Haphephobia or Haptephobia Fear of being touched
Human contact is something that the vast majority of people of the world not only want, but need. It is a way of conveying emotions, affection and love. Whilst the majority of the world seek this on some level there are people who have an intense, destructive fear about being touched in any way. These people are said to be suffering from Harpaxophobia. Harpaxophobia can often be traced back to an intensely traumatic experience from the past. This situation, which is likely to be specific, can often mutate into areas of touch which had nothing to do with the initial event.
Sufferers with this condition do not care what type of touch they experience, they have in their unconscious mind associated all touch, with negativity and hurt.
As with most other phobia, exposure to the cause of the fear is an essential part of the treatment. An advantage to utilising hypnosis as part of the therapy is that this exposure can be at first limited to the sufferer’s creative imagination which allows the sufferer total control as to how they experience the exposure. A client would only expose themselves to real world exposure when they have practised safely in their unconscious several times.
