Didaskaleinophobia or Scolionophobia- Fear of going to school
Scolionophobia or Didaskaleinophobia is a common anxiety in children, who get very upset about going to school because of separations issues with regards to their parents as well as the fear of the loss of the security of home to the less secure location of the school. This can also be caused by stressful experiences with regards to school. Examples of this could be excessive homework or classwork, even socialising issues like bullying by other students or learning to handle new authority figures (teachers). This is a specific phobia which can effect sufferers throughout their educational career.
This fear can also be connected to a specific fear of learning, this is common with the implementation standardised testing at a earlier and earlier age. Also league tables and performance ratings of teachers can have a negative effect on pupils whether the school or teacher is aware of it consciously.
The most common manifestation of this phobia is the child’s absolute refusal to to go to school. This can be done either through tantrums and rows, to mysterious illnesses which have not cause nor evidence of existence. Also, children can also start to manifest the same symptoms of a panic attack during school time.
Treatment can consist of child centred specific psychotherapy, to psycho-educative programmes run via the school. It is imperative to get this resolved quickly as the longer one suffers the more unpleasant the educative process will be.
