Last Updated on March 12, 2023 by Mike Robinson
Italophobia is a specific phobia characterized by a fear of sexual erections. In this way, a person who has this type of phobia has very high levels of anxiety when he suffers a sexual erection in his body.
This psychological change causes a lot of discomfort in the person who suffers from it. This is because he constantly fears the possibility of having an erection. Likewise, this peculiar fear originates from a more than obvious sexual problem.
In this article, we will talk about this peculiar type of phobia, explain its characteristics, symptoms, and causes, and discuss the psychological treatments that can be used to intervene with this type of problem.
Characteristics of Italophobia
It is a psychological alteration that is part of the anxiety disorders known as specific phobias.
Specific phobias are characterized by experiencing an intense and persistent fear. The fear is in relation to a specific situation or object that usually causes extreme discomfort.
Italophobia is limited to penis erections. italophobia is an anxiety disorder, not a sexual alteration. This first conceptualization is important. Due to the characteristics of this specific phobia, it can be confused and associate the anxiety from a sexual disorder.
Thus, while spider or blood phobia is often linked to anxiety, it may be more complex. In fact, when a person has this type of phobia, it is important to consider the sexual effects of the anxiety during an erection. The anxiety is caused by an anxiety disorder, not a sexual alteration, so the sexual alteration in these situations should be seen as a symptom of the disorder rather than a cause.
Therefore, italophobia is a specific phobia of situations in which an erection is experienced in the penis.
What are specific phobias?
Before explaining the term “specific phobia,” it should be noted that the experience of fear is very common in humans and, in addition, it deals with a totally normal situation with a high adaptive component.
Without fear and pain, humans and other species would not exist.
When we speak of “adaptive fear,” we refer to a set of sensations that are set in motion as a normal response to real dangers. However, when the fear response appears in situations in which there is no real threat, we can no longer speak of adaptive fear.
It is precisely at this point that the term “phobia” appears, i.e., when we describe undesirable fear reactions. Animal phobias, environmental phobias like atmospheric phenomena, precipices, etc. Phobia to blood, wounds, elevators, airplanes, or closed spaces; phobia to vomit, contract diseases, etc.
As we mentioned, some types of specific phobias are better known and more prevalent than others.
Thus, the phobias of spiders, blood, airplanes, or heights are popularly known alterations, while other types of phobias, such as the italophobia that concerns us in this article, can be stranger and more ambiguous.
However, the characteristics of all types of phobias are practically identical. The only thing that varies is the dreaded object.
Therefore, while in spider phobia the dreaded object is the spider. Additionally, in blood phobia it is the blood itself. But in the case of italophobia the dreaded object is to experience a sexual erection.
Characteristics of specific phobias
The fear experienced by all types of specific phobias has a series of common characteristics:
- It is disproportionate to the demands of the situation. Here, it is considered that the reaction does not correspond to the existence of a particularly dangerous or threatening situation for the individual.
- It cannot be explained or reasoned by the individual.
- It is beyond voluntary control.
- It leads to the avoidance of the dreaded situation.
- It persists over time.
- It is maladaptive.
- not specific to a particular phase or age.
“Specific phobias” refers to phobias that are limited to certain things or circumstances.
Characteristics of Italophobia
However, it should also be noted that the level of deterioration of this anxiety disorder may be minimal or very high.
In this way, a phobia of spiders can cause the least disturbance to the person suffering from it, since they will only experience a type of fear such as the one we mentioned earlier when they see or are near a spider, a fact that can happen on very few occasions.
In contrast, other types of phobias can be much more disabling. A clear example is the specific type of phobia we are talking about here, italophobia.
The person with italophobia will not present the response of extreme fear in the same occasional form as someone who has a phobia of spiders, but they can experience it much more often.
Thus, italophobia produces extremely high levels of anxiety every time the person suffers from an erection. This is a fact that may be more or less frequent in each person, but that translates into a sexual alteration that is more important and incapacitating.
Likewise, phobias are characterized by being accompanied by avoidance behavior—that is, the phobic person systematically tries to avoid the dreaded object.
This aspect of the disorder can also have a minimal impact, for example, on the person suffering from spider phobia, since it will simply limit itself to avoiding these animals, a fact that in principle does not have to affect the life of a person.
Thus, phobias, despite being very similar, can also be very different. italophobia is one of the most disabling specific phobias, causing greater discomfort and affecting quality of life and functionality.
Symptoms of Italophobia
Italophobia is characterized by experiencing an extreme anxiety reaction in situations in which the person has an erection. In this way, to be able to speak of Italophobia, the symptoms of anxiety on which we will comment next must take place in these specific situations.
The main symptoms that a person with italophobia presents in situations in which he suffers from an erection are the following:
Common Symptoms
There is an activation of the sympathetic nervous system in response to coping or the anticipation of an erection.
In this activation, there are usually palpitations, sweating, tremors, dyspnea, nausea, feelings of unreality, a feeling of instability, a fear of dying, a fear of going crazy, or chest discomfort.
A person with italophobia will not present, as normal, all these symptoms when exposed to their feared situation (erection of the penis), but they will experience most of them.
Avoidance Behavior
The other main symptom that people with italophobia present is the avoidance or minimization of contact with the feared situation.
The person will try to avoid any situation that can produce an erection in order to avoid anxiety symptoms.
This fact causes the person with italophobia to be totally incapable of maintaining sexual relations. That’s because it involves an erection of the penis. This is why italophobia is a disorder that implies a high degree of deterioration.
To avoid their phobic items, italophobes must be on high alert in many settings since erections are unpredictable.
How is it diagnosed?
Italophobia is characterized by the presence of anxiety and avoidance behavior in situations in which an erection can occur. In order to make the diagnosis, the following criteria must be met:
- an intense, unreasonable dread of getting an erection.
- Exposure to the phobic stimuli (erection) nearly always induces an acute anxiety reaction.
- The person recognizes that this fear is excessive or irrational.
- The phobic situation is avoided or supported at the cost of intense anxiety or discomfort.
- The person’s typical routine, employment, or clinically significant discomfort are disrupted by avoidance strategies, anxious anticipation, or the feared circumstance.
- In those under 18 years, the duration of these symptoms must have been at least 6 months.
Causes of Italophobia
Nowadays, there is no known specific factor that causes the appearance of italophobia. There can exist a certain genetic factor in this disease, but this factor does not explain the totality of the pathogenesis of italophobia.
On the other hand, the presence of learning factors is defended. It is postulated that classical conditioning (the pairing of an initially neutral stimulus with an aversive stimulus) plays an important role in the development of italophobia.
Likewise, it is postulated that specific phobias can also be acquired through verbal information and vicarious learning.
Italophobia has a biopsychosocial point of view. The means the phobic fear is the result of the interaction of biological, psychological, and social factors.
Treatment Options for Italophobia
Italophobia is a psychological alteration that psychotherapy can help. In this sense, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) treatments are effective as they reduce the fear experienced in phobic situations.
In general, these treatments have two main techniques: relaxation and exposure.
The relaxation reduces activation of the body and nervousness. Therefore, the person gets into a state of calm that gives them greater ability to cope with the feared situation.
The technique of exposure, on the other hand, is based on a specific theory. In other words, what maintains the phobia of the erection is not the fear itself but the avoidance behaviors.
Also Read: Bufonophobia: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment
In this way, if the person manages to approach the feared situation and learn to control their anxiety states through relaxation, the phobia ends up disappearing or diminishing.
Likewise, in some cases, cognitive techniques are successful in eliminating false beliefs about the phobic object.
