Anthropophobia

Anthropophobia means fear of people. It’s derived from 2 Greek words Anthropos which means Man & Phobos which means fear.

It’s fear of scrutiny by other people in small groups, rather than a crowd. This phobia usually leads to social situation avoidance (WHO, 1992, p. 136).

Anthropophobia is a phobic disorder that is found mostly amongst the people of China & Japan. Its core symptom is a fear of making eye contact with others A.Y. Zhang et. al. (2001).

In some cultures direct eye to eye confrontation is particularly stressful (WHO, 1992, p. 136). DSM-IV (Diagnostic & Statistical manual of Mental Disorders) specifically mentions taijin kyousho. Taijin kyousho is a Japanese word taijin means in relation to others & kyofusho means fear or phobia, thus taijin kyousho means fear of others. Taijin kyofusho is defined as “an individual’s intense fear that his or her body, its parts or its functions, displease, embarrass, or are offensive to other people in appearance, odour, facial expression, or movements” (APA, 1994, pp. 844, 849). This syndrome is considered in DSM-IV to be confined to Japanese culture rather than a cross-cultural mental illness.

According to International Statistical Classification of Diseases & related health problems (ICD-10) Anthropophobia is a case of social phobia & an extreme, pathological form of shyness & timidness.

The signs of Anthropohpobia are

Anxiety

Extreme avoidance to be in small groups

Feeling of dread

Feeling of panic

Feeling of terror

Irrational fear of people

Rapid heartbeat

Trembling

A research “Anthropophobia: Its meaning & concomitant experiences” was conducted by Amy Y. Zhang, Lucy C. Yu, Jianxue Zhang, Denghua Tang & Juris G. Draguns. It was published in International Journal of Social Psychiatry (2001) Vol. 47 No. 4 56 – 70. The researchers found that the core anthropophobic symptoms include a fear of making eye contact with others & a fear of being watched by others, which essentially express fears of others’ judgement or opinion of oneself. They even found that anxiety & depression are associated features of anthropophobia.

Other symptoms include fear of blushing, unnatural eye or facial expression, body dysmorphia & odours. Their even found that in an extreme case, a person suffering from anthropophobia would become homebound & withdrawn from society to avoid contact with other human beings. The onset of anthropophobia typically occurs in adolescent.

Japanese psychiatrist & researcher Yamashita (1993. p. 28) believes that the meaning of anthropophobic symptoms is centred on interpersonal relationships & on one’s self-image as perceived through others’ eyes. In his words, anthropophobic patients observe themselves through others’ eyes, ears & noses, instead of their own. They try to find themselves in the minds of others. In Japanese culture interpersonal relationships are more interdependent, reciprocal & implicit than in Western culture. The researcher believes that these differences play a causal role in shaping anthropophobic symptoms.

Yamashita (1977) has classified manifestations of Taijin kyofusho into seven categories:

1) Fear of flushing;

2) Fear of eye contact, including a fear of being caught by someone’s gaze & a fear of one’s own unnatural gaze at others;

3) Fear of showing one’s improper attitude toward others when interacting with others, as indicated by bodily tension, trembling, & shaking;

4) Fear of body dysmorphia, such as physical abnormalities & facial defects;

5) Fear of one’s bodily odours (patients believe that unusual body odour or gases emanating from their bodies are offensive to others);

6) Anxiety about others’ attitude & feelings toward oneself; &

7) Any combination of the proceeding six fears.

Another Psychiatrist Zhong (1987; 1993; Zhang & Zhong, 1993) has classified anthropophobic symptoms into 3 categories based on his clinical observation of 113 patients.

They include

1) Symptoms associated with eye expression, including a fear of others’ gaze & a feeling of unnatural eye-expression in oneself. Zhong suggests that the fear of others’ gaze is related to concerns that others can find out secrets in one’s mind by watching, while a feeling of unnatural eye expression by oneself expresses beliefs that one’s own eye expression suggests flirtation or irritation to others;

2) Symptoms associated with facial expression, including a feeling of unnatural facial expressions in front of others such as blushing; &

3) A compulsive desire to watch others’ breasts or genitals through one’s own peripheral vision.

Apparently Yamashita & Zong have 4 symptoms of Anthropophobia in accord i.e. fear of unnatural facial expression, fear of making eye contact, a fear of unnatural eye expression & a fear of other’s gaze at oneself.

References: -

1. AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION (1987) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (3rd, revised). Washington, DC: APA.

2. AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION (1987) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th). Washington, DC: APA.

3. OKONOGI, K. (1973) Taijin-kyofu viewed from the perspective of shyness of strangers. Japanese Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 2, 833-837.

4. UCHINUMA, Y. (1973) Symptom structure of taijin-kyofu: Symptom structure and treatment strategy. Japanese Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 2, 845-850.

5. WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (1992) The ICD-10 classification of mental and behavioural disorders: clinical description and diagnostic guidelines. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO.

6. YAMASHITA, I. (1993, c1977) Taijin-Kyofu delusional social phobia. Sapporo, Japan: Hokkaido University Press.

7. ZHANG, J.X. & ZHONG, Y.B. (1993) Discussion of psychopathological nature and psychogenic mechanism (Amy, Lucy, Zhang, Tang, & Juris, 2001)

8. ZHANG, J.X. & ZHONG, Y.B. (1993) Discussion of psychopathological nature and psychogenic mechanism of anthropophobia. Chinese Journal of Neurology and Psychiatry, (15)9, 269-271. (In Chinese).

9. ZHONG, Y.B. (1985) Neurasthenia. Beijing, China: Science and Technological Literature Press. (In Chinese.)

10. ZHONG, Y.B. (1987) Phobia of eye contact. Chinese Journal of Neurology and Psychiatry, (15)3. (In Chinese.)

11. ZHONG, Y.B. (1993) Cognitive-insight therapy. Guiyang, China: Guizhou Press of Education. (In Chinese.)

12. Zhang, A. Y., Yu, C. L., Zhang, J., Tang, D., & Draguns, J. G. (2001). Anthropophobia: Its Meaning and Concomitant Experiences.  International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 47-56. Retrieved October 15, 2012, from Sage Publications: http://isp.sagepub.com/content/47/4/56