found to be effective for disorders of this type include exposure to the feared stimuli. It consists of repeatedly facing that stimulus, until it stops producing fear.

That is, if we face what we fear and it does not imply any negative consequence, we will lose the fear that the stimulus or specific situation causes us. Assuming that all these treatments are based on exposure, they can be classified into different therapies:

Exposure therapy

Although within this type of therapy there are different alternatives, which the therapist chooses based on elements such as the specific fear, the particularities of the patient or the situation, there are some common factors.

It is about facing the feared stimulus or situation directly live or in imagination until the anxiety is reduced. It is advisable to do it gradually and always with the help of the therapist.

Cognitive therapy

This type of therapy is usually done in combination with exposure. On the one hand, information is sought about the feared stimulus, about the possible causes of the appearance of the phobia and for what reasons the fear continues.

It is about having the most relevant information regarding the phobic stimulus. This helps to understand what is happening and why. This way it will be easier to find possible solutions.

On the other hand, the thoughts that produce anxiety are detected and modified. For example: "If I go bald it will be horrible, I will lose attractiveness and I will never find a partner." "Every time I see hair on my pillow or brush, I feel terrible because I have less and less and I don't feel comfortable with myself."

It is about identifying these thoughts that cause the discomfort that the person feels and helping to challenge them so that they stop producing anxiety.

Anxiety control techniques

The most used are relaxation, diaphragmatic breathing and self-instructions. In most cases these techniques are combined with exposure.

They are very useful especially in the early stages of treatment, when the person experiences exposure to the feared stimulus as a true source of anxiety. To get to develop these techniques effectively it is necessary to train them during several sessions.

Biological treatment

In this field, there is unanimity among different researchers and professionals that there is no single and exclusive pharmacological treatment for the eradication of phobia.

However, drugs such as benzodiazepines or beta-blockers have been used as a complement to the techniques explained above. But the studies carried out in this regard seem to indicate that the use of drugs could hinder the therapeutic work of the exposure, which is why its use in treatment is not common.

References

1. Rivas, A. (2013). Going Bald Named The Greatest Aging Fear By 94% Of Men. New York: Medical Daily.
2. Innes, E. (2013). Men are more scared of going BALD than becoming impotent. London: Mail Online.
3. Trüeb, RA (2013). The Difficult Hair Loss Patient: A Particular Challenge. US National Library of Medicine, 5 (3) 110-114.
4. Hunt, N., McHale, S. (2005). Clinical review: The psychological impact of alopecia. British Medical Journal, 331, 951–953.
5. McLary, H. (2012). Peladophobia: Fear of Losing Your Hair. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.