Anxiety can lead people to avoid all kinds of things — even sex. Understanding the role anxiety plays is a critical part to addressing sex avoidance.
One of the reasons you don’t read a lot about sex avoidance is because it’s more likely a symptom than a problem. What is it a symptom of?
[Read more…]If you get panicky in enclosed spaces or situations when you feel trapped, you’re not alone. Cleithrophobia is a well-understood and treatable problem. Learn more.
Cleithrophobia is a fear of being trapped. It is a “specific phobia” (as opposed to a social phobia). Cleithrophobia can affect adults or children. The disorder involves significant symptoms of fear or anxiety when one is actually trapped, fears being trapped, or thinks about being trapped. These symptoms can include:
Are you a germophobe? Typically, a fear of germs is actually not a phobia. Often, it’s is a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder known informally as “contamination OCD.”
A fear of germs often causes temptation to avoid people, places, or things thought to be contaminated. Sometimes the concern is about a specific disease like HIV or hepatitis or just general germs. Other times the contamination is less well-defined.
The impact of this type of OCD can vary widely. If severe and untreated, contamination OCD can even result in people feeling that their homes are too contaminated to continue living in.
[Read more…]Blushing is a normal reaction in certain circumstances. So why might you have a fear of blushing? And what can you do about it?
Karla blushed during a date after she spilled water all over herself and the table. She felt embarrassed and that her date thought she was awkward. From then on, she started getting anxious about blushing again whenever she thought about setting up a date. She even stopped dating for a while, but was unhappy because she wanted a relationship. When she started dating again, she would only go on dates late at night, at one local restaurant that she knew had dim lighting, so if she blushed it wouldn’t be noticeable. This limited her options for having ongoing dates, and her anxiety about blushing made her give up dating once again.
[Read more…]Complex post-traumatic stress disorder (cPTSD) is somewhat different from PTSD. Here’s what you need to know about distinguishing cPTSD from PTSD and the treatment for each of these conditions.
Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is a syndrome that affects some people who have been through a traumatic event. Traumatic events typically involve serious harm or the threat of serious harm. Examples include things like sexual assault, motor vehicle accidents, combat, sexual or physical abuse, assault or mugging, natural disasters, and accidents. Traumatic events can also involve the unexpected or violent loss of a loved one.
If you experience the following symptoms due to a traumatic event, you may have PTSD:
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