Last Updated on April 13, 2023 by Mike Robinson
Gerascophobia is an irrational fear of getting older and a severe anxiety disorder. People of all ages can be afraid of getting old. But that doesn’t mean a psychopathological change or gerascophobia is developing.
A relatively uncommon form of specific phobia, gerascophobia is not widely shared by the general population. Extreme anxiety and a drastic behavior change are hallmarks of those with age-related anxiety disorder. It causes a permanent change in one’s mental state. Therefore, proper treatment is crucial for success in overcoming it.
Characteristics of Gerascophobia
One of the most unique types of specific phobias that exist today is gerascophobia. As is well known, specific phobias are a type of anxiety disorder brought on by a specific phobia-related fear. The feared component mainly helps to distinguish each type of specific phobia. Gerascophobia is distinct from other specific phobias because it involves a fear of getting older.
Everyone ages at some point in their lives, which includes a number of events like a decline in physical ability, a loss of functionality, a change in lifestyle, etc.
Every individual may be affected differently by this life event. Some people age perfectly, and others have various mental or physical problems as they age.
However, aging becomes the person with gerascophobia’s biggest fear because they develop an irrational fear of getting older. The level of anxiety is so extreme that it can significantly impact a person’s functionality, behavior, and quality of life.
Common Symptoms of Gerascophobia
Extreme anxiety is the primary symptom of gerascophobia. High anxiety levels brought on by the fear of getting older result in significant changes.
Different elements are usually affected by these changes. Gerascophobia’s symptoms fall into three categories: behavioral changes, cognitive changes, and physical changes.
Physical Changes
Anxiety disorders significantly impact how people’s body’s function, causing several physical changes. The physical symptoms of gerascophobia are typically severe and intense, though they rarely result in a panic attack. The physical symptoms of gerascophobia are a response to the heightened central nervous system activity.
The symptomatology associated with this increased activity can be quite diverse, so each individual’s physical alterations due to gerascophobia may differ slightly. When exposed to their feared stimuli, a person with this disorder will typically exhibit some of the following symptoms:
- An increase in the cardiac rate
- Heart palpitations
- The respiratory rate increases.
- Drowning sensation
- Tension in different muscles of the body
- Pupillary dilation
- noticeable increase in perspiration.
- Shaking and chills
- Pain in the head or stomach
- Things seem unreal.
It is unusual for a person with gerascophobia to experience all the symptoms at once. However, it is common to experience some of them, the most common being an increase in heart and respiratory rates.
Cognitive disorders
Gerascophobia is a cognitive disorder because it involves a pattern of abnormal thought patterns. These thoughts are closely related to aging, and they both motivate and increase age-related anxiety.
The person may experience a wide variety of negative, abstract thoughts. However, there is a significant negative bias in thinking about the effects of aging in every one of those thoughts. Also common are pessimistic assumptions about one’s resilience in old age. One’s qualities in old age are typically judged negatively.
Behavior Changes
The physical and mental symptoms of gerascophobia directly affect a person’s behavior.
The behavioral changes of gerascophobia can become serious and limit the person’s quality of life and ability to function.
The signs of this behavior have to do with how people try to escape their fears. That is, to stop getting old.
Today, we need more clarity relative to what changes in behavior result from gerascophobia. The changes can be many and usually depend more on the person than the change. But people often do things repeatedly to fix problems, like start anti-aging treatments or do something to avoid wear and tear or physical deterioration.
At first glance, these can seem like healthy and helpful things to do. In gerascophobia, however, they are a big part of what is wrong. The person does something to avoid feeling bad instead of to make themselves feel better, which often leads to changes in behavior.
What causes the symptoms of gerascophobia?
Gerascophobia’s behavioral changes stem from a fear of aging, which causes the symptoms above. Thus, the pathology centers on the fear of aging. Its diagnosis also includes fear. The following criteria are necessary to classify the fear as pathological and related to gerascophobia:
Unreasonable Fear
The fear of getting older is not a behavior that makes sense. The person with gerascophobia has a fear that logic can’t explain. The person with the disorder thinks his fear doesn’t make sense and knows it’s not based on solid facts. Nonetheless, they are unable to explain their fears.
The Fear is Uncontrollable
The fear a person with gerascophobia experiences is uncontrollable. The automatic feelings of anxiety that arise in a person with this disorder are entirely out of their control.
The same goes for the subject’s inability to control their anxiety reactions and the pathology-related symptoms. Because of this, the only option for someone with gerascophobia is to avoid the uncomfortable elements (avoid aging).
Excessive Fear Levels are Common.
Another characteristic of gerascophobia is the fear’s extreme intensity, which is always present. The person reacts to the stimuli as though there is a serious threat, even though there is none.
Avoidance Behaviors
The only option for someone with gerascophobia who is paralyzed by fear is to run away. The most common pattern of behavior in this disorder is avoidance, with the goal being to steer clear of whatever it is about aging that is triggering the individual’s anxiety.
The Fear is Constant
Gerascophobia is neither a temporary nor a sporadic phobia. The fear endures over time and is not limited to particular times or moments.
In actuality, gerascophobia is highly unlikely to occur if fears of aging are experienced infrequently or briefly. Likewise, no specific age is associated with the fear of the disorder.
Unless appropriate intervention occurs, the condition appears permanent without remission as soon as it emerges.
Unable to Adapt
The person who experiences this disorder is unable to adapt to their environment due to their fear of aging.
Therefore, gerascophobia is pathological because it prevents an individual from adjusting and has unfavorable effects.
Common Causes of Gerascophobia
Today, one of the leading research areas for the scientific community is the etiology of specific phobias. Phobias are one of the best-known and most extensively researched variations in the study of anxiety and the disorders that result from it.
Today, there is broad agreement that the emergence of particular phobias does not result from a single factor. Instead, several variables that might be crucial have been described. These elements can occasionally be more evident than others, though they are only sometimes present.
But it is agreed that the interaction of the following factors—which may occur to a greater or lesser extent—contributes to the pathology’s emergence.
Classical conditioning
Currently, most people believe that classical conditioning is the process that best explains how this fear starts. This occurs from early exposure to circumstances that exhibit fear. In this regard, living with people with a high risk of aging, frequently lamenting the terrible effects of getting older, or placing a high value on youth may help people develop gerascophobia.
Childhood is a crucial time for classical conditioning because it’s during this time that most fears form. However, classical conditioning can also occur at a later age.
Vicarious Learning and Conditioning
The development of fear is not limited to direct exposure. Both verbal and visual learning is associated with an increase in anxiety. The development of gerascophobia can result from exposure to situations that convey messages about the dangers of aging and the necessity of avoiding them.
Genetic factors
Even though there isn’t much information about how phobias are inherited, some authors suggest that genetic factors play a role.
Therefore, people with a family history of specific phobias or other anxiety disorders may be more likely to develop gerascophobia.
Cognitive factors
Finally, some mental processes appear to play a significant role in maintaining phobias rather than causing them to develop. The most important factors would be overly pessimistic views of the potential harm, attentional biases toward threats, or low self-esteem.
Best Treatment Options
The most effective treatments for gerascophobia are psychological, with higher success rates than drug therapies. The psychological intervention that produces better results is cognitive behavioral treatment (CBT) because it helps reverse the majority of specific phobia cases.
The primary method used in this therapy is exposure, which involves exposing the phobic person to the things they are afraid of. Since the goal is for the subject to remain in front of their phobic stimuli without being able to escape them, exposure takes place gradually.
The person learns to control his anxiety response as he gradually becomes accustomed to what he fears the most—adding relaxation techniques to speed up the process because they help people feel calmer and less anxious while preparing them to face their fears.
Also Read: Enochlophobia or Demofobia (Phobia of the Crowds): Symptoms and Causes
Lastly, when aging causes irrational beliefs and bad thoughts, cognitive therapies can also help deal with and replace them.
