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Chirophobia
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Chirophobia means fear of hands. The words “chiro” and “phobia” come from Greek and those meanings are hand (chiro) and fear (phobia). People suffering this phobia can have haptephobia (fear of being touched) too. Causes and symptoms It is generally thought that people come to suffer the phobia due to combination of events. “Biological factors, psychological factors and social factors, combine together and interact to influence an individual's physical and mental health, which is then applied to specific phobias.” A possible biological factor in chirophobia is that one feels too much anxiety because the body's response has gone wrong. Therefore, repeatable feelings such as tension and distress emerge toward the hands. That could be caused by a traumatic situation regarding a hand in one’s past. Otherwise, “parental modeling” is likely to be caused. When a child grows up seeing the parent have a terror to a hand, the child may develop the fear too. Those factors are considered the social factors. As well as other phobias, chirophobia involves many kinds of negative symptoms. According to a website named “CTRN: Change That’s Right Now,” chirophobic symptoms are likely to be “mental, emotional and physical. The anxiety and fear can go from mild feelings of apprehension to a full-blown panic attack.” Breaking it down in detail mentally, emotionally, and physically: Mental symptoms • Obsessive Thoughts • Difficulty thinking about anything other than the fear • Horrific images of hands • Feelings of unreality or of being detached • Fear of losing control or going crazy • Fear of fainting Emotional symptoms • Anticipatory Anxiety: Persistent worrying about upcoming events that involve hands • Terror: A persistent and overwhelming fear of the same • Desire to Flee: An intense instinct to leave the situation (which is tough when it's purely in the mind) Physical symptoms • Dizziness, shaking, palpitations • Shortness of breath or smothering sensation • Palpitations, pounding heart, or accelerated heart rate • Chest pain or discomfort • Trembling or shaking • Feeling of choking • Sweating • Nausea or stomach distress • Feeling unsteady, dizzy, lightheaded, or faint • Numbness or tingling sensations • Hot or cold flashes Treatment On the website, CTRN, some therapies are recommended, such as “exposure therapy.” This therapy starts when a patient talks to a doctor about his or her fears. The therapy consists of five steps: evaluation, feedback, fear hierarchy, exposure, and building. Taking the five steps allows one to gradually overcome the fear with cognitive and behavioral factors. If the therapy doesn’t work well, one can combine it with self-help and talk therapy with a professional therapist. The talk therapy deeply connects to behavioral therapy. That therapy engages exercises to change the patient’s unsuitable thinking patterns when the person suffers the phobia. Through the process of the therapy, a noticeable improvement can be seen in 10 to 20 weeks, and a tremendous improvement is likely to be shown within a year. Effects People with chirophobia may be seen hiding their hands with, for example, mittens or groves. They may also abstain from certain situations like washing their hands, thereby jeopardizing their health. In addition, hands are vital to communicating and making things. Thus, people with chirophobia are likely to get in trouble when they have to communicate with others or seek employment. 
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