Medicine:Aquaphobia
Aquaphobia (from la aqua 'water', and grc φόβος (phóbos) 'fear') is an irrational fear of water.[1] Someone with aquaphobia may have an anxious reaction to water in everyday encounters such as drinking water, washing dishes, or showering,[2] or it may be related to bodies of water like ponds and swimming pools and a fear of drowning in them.[3]
Aquaphobia is considered a specific phobia of natural environment type in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.[4] A specific phobia is an intense fear of something that poses little or no actual danger.[5]
Etymology
The correct Greek-derived term for "water-fear" is hydrophobia, from ὕδωρ (hudōr), "water"[6] and φόβος (phobos), "fear".[7] However, this word has long been used in many languages, including English, to refer specifically to a symptom of later-stage rabies, which manifests itself in humans as difficulty in swallowing, fear when presented with liquids to drink, and an inability to quench one's thirst. Therefore, fear or aversion to water in general is referred to as aquaphobia.[2]
Prevalence
A study of epidemiological data from 22 low, lower-middle, upper-middle and high-income countries revealed "fear of still water or weather events" had a prevalence of 2.3%, across all countries; in the US the prevalence was 4.3%.[8] In an article on anxiety disorders, Lindal and Stefansson suggest that aquaphobia may affect as many as 1.8% of the general Icelandic population, or almost one in fifty people.[9] In America, 46% of American adults are afraid of deep water in pools and 64% are afraid of deep open waters.[3]
Manifestation for aquaphobia
Specific phobias are a type of anxiety disorder in which a person may feel extremely anxious or have a panic attack when exposed to the object of fear. Specific phobias are a common mental disorder.[10]
Psychologists indicate that aquaphobia manifests itself in people through a combination of experiential and genetic factors.[11] Five common causes of aquaphobia are:[3]
- Instinctive fear of drowning
- Past experience of an incident of personal horror
- Overprotective parent, or parent with aquaphobia
- Psychological difficulty adjusting to water
- Lack of trust in water
In the case of a 37-year-old media professor, he noted that his fear initially presented itself as a "severe pain, accompanied by a tightness of his forehead", and a choking sensation, discrete panic attacks and a reduction in his intake of fluids.[12]
Signs and symptoms
Physical responses include nausea, dizziness, numbness, shortness of breath, increased heart rate, sweating, and shivering.[3]
In addition to the signs and symptoms above, some general signs and symptoms one may display in reaction to a specific phobia are:
- Physical symptoms: trembling, hot flushes or chills, pain or tightness in chest, butterflies in stomach, feeling faint, dry mouth, ringing in ears, and confusion[13]
- Psychological symptoms: feeling fear of losing control, fainting, dread and dying[14]
Treatment and case studies
Treatment options include:
- Hypnosis and systematic desensitization. 28-year-old female, aquaphobic from childhood, hypnosis and systematic desensitization in an 8-week 5-session program, 2-month and 1-year follow-up.[15] 37-year-old male, 10 years of extreme aquaphobia (could not even drink water), 6 sessions of hypnotherapy, therapy was successful, no relapse and 6-month follow-up.[16]
- Cognitive behavioral therapy
- Exposure therapy
- Medication
See also
- List of phobias
- Thalassophobia – fear of the sea
- Submechanophobia - fear of submerged man-made objects
References
- ↑ Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary. Elsevier. 2011. pp. 122.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Mehta, Neil; Espinel, Zelde (2021-04-01). "Aquaphobia: A Case Report on the Unique Presentation of a Specific Phobia" (in English). The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 29 (4): S139–S140. doi:10.1016/j.jagp.2021.01.139. ISSN 1064-7481. https://www.ajgponline.org/article/S1064-7481(21)00212-8/abstract. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Aboo Bakar, Rofiza. "Aquaphobia: Causes, Symptoms and Ways of Overcoming It for Future Well-being". http://www.iarjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/IARJSS2017_1_82-88.pdf.
- ↑ Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders : DSM-5-TR. Michael B. First, American Psychiatric Association (Fifth edition, text revision ed.). Washington, DC. 2022. pp. 224–229. ISBN 978-0-89042-575-6. OCLC 1288423302.
- ↑ "Anxiety disorders". US Department of Health and Human Services. https://www.womenshealth.gov/mental-health/mental-health-conditions/anxiety-disorders.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ↑ ὕδωρ , Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus
- ↑ φόβος , Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus
- ↑ Wardenaar, K. J.; Lim, C. C. W.; Al-Hamzawi, A. O.; Alonso, J.; Andrade, L. H.; Benjet, C.; Bunting, B.; de Girolamo, G. et al. (2017). "The cross-national epidemiology of specific phobia in the World Mental Health Surveys". Psychological Medicine 47 (10): 1744–1760. doi:10.1017/S0033291717000174. ISSN 1469-8978. PMID 28222820.
- ↑ Líndal, E.; Stefánsson, J. G. (1993). "The lifetime prevalence of anxiety disorders in Iceland as estimated by the US National Institute of Mental Health Diagnostic Interview Schedule". Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 88 (1): 29–34. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0447.1993.tb03410.x. ISSN 0001-690X. PMID 8372693.
- ↑ "Phobia - simple/specific". https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/000956.htm. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ↑ Lynne L. Hall, Fighting Phobias, the Things That Go Bump in the Mind, FDA Consumer Magazine, Volume 31 No. 2, March 1997
- ↑ Ajinkya. "Cognitive Hypnotherapy for Panic disorder with Aquaphobia". Sleep and Hypnosis 17.
- ↑ "Phobias". https://medlineplus.gov/phobias.html.
- ↑ National Health Service (15 February 2021). "Symptoms - Phobias". https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/phobias/symptoms/.
- ↑ PhD, Frank DePiano (1985-02-28). "Hypnosis in the Treatment of Aquaphobia". Psychotherapy in Private Practice 3 (1): 93–97. doi:10.1300/J294v03n01_11. ISSN 0731-7158. https://doi.org/10.1300/J294v03n01_11. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
- ↑ Ajinkya, Shaunak. "CASE REPORT: Cognitive Hypnotherapy for Panic Disorder with Aquaphobia". http://www.sleepandhypnosis.org/ing/Pdf/83b027c2c1c74d36b4197b3028eb3cd8.pdf.
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