Fear of people is more than an emotion. It’s actually a psychological condition, also known as anthropophobia, similar to shyness and social phobia. A person with this condition is afraid both of interacting with and being around other people.
The fear of people is more intense than shyness. The person with anthropophobia doesn’t just feel a bit of nervousness what chatting with someone. They are considerably afraid, and this intensity of emotions makes their condition more similar to social phobia.
But it is also different from social phobia in the sense that while someone with social phobia feels anxiety in social types of situations (for example, when being in a group, or talking to unfamiliar people, or speaking on stage), someone with anthropophobia feels anxiety when dealing with people in general, including people they’ve know for a long time, individually. So the range of the emotion is broader.
Predictably, the fear of people is a highly debilitating condition. A person who fears others in general finds it hard to interact with anyone and is unable to develop meaningful interpersonal relationships. And considering the crucial role positive social interactions and relationships play in our life, it’s unavoidable that this person frequently feels lonely, depressed and unfulfilled as a result of lacking these elements in their own life.
Symptoms and Causes
If you believe you or someone you know may suffer from anthropophobia but you’re not sure, a better understanding of this condition’s symptoms will probably clarify this for you.
Besides the obvious state of anxiety when dealing with others, there are several common symptoms of suffering from the fear of people. Individuals with this condition:
- Feel strong anxiety in anticipation of a social interaction or event, often days in advance;
- They typically have trouble holding eye contact with others, even with familiar people;
- They often feel nausea or sickness when interacting with others or being around others;
- Intense sweating, skin pallor or blushing are also common when dealing with other people;
- They have constant thoughts of self-doubt and self-criticism when in social settings;
- They avoid social events and interpersonal interactions, and often they even just avoid leaving the house;
- They find the mere presence of other people highly energy draining, and talking with people even more so.
- They seriously struggle with making conversation and being friendly with others.
What causes anthropophobia? It is believed that genetic predispositions do play a role, but it is not the dominant one. Early traumatic events from childhood regarding relating to people are often at the root of anthropophobia, but not always.
Personally, having coached multiple individuals with anthropophobia and studied a lot of the psychological research on this subject, I consider that multiple causes comes into play, but the most important one concerns negative experiences relating to others.
Sometimes these could be a few traumatic experiences dealing with others, other times they could be a lot more non-traumatic but still unpleasant experiences, other times it’s a combination of the two.
In any case, these negative social experiences, perhaps on a background of above average emotional sensitivity, make the person develop a very negative perception of people and interpersonal situations.
At a conscious or subconscious level, they have come to believe that other people are a threat to them, that they will judge them and hurt them. They have come to see themselves as unlikeable and inclined to attract the antagonism of others, and social settings as dangerous for them.
Thus, they fear people and they try to avoid them as much as they can. This is the only way they can feel safe. But sadly, this also makes them completely isolated socially and ultimately very unhappy with their lives.
How to Overcome the Fear of People
The good news is that the fear of people can be overcome. The fact this fear can be so intense and all-encompassing is not in any way an indicator that’s its permanent. With proper guidance and with some consistent work, you can stop fearing people and learn to enjoy social interactions.
In order to achieve this, what you need is to develop new, more constructive thinking habits regarding people and your relation to them. As these new ways of thinking skink in, your fear of people will dissipate.
In my experience as a confidence coach, there are two types of interventions that work in learning this new type of thinking habits.
1) Progressive Exposure. When you fear people, you are inclined to avoid them. Unfortunately, this only keeps the fear alive. In order to overcome it, it’s crucial to do the very opposite and expose yourself to social settings and interpersonal interactions more.
This process needs to be progressive in order to work well. You start small, with exposure to social situations that generate a relatively small amount of anxiety, and you advance steadily. Progressive exposure essentially acclimatizes you with dealing with people and thus it becomes comfortable.
2) Correcting Your Thoughts. In addition to progressive exposure, it’s also important to directly address those negative thoughts that make you fear people. This implies noticing them when they appear, recognizing what’s faulty about them and replacing them with more rational thoughts.
Essentially, you need to consciously practice thinking in a more constructive way. And with practice, this news way of thinking overpowers the old one and becomes second nature. And so the fear dissipates.
If you wanna learn more about this proven process for overcoming the fear of people and how to use it, I suggest you watch this instructional video where I go into more detail. The information I share in it is gonna be very valuable to you so make sure you watch it.
Qualified assistance in overcoming anthropophobia constantly proves very helpful. If you can work with a competent psychologist or psychotherapist or coach, you’ll make much faster progress and the whole process will be much easier.
At least, I recommend you join my free social confidence newsletter, where I will share with you more practical advice for triumphing over anthropophobia and act as your online guide in this process.
In closing, I encourage you to bear in mind that the fear of people is something you’ve learned. And anything that you can learn, you can unlearn. It’s easier said than done, but with effective action and perseverance, it can be done.
And it’s more than worth it. When you stop fearing people, you are able to get out of the house more, meet people, talk to them, make friends, build fulfilling relationships and have a great time with others. Your life will never be the same.
Image courtesy of David Ingram
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Eduard,
So True. I like to think of myself as a recovering, “shy guy”. When I was younger I was very intimidated around people, but now I am anything BUT.
I got their just the way you said, progressive exposure. I forced myself inch-by-inch to talk more, introduce myself to people and interact.
It takes time, but confidence is a habit anyone can learn with time, effort and using the right tools.
-SJ
thing is im scared of a specific person, and their group of friends, and not everyone in general. i dont know how i started developing this phobia. im pretty sure the only way to get over it is to expose myself to it and not try to avoid it.
Same here but im not really scared its just that i dont want to be around them this is because they always start trouble
yaa its true…i am facing dis problem from my childhood and i want to overcome it.
I thought I was the only person with this type of fear and that I was abnormal and a little crazy. It is comforting to know that overcoming this fear is possible.
I think i am also suffering from this phobia. I always get nervous when people are around me and could not keep the conversation lasting for some time. I feel awkward about my self.
I always shy away from introducing myself to people in case they don’t answer back or seem disinterested. I worry that if I say hi I’ll be ignored and this will be embarrassing. Once I opened up and said hi to someone and started a conversation, and was accused of being a flirt even if I was just being open and not flirty at all, so this again is another problem.
Everything in this article is so me. I honestly never want to leave the house, and was always scared and withdrawn when around people. Even people i have known for over ten years. But now, that i have been forcing myself to go to college (where there are more interactions with so many different people). I can see a bit of a change, not much but its gradual, For me it has always been better to go head first sink or swim. Because anything else and it doesnt work. As a lil girl i hated people just as much as i hated school. Okay maybe more than i hated school. The only time that i felt like i could be myself was when i was in english or reading, getting away from reality. But i have come to see that avoiding this , may have not been a good idea.
I’m okay in public, talking to people at stores and strangers. That doesn’t bother me. Now at work is a whole different story. When I have to talk to someone or answer the phone I start getting sick and nervous etc.
It seems more draining than the actual work. ????
It’s kind of hard to help myself. I don’t kno why I cling to this phobia (I don’t even want to just self-diagnose myself with this considering the comments of others) Some do call me shy, but I kind of feel comfortable to some but not most of the time with the public. I get spasms and sometimes my emotions overwhelm me and I may start tearing up even at the middle of the crowd.
I do agree on the part where it is draining to just talk to others. It is INDEED draining and I have to get myself over it and I hate myself too much that I may do something I won’t usually do.
I’m writing this as I’m having one of my episodes. I’m very anxious right now or it might just be me overthinking of the crowd. But the thought itself is just eating me away.
i have this same problem and i had been try to overcome it…but i usually scared
but i will try this, maybe it will work…
I thing i developed this habit in my early 20s. I was not even aware. Even when i went to run errands i found myself blushing talking to a complete stranger. It was crazy. I don’t fear going out but i love my own company or company of my very close friends. Just while being in a social setting (other than family social gathering) i am complete stony faced. I have over heard people “Why is she so expressionless?, What does she thinks of herself? “. Even when i am informed in advance about social gathering with extended family, i end up there unwillingly. However few minutes into the setting i get comfortable. But i am blushing for no reason while talking to male members of my extended family.
I don’t think i am extreme case of anthropophobia but i want to overcome this “blushing while talking to man”. I sends a wrong signal about me which i don’t even mean it or am completely unaware why do i blush. Somewhere this crazy behavior of mine holds me back from lot of things i want to do but just can’t get enough courage to do it.
P.S: I had a childhood trauma of evidencing domestic violence. Don’t know how much has this impacted my behavior.
Yes, i ve suffered nd suffering still of this Anthropophobia may be bcs of interaction with negative people, grown up in very negative financiqlly backward society nd it get intense when i fall in love with a city girl, she wrongly judged me nd my level of maturity. Many factor make us so like education of family nd society we live in, Studious people suffers alot as they naturally are introvert. But now
Im scared to much of what people think of me and rejection . I really like people but feel like they don’t like me. It is so draining to go in some stores afraid I’ll run into someone I knew in school and they will talk bad about me. I am fine with strangers it seems to be people I know. Why am I like this? My mom tells me I don’t like people an that’s not true!!
I am experiencing this. I have always been a people person but it seems like since my job closed down and I was moved to another dept. I became withdrawn and start experience this phobia. Then I started doubting myself and my ability to do my job and every since then things have been progressively getting worse. So much so that I don’t even like getting my hair and nails done anymore. I can go i bro a nail shop but end up leaving before gerri ng them done. It seems like this thing is taking control .
I got this fear since high school i guess. I used to stay inside our home without even going outside. I could watch the plants die outside our fence than go out and water them. I can talk to my co-workers but i cant confidently look in their eyes. I sweat being left alone with a person (whether i know him/her or not). I feel awkward shaking hands o being touched by a person.
I had this fear since my childhood days, now I’m old I still got it. It takes time to get rid of it and when I got my confidence back again I feel much more alive;( like make more friend, love to talk to people and being around them, love to go to college, stop being lazy and easy to find some you love), but all that just lust few months and it gets worse. I fear a lot because now my head just get blank, I don’t know what to say to people even to my own friends, I can’t even talk to the one I love because I’m afraid of her, I try by all means to ignore her and I lost her, I’m lonely and depressed, I feel like killing myself, but I don’t want to. I hate this feeling because it holds me down, I just want to trust myself again and stand for myself, so that I can be happy once again.
I feel the same its like this feeling that comes and go with time i been battling this phobia since i was a kid and i remember it got to a time when i hated my own family members including my mom thinking that they all hated me and were conspiring all sorts of bad stuff behind my back. I have this feeling that everybody is looking at me whenever im in public, i feel judged and that everyone else around me strangers or fellow companions are saying negative things about me.