Automatonophobia, fear of human-like objects

When walking in a shopping center, the various clothing products displayed on the mannequins are certainly a common sight. But it is different for people with Automatonophobia. The activity of taking a trip suddenly becomes a gripping horror trip. They will surely feel tormented and choose to return home immediately.

Automatonophobia is not just an ordinary fear

Automatonophobia is a phobia that causes a person to feel fear when he sees objects that resemble humans such as wax figures, mannequins, statues, dolls, robots, or animatronics.

Not only ordinary fear, people with automatonophobia also experience excessive anxiety and stress when dealing with objects that become phobic.

This will certainly disrupt daily life, especially when sufferers visit places that are full of dreaded objects such as shopping centers, cinemas or playgrounds.

In severe cases, this phobia can make the sufferer isolate himself from his social environment and fear leaving home because of fear of meeting the object of the phobia.

Symptoms of automatonophobia

Source: Good Therapy

Symptoms experienced by people with automatonophobia can vary from person to person. Not always when looking directly, fear reactions can arise even if you only see the photo. Here are the symptoms:

• feeling restless and restless
• worry and misgivings will be reunited with the feared object
• a racing heart
• shortness of breath and chest pain
• the body shakes
• loss of concentration
• nausea and dizziness
• sleep disorders
• panic attack

Some of the other reactions are when people with automatonophobia are suddenly confronted with a feared object, they will immediately shut up, run, or hide. Most of them always try to stay away from the place or avoid situations where the object is possible to meet.

What are the causes of automatonophobia?

It is not certain what causes automatonophobia. However, a study states that the main causes can be divided into two types, namely experiential phobia and non-experiential phobia .

On experiential phobia , fear of something can be caused due to a traumatic event in the past such as watching a horror movie or science fiction with a creepy human-shaped robot, also visited the museum with many sculptures in it.

Meanwhile, in non-experiential phobia, the patient does not experience traumatic events. However, there are several possible causes of phobias:

• Having a parent, sibling, or other family who has automatonophobia can be a possibility that you will also experience it.
• Hearing creepy stories about human objects can cause a sensitive reaction for some people.
• Brain development that makes a person more susceptible to this phobia.

How to handle it?

Source: NBC News

Automatonophobia can be overcome with appropriate therapy. The therapy that will be carried out also depends on the specific symptoms experienced, the severity, and the effect for daily activities. Usually, people with automatonophobia can be treated with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and exposure therapy.

CBT is a psychotherapy approach that aims to change mindsets for the better by helping to eliminate bad thoughts about feared objects.

The follow-up therapy that will be done is exposure therapy. In this therapy, people with phobias will be faced with something to be afraid of.

Exposure therapy focuses on changing your response to the feared object. This therapy aims to improve avoidance habits and reduce reactions and symptoms of panic that occur when dealing with the object of fear.

If therapy is insufficient to treat the phobia, the use of drugs may be included in the treatment. Antidepressant pills, beta blockers, and tranquizillers can be used, benzodiazepines can also be used to treat symptoms in the short term.

However, please note that the use of benzodiazepines is not recommended because they can cause dependence.

Some of these home treatments can also be done. some of them are:

• Mindfulness strategy . This can help you reduce anxiety by changing your mindset about something you fear.
• Perform relaxation techniques. Relaxation exercises such as deep breathing and muscle relaxation can help with stress and anxiety.
• Doing favorite physical activity. This method can help in forgetting your fears even for a moment.