Welcome to The Simplify Your Life Podcast, where we talk about how to create a life you won’t need an escape from! I’m Coach Simona, author of the book “111 Ways to Simplify Your Life”, and I’m glad you decided to tune in! Now, let’s start by first answering the question: “What is anthropophobia?” Anthropophobia is having fear of people. It’s a specific phobia that could trigger an anxious response in the individual even just by thinking about being around other people.
When a person suffers from anthropophobia, they’re prone to avoiding social situations such as being in crowds, feeling anxious about future meetings with people, and trying to avoid judgment from others to the point of social isolation. Did you know that anthropophobia was the most searched-for-phobia for 2020? ADT published a survey showing that it accounted for 22% of all phobias that people searched for online.
And while the numbers have definitely gone down since then, it’s still safe to say that anthropophobia is way more common than we might think. If you have anthropophobia, you may constantly struggle with overwhelming anxiety when it comes to interpersonal interactions. This fear can lead to having difficulty looking people in the eye, having conversations with them, feeling inadequate, weird, or overly cautious not to offend anyone.
Now that we know what anthropophobia actually is, let’s answer another important question: Where does anthropophobia come from? While there is no concrete evidence when it comes to the origins of anthropophobia, many researchers believe that it could be a combination of one or more of the following factors: psychological, genetic, biological, environmental, and also as a form of learned behavior.
Anthropophobia can develop after experiencing a difficult relationship with a parent or primary caretaker growing up, being humiliated in public by your peers, or having a cultural experience that invoked a strong sense of shame. Since anthropophobia is considered a phobia, which means it makes your amygdala hypersensitive and reactive to perceived threats from the environment, this might also be a driving factor when it comes to you feeling this way around people.
The interesting thing is that anthropophobia can also occur without any trauma at all and might start showing up in adulthood. Since there are no tests available to determine whether or not you might be struggling with anthropophobia it might be difficult to detect and mistaken for social anxiety. But what is the difference between social anxiety and anthrophobia? Anthrophobia is not limited to social interactions but revolves around having
fear of people themselves. While anthropophobia is not a clinical diagnosis, it is still recognized as having an irrational anxiety toward being near people, even if you don’t talk to them. The interesting thing is that anthropophobia doesn’t just show up in your mind. It affects your body as well. You might experience sweating, rapid heartbeat, trembling, difficulty breathing, having flushed skin, and it can even lead to a full-blown panic attack.
When you’re afraid of people, it’s easy to stay in your own world and avoid social interactions, but anthropophobia could significantly impact the quality of your life, and lead to further complications. So, how can you overcome fear of people? As with any other phobia, going to therapy is the best approach, and you’ll probably
work on gradual exposure to your triggers. That’s definitely something that I don’t recommend doing on your own, so speaking to a licensed mental health professional would be your best bet. Okay, but what if you think your case is not that severe and you need something small to get started? I think trying out different mindfulness techniques could definitely help. Mindfulness is all about centering yourself into the present moment and observing your thoughts, feelings, and surroundings
objectively and non-judgmentally. The more you grounded you feel, the easier it would be to perceive your surroundings as non-threatening. One technique you can start with is the 5-4-3-2-1 method. It goes like this: acknowledge FIVE things you can see around you, FOUR things you can touch, THREE things you can hear, TWO things you can smell, and finally ONE thing you can taste.
Now, let’s go back to the topic of anthropophobia. Sometimes it can be difficult to detect, and some studies show that there’s a link between perfectionism and fear of being judged. Some people who struggle with fear of people, also have a fear of being imperfect. So if you think that is the case for you, make sure to check out episode 177 next. I will leave
a link in the description box below. Thanks so much for tuning in! If you enjoyed this podcast episode, please like it, subscribe, and I’ll see you in the next one!