Causes And 5 Signs Of Fear Of Falling In Love Or Philophobia

Illustration of covering one's face for fear (Pexels / Everton Nobrega)

JAKARTA - On Valentine's Day, it turns out that not everyone can feel the warmth of love, especially love for a lover or a loved one. Those with philophobia may feel unfamiliar or deliberately distanced when the majority of couples celebrate Valentine's.

What is philophobia?

Philophobia comes from Greek, phili means love and phobos means fear. Phobias or phobos are irrational fear of several things such as certain objects, places, feelings, and animals that can cause panic.

The fear of falling in love can be triggered by three conditions, namely trauma, childhood experiences, and genetics. Reporting from Medical News Today, Thursday, February 11, experts found that the majority of phobias are genetic, although the triggers for philophobia are not only inborn.

Symptoms or signs of philophobia can be recognized by the 5 things below:

Psychological symptoms

A person will avoid things related to love. In fact, he was not comfortable around lovers who were in love. Even if they are in a relationship, someone who has philophobia is more possessive, does not want the relationship to end, and is determined to maintain the relationship.

Physical symptoms

This second sign is not always experienced by someone with philophobia because it depends on their personality and ratio or level of fear. Physical symptoms are characterized by shortness of breath, fast heartbeat, panic attacks, extreme anxiety, irrational fear, crying, numbness to chest pain.

Can't let go of the past yet

One of the causes of trauma is not being able to let go of the past so that in matters of feelings you have the emotional burden of the past that is still being stored.

Fear of being hurt

Because they have been through traumatic experiences and haven't let go of their emotional burdens, it makes perfect sense for someone to be disappointed and afraid to fall in love. In essence, every feeling that grows is completely controlled so that you don't feel hurt again.

Only the surface

A person with philophobia can enjoy only the physical aspects of a relationship. Philophobia does not mean not being able to enjoy sex because it has nothing to do with fear of anchoring the heart.

To identify, a person needs to consult a specialist, especially philophobia with symptoms that are very disturbing physically and psychologically. The most effective treatment, quoted from HerWay is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).

With cognitive behavioral therapy, you will understand that the fear you experience is a side effect of past events or thought patterns.