What Is Gymnophobia?
Gymnophobia (from Greek “gymnos“, naked and “phobos“, fear) is a fear of nudity. Gymnophobics experience anxiety from nudity, even if they realize their fear is irrational. They may worry either of being nude or of seeing another person’s naked body part or both. Their fear may stem from a general anxiety about sexuality, from a fear that they are physically inferior, or from a fear that their nakedness leaves them exposed and unprotected.

Gymnophobia - Fear Of Nudity

Gymnophobia - Fear Of Nudity

Standards of modesty (also called demureness or reticence) generally prevent public nudity. Avoidance of nudity in private situations may be a continuation of modesty, or may extend to prudishness or body shame. Only an actual fear of nudity qualifies as gymnophobia and only when the fear is beyond one’s control or is interfering with daily life can an anxiety disorder diagnosis be made.

Symptoms Of Gymnophobia
Gymnophobia, fear of nudity often goes beyond excessive modesty or prudishness and into the area of distinct body shame. A gymnophobic will go to extreme measures to obscure his or her own skin and even simply the shape of the body.

The actual phobia manifests itself in different ways. Symptoms of gymnophobia typically include shortness of breath, rapid breathing, irregular heartbeat, sweating, nausea and overall feelings or dread when faced with situation when they need to expose their body or seeing other people’s exposed body part. Some experience the condition almost all the time, others do so just in response to a certain stimuli.

Causes Of Gymnophobia
The causes of gymnophobia, like all fears and phobias is created by the unconscious mind as a protective mechanism. The fear also stem from a certain incident where the victim was disclosed in front of the others that must have sparked a feeling of awkwardness in the mind.

At some point in the person’s past, there was likely an event linking nudity and emotional trauma. While the original catalyst may have been a real-life scare of some kind, the condition can also be triggered by movies, tv or perhaps seeing someone else experience trauma. It might also occur from the overtly conservative family, society, or religious teachings.

As long as this association is powerful enough, the unconscious mind thinks “Ah, this whole thing is very dangerous. How do I keep myself safe? I’ll attach terrible feelings to nudity, that way I’ll steer clear and be safe”. Just like that a fear or phobia is born. Sometimes gymnophobia sufferers just get the wiring wrong.

Treatment For Gymnophobia
To treat gymnophobiac, it is important to understand where the fears come from. There are fears of harm, stem from past traumatic experience which will probably require more intensive treatment, while fears stem from low self-esteem of being seen naked will probably be easily treated with hypnotherapy and NLP sessions. Anti anxiety drugs may also be prescribed in serious situation.

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