What is ergofobiya? This is a phobic neurosis that manifests itself in a person’s work fear.
Deviation includes several pathological conditions.
Ergophobia can occur in an independent form or be a consequence of negative emotions associated with specific cases in professional activities.
The concept and characteristics
In a broad sense, ergophobia is called irrational and chronic job fear.
A person experiences a fear of performing targeted actions that imply certain skills and professional knowledge.
Patients with this pathology are prone to panic attacks regarding everything related to work activities.
Ergophobia can be accompanied or combined with the fear of public speaking, fear of failure, or performing actions aimed at communicating with a large number of people.
The main objects of ergophobia I can be:
- fear of a certain professional responsibility;
- fear of performing specific tasks due to the professional field of activity;
- hostility to a particular professional activity or the work area as a whole;
- excessive anxiety when it is necessary to change jobs, position or if necessary to search for a new job.
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Causes
Ergophobia is always based on certain emotional distress.
They may be associated with fears experienced in childhood, specific professional problems, or they may arise unconsciously.
For example, if a person was very worried when searching for a first job, then when changing it, elementary alarms can turn into a phobia. If there have been unsuccessful public speeches in professional activities, the result may be similar.
Provoke pathology The following factors may:
- emotional distress and mental over-sensitivity;
- constant anxiety about their own incompetence in solving professional issues;
- lack of skills and knowledge for the position (constant problems with the assimilation of the material or the implementation of specific job duties);
- excessive anxiety before interviewing;
- low self-esteem and lack of communication skills;
- emotional distress associated with unfair dismissal;
- lack of interest in the position (there may be an opinion that any work is boring and monotonous);
- strong experiences associated with applying for the first job;
- excessive suspiciousness or "syndrome excellent" (as character traits);
- childhood fears of work imposed by parents;
- transferred psychological traumas inflicted by the previous team (ridicule, reproaches of colleagues, constant humiliation);
- tendency to depression (refers to a number of risk factors);
- psychological effects of occupational injuries.
In some cases, it may cause ergophobia mental illness.
Fear of work can be both a consequence of their progression and the first signal of their development.
A special place in the causes of ergofobii takes person's lifestyle.
This type of phobia can be provoked by the regular influence of negative factors on the psyche, as well as the uncontrolled use of certain medications (for example, sedatives).
Additional reasons Ergophobia can be the following factors:
- the progression of schizophrenia;
- persistent sleep disorder (including nightmares);
- the presence of social phobia (disorder is a fear of society);
- obsessive neurosis;
- high level of anxiety, as character traits;
- the development of neurological dysfunctions;
- negative effects of psychotropic drugs.
Symptoms and signs
Ergophobia never develops in asymptomatic form. Characteristic changes in the character and behavior of a person become noticeable to his environment at the initial stages of the development of the pathological state.
The symptoms of phobias are most pronounced when changing the working atmosphere, the scheme of work or position.
Symptoms may be psychological or physiologicalas well as combined with each other. Classical physiological and psychological signs of ergophobia:
- tremor of limbs;
- respiratory failure;
- general weakness of the body;
- excessive aggressiveness;
- sensation of itching of the skin;
- increased sweating;
- feeling chill;
- alarm conditions;
- acceleration of heart rate;
- bouts of nausea during agitation;
- feeling of discomfort in the abdomen;
- loss of self-control and self-control;
- redness of the skin;
- irritability;
- feeling of immobility;
- panic attacks;
- bouts of dizziness;
- disorganization of activity.
Symptoms of ergofobii can be short-lived or become obsessive accompanying person even outside working hours.
In most cases, the first signal indicating the development of this phobia is psychological and physiological factors that suddenly manifest themselves when talking with the authorities.
Man begins to feel weakness, anxiety, his skin turns pale, there is a numbness. If this condition occurs regularly, an urgent consultation with a specialist is necessary.
Symptoms ergophobia may be accompanied by the following conditions:
- low self-esteem;
- obsessive expectation of trouble;
- excessive anxiety;
- propensity for emotional breakdowns;
- excessive self-criticism;
- pessimistic view of the future.
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How to overcome the fear of work?
Overcome the fear of working independently almost impossible.
The only guarantee of a positive result is the timely request for help from a specialist - a psychotherapist.
The doctor carefully examines the general state of mind of the patient, identifies the factors that provoked ergofobiyu, and assigns specific course of therapy. In the absence of the effect of psychotherapy, the need arises to correct the psychological state with special medicines.
Ways to treat ergophobia:
- Cognitive and behavioral methods of therapy (cognition of existing fear and the search for options to eliminate it by self-analysis).
- Meditation and relaxation (techniques help to achieve mental balance and strengthen the psyche).
- Psychoanalysis methods (the method consists in conducting regular sessions with the participation of a psychologist or psychotherapist).
- Autotraining (The purpose of such methods is to increase patient self-esteem and develop skills to deal with their own fears).
- Group classes (groups are formed from patients with identical diagnoses, the method has a high degree of efficacy in the treatment of ergophobia).
- Hypnotherapy (the patient is immersed in a state of hypnosis, the specialist creates specific situations related to work activities and helps to find ways to combat fears).
- Medical therapy (The use of drugs of certain categories is an auxiliary method of treating ergofobii, the list of necessary medications is selected individually).
Drug therapy in the treatment of ergofobii is used only in the presence of persistent mental abnormalities or a slower tendency to recovery of the patient.
The main drugs can be used tranquilizers, sedatives and antidepressants.
The action of medicines is aimed at eliminating the symptoms that accompany ergofobiya, but they can not cope with the psychological state of the patient.
For self-esteem correction, the relationship to the world and the elimination of fear requires the mandatory use of psychotherapy.
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Recommendations
Early detection of the first signs of ergofobii is guarantee a positive result during the treatment of this deviation.
The alarm is the occurrence of unnatural or excessive fears when performing professional tasks or solving other issues related to work (for example, job search, interviewing, etc.).
If symptoms of ergophobia are identified, then you need to try cope with them yourself. In the absence of a result, you should definitely contact a psychotherapist.
How to overcome fear? Methods of dealing with different situations related to work:
- Fear of finding work (first of all, it is necessary to identify your professional talents and make them a priority before the fear of finding a new job, increasing self-esteem will help to cope with anxious states and gain self-confidence).
- Fear of calling for work for the first time (a good method of having this problem is the method of addicting, you can arrange specific training, making calls about vacancies that you are not interested in, to eliminate stress about failure, it is recommended to choose ads with vacancies that do not require significant experience work or special professional skills).
- Fear of getting a job (first of all, it is necessary to objectively evaluate all the advantages of a new place, if they are not there, then you should try to find at least some insignificant advantages, then you can try to imagine situations that cause fear and pre-select their solutions, such methods will help not only realize the advantages of changing jobs but also improve interpersonal skills).
- Fear of going to a new job (in the event of fear of entering a new job, it is important to clearly identify specific factors that provoke anxiety, auto-training to increase self-esteem, analyzing solutions to potential problems and awareness of one’s own professionalism can help to cope with unreasonable experiences; maximum information about the new company and instructions).
- Fear of working with people (if the main fear is connected with a potential team, then it is necessary to realize the scarcity of this problem, everyone’s experience is afraid of meeting new colleagues, but with varying degrees of experience, you should be prepared in advance for none of your new colleagues to be enthusiastic about your coming, even if there is indifference to your person, you can find advantages - you can fully concentrate on your work responsibilities).
- Fear of a new job: “suddenly I can't handle it”.(if a new job or position causes fear associated with the lack of necessary skills and fear of professional mistakes, then you need to increase your own self-esteem and try to consolidate your knowledge in a certain field of activity as much as possible, you can pass light tests, sign up for advanced training courses, regularly praise yourself for success).
Ergophobia can cause a serious violation of human adaptation in society. This pathology implies a mandatory and timely correction.
Otherwise, additional fears may join the phobia. In addition, ergofobiya increases the risk developmental neurological and psychological disorders, get rid of which will be impossible.
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