Euphobia- Fear of hearing good news
As a general rule, people yearn to hear good news and try to avoid or fear bad news. However, there are people who prefer to focus on the negative in life and do not want to hear good news, in fact these people develop a fear of good news. Persons who suffer with this are said to be suffering from Euphobia.
As with most, if not all, phobias this starts with a negative situation from the past. In this case, it could be being disappointed by hearing good news, which in actuality does not transpire. An example would be a child being told that he/she was going to go to Disney Land by a parent only to find that due to some financial difficulty, the parent cannot follow through on the promise. This can cause not only hurt, but a disbelief in future bits of good news. This in turn causes the sufferer to focus their attention on and even finding it more comfortable thinking about negative aspects of life. This is rationalised as being a way not to be disappointed in that more often the negatives in life will happen, so there is a feeling of stability in this focus.
These sufferers tend to operate better in a chaotic environment and will not respond or react to any good news. They may find that they display anxiety symptoms when they hear good news rather than feeling happy about it. These sufferers will often tend to socialise with people who are able to share negative emotions with the sufferer.
As with many phobias, behaviourally based hypnosis and psychotherapy is an effective way in working with this condition. Clients are taught to look forward to good news and embrace it rather than fear it.
