Amatofobia: causes and symptoms of fear of dust and dirt

April 21, 2024

Few sensations are so distressing and make them feel as bad as fear, which can be manifested by the presence of a real or imaginary danger. Fear occurs when a stressful stimulus causes the release of a series of substances that cause the heart to accelerate, the respiration to increase and the organism to prepare for the fight-flight response.

Although fear is an adaptive response, it can sometimes cause a lot of suffering to the person who suffers it. Especially when the fear is not real and manifests itself again and again.

In this article we will talk about a phobic disorder called amatofobia . That is, irrational fear of dust and dirt.

Related article: "The 16 types of fear and their characteristics"

What are phobias

Phobias are irrational and pathological fears that cause great suffering to the person who suffers them. They are included in anxiety attacks, because their main symptom, besides fear, is the anxiety and anguish that the person experiences. Phobias cause the phobic individual to avoid the stimulus that causes discomfort.

When we talk about phobic disorders there are three types . The agoraphobia, which is an irrational fear that is characterized because the person who suffers fear is afraid to find themselves in situations where they can not receive help in a crisis. Social phobia is a disorder (or disorders) that appear in social interaction with other people, for example, erythrophobia or the fear of blushing. Finally, specific phobias are those that develop before a specific object or being. For example, arachnophobia or fear of spiders, coulrophobia or fear of clowns or amatofobia or fear of dust, which will be discussed in more detail in the following lines.

Causes of amatofobia

Amatofobia is the persistent and irrational fear of dust and dirt. Like any phobia, causes the avoidance of the feared stimulus and high levels of anxiety . It can affect the normality of an individual's life since dust can appear anywhere. For example, at home.

Among the most frequent causes we can find ...

1. Traumatic experience

Traumatic experiences can be the origin of a phobia, due to the classic conditioning, a person can learn to be afraid of a harmless stimulus due to the association that occurs when two stimuli occur simultaneously. Classical conditioning became popular thanks to the experiments of John Watson. To learn more about classical conditioning, you can read our article: "Classical conditioning and its most important experiments".

Due to the intense emotions that people can experience, a single traumatic incident can cause a person to develop this pathology .

2. Learning by observation

But traumatic experiences are not the only cause of this disorder, and an individual does not have to experience the classical conditioning in their own skin. It is enough that I observe another person experiencing the traumatic event, for a phenomenon called vicar conditioning. In the case of amatofobia, watching a film in which a toxic powder appears can cause the development of this disorder.

3. Biological predisposition

The experts in phobias assure that the human being is biologically predisposed to experience irrational fears, since the emotion of fear is adaptive and does not usually respond to logical arguments. This happens because it has its origin in primitive and non-cognitive associations.

Symptoms of this disorder

Phobias belong to the group of anxiety disorders, because anxiety is one of the characteristic symptoms, as is fear.

When the phobia develops, the phobic subject experiences cognitive symptoms, such as anguish, catastrophic thoughts, irrational fear or daze . Behavioral symptoms also appear. For example, the attempted avoidance of the feared stimulus. Finally, physical and physiological symptoms such as hyperventilation, pulse acceleration or tightness in the chest are also frequent.

Treatment

Anxiety disorders and, in particular, phobias, have been scientifically studied on multiple occasions. According to the data of many investigations, the psychological therapy seems to be very effective.

There are many types of therapy, but for the treatment of phobic disorders, cognitive behavioral therapy is usually used, which applies different methods such as relaxation techniques or exposure techniques.

In fact, a technique that is ideal for treating phobias is systematic desensitization , which consists of exposing the patient to the phobic stimulus in a gradual way while learning different coping strategies such as relaxation techniques.

If you want to know how this technique works, you just have to read our article: "What is systematic desensitization and how does it work?"

New therapy to treat phobias

In addition to cognitive behavioral therapy, other therapeutic models have also been used in recent years that have proved effective . Particularly noteworthy are two cognitive therapy based on Mindfulness or acceptance and commitment therapy, both of which are known as third-generation therapies or contextual therapies.

In addition, thanks to new technologies, virtual reality therapies are applied, which expose the patient to phobic stimulation without the need for it to be present. With the technological advance of smartphones, it is possible to find this tool in some apps.