5 Agliophobia (Fear of Pain) |
youth to avoid talking to peers, going to parties, or joining new activities for fear
of looking foolish. Youth who experience performance anxiety also tend to start
suffering distress and impairment at this time. While they might have been able to
avoid speaking up in class, making class presentations, or doing other activities in
front of others in the younger grades, these kinds of behaviors become increasingly
important as the school years continue.
Later still (late teens and early 20s), we see the emergence of phobias of driv-
ing and stimuli associated with travel like tunnels and bridges. This of course
correlates with the age at which most youth begin driving and traveling inde-
pendently. This is also the age where panic attacks onset. It is very typical for
people to start avoiding situations that might bring on their panic attacks in the
years following their first attacks. Over time, panic attacks begin to be associ-
ated with the situations in which people experienced them. For example, people
who experience a panic attack at the mall might begin to fear and avoid the mall.
Similarly, if a person has a panic attack on the subway, he or she might begin to
avoid the subway and even other situations that elicit the same cognitions (e.g.,
“I can’t get off if needed to”) such as trains, airplanes, or being the passenger in
someone else’s car. Accordingly, it makes sense that the onset for agoraphobia
(avoidance of situations that may provoke panic, for fear that escape will be dif-
ficult or impossible) is in the late 20s.
Deborah Roth Ledley
See also: Childhood, Phobias in; Phobias, Causes of; Phobias, Family Influences on the
Development and Maintenance of
Further Reading
Antony, Martin M., & Swinson, Richard P. (2000). Phobic disorders and panic in
adults: A guide to assessment and treatment. Washington, DC: American Psychological
Association.
Chansky, Tamar. (2004). Freeing your child from anxiety: Powerful practical solutions
to overcome your child’s fears, worries, and phobias. New York, NY: Broadway Books.
LeBeau, Richard T., Glenn, Daniel, Liao, Betty, Wittchen, Hans-Ulrich, Beesdo-Baum,
Katja, Ollendick, Thomas, & Craske, Michelle G. (2010). Specific phobia: A review of
DSM-IV specific phobia and preliminary recommendations for DSM-V. Depression and
Anxiety, 27, 148–167.
Agliophobia (Fear of Pain)
The Greek word algos and suffix -algia refer to pain or a pain condition, such as
neuralgia (nerve pain), arthralgia (joint pain), and cephalgia (headache). Depending
on the source, agliophobia (sometimes spelled algiophobia or algophobia) refers to
the fear of pain or fear of suffering.
