Eisoptrophobia leads to a fear of mirrors. Learn about its symptoms, causes and treatment.
Eisoptrophobia, also known as catoptrophobia or spectrophobia, is an irrational and intense fear that a person experiences when seeing their own image in a mirror. For this reason, it is something that causes panic or terror. Likewise, regardless of the object that causes the intense fear, anxiety is the common factor and the epicenter of eisoptrophobia.
The fear of mirrors can be a manifestation of broader anxiety problems. That is why mirrors become a trigger for anxiety attacks.
This aspect is related to superstitious thinking, where it is believed that seeing one’s own image reflected in a mirror can lead to something bad happening, and in the same way, if the mirror breaks. It is important to take into account the cultural aspect.
Symptoms:
- Sweating.
- Feeling of suffocation and lack of air.
- Tachycardia.
- Wanting to run away and avoid mirrors.
- Dizziness and nausea.
- Intense fear and anxiety.
Causes:
- Bad experiences, Genetics, Learned behaviors, Brain structure.
- Most phobias begin in childhood, adolescence or early adulthood.
- They can be caused by a stressful situation, a traumatic event. They can also be imitated from a family member who has a phobia and a child ends up making it his or her own.
- Rejection of one’s own image. When we do not have an adequate vision of ourselves but quite the opposite, when we see ourselves reflected in a mirror, that is why it causes us to reject our own body and become something obsessive. And, on the other hand, it can be part of a more serious mental disorder.
Treatment:
- Its objective is to eliminate fear, to unlearn what has been learned, and to learn other ways of facing the problem. • The most effective therapeutic approach today is exposure therapy. It consists of gradually exposing the person to the feared stimuli, so that they gradually become desensitized. Likewise, teaching them anxiety management strategies, as well as restructuring maladjusted and irrational thinking.
In this way, self-esteem and self-confidence are recovered; ultimately, one can have control over what happens, thereby eliminating the limits that the disorder itself causes the person to impose on themselves.
- They can also be treated with medication.
Remember, if you have any of the symptoms mentioned above, you may be suffering from eisoptrophobia and it is important that you seek professional help.
