Cherophobia
Cherophobia is a feeling of fear or phobia that occurs when someone does not want to be happy, due to something irrational. Someone who suffers from this condition is often afraid to participate in activities that cause feelings of joy or happiness.
Symptoms of Cherophobia
The most common symptom of this phobia is extreme anxiety, even leading to panic attacks. The sufferer may go to great lengths to ensure that they do not interact with their fear, even preventing it from happening.
There are several other common symptoms that are commonly felt by someone with this phobia, namely:
- Feeling restless when thinking about happiness.
- Always avoiding happiness.
- Unable to cope with the feelings of anxiety felt.
- Experiencing muscle tension, shaking, and sweating when thinking about happy feelings.
- Panic attack.
Causes of Cherophobia
When this condition occurs, some people believe that if they experience something good, something bad can follow afterward. As a result, a person may be afraid to do activities that make them happy, so that something bad does not happen.
This problem is more common in someone who has experienced a traumatic event, either physically or emotionally before. Someone who is an introvert is also at a higher risk of developing cherophobia.
Likewise, someone who has a perfectionist personality, they feel that happiness is only possessed by someone who is lazy or unproductive. Therefore, a perfectionist often avoids happy activities because they are considered unproductive.
Cherophobia Risk Factors
There are several factors that are thought to increase a person’s risk of developing this phobia, namely genetics and environment. For genetic factors, someone whose family has a history of mental illness, especially anxiety disorders or phobias, has a higher risk of developing cherophobia.
In addition, someone who often experiences bad events related to emotions related to fear is also susceptible to being in a state of cherophobia. Someone who has these two factors, the risk increases significantly.
Diagnosis of Cherophobia
This phobia-related examination is measured by a scale of fear of happiness. There are several questions that need to be answered and need to be answered on a scale of 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree).
The total score range that can be achieved is between 5 and 35. Higher scores may indicate greater fear than feelings of happiness.
Some examples of questions asked are:
- I prefer not too much joy because it is usually followed by sadness.
- I believe the happier I am, the more I should expect bad things to happen.
- Disaster often follows good fortune.
Cherophobia Treatment
There are several treatments that are recommended to be carried out, namely:
- Cognitive behavioral therapy, to help recognize faulty thinking and identify faulty behaviors so they can be treated.
- Relaxation strategies, such as deep breathing or exercise.
- Hypnotherapy.
Not everyone who has this condition needs treatment. Some feel better and safer when avoiding happiness. However, if cherophobia has disrupted the quality of life, immediate treatment is needed.
However, if this condition occurs due to past trauma, treating the underlying condition is very good in helping to overcome this phobia.
Complications of Cherophobia
The complications of this phobia are not yet known for certain.
Cherophobia Prevention
Prevention of this condition is by addressing the various causes as early as possible, before it develops into a greater fear. One of the causes of this phobia is past trauma. By addressing the trauma, fear of happiness can be avoided.