Fear Of Feet: Causes, Symptoms, Treatment

Fear of feet – pedophobia. For most people, the fear of foot phobia may sound weird or strange. However, pedophobia does exist, and it is a relatively common specific phobia that affects many people worldwide. The word Podophobia comes from the Greek ‘Podos, ‘ which means feet. People with pedophobia tend to get angry when they see their feet. Different people experience photophobia differently – some don’t like it when others look at or touch their feet. Others are anxious or fearful of their own feet. Many do not want to listen, read/speak or even see their own feet.

The phobia can be detrimental to the health and well-being of the person suffering from it, as they often refuse to take off their shoes or socks and prefer to keep them on even while sleeping. This can lead to fungal infections, allergies, and other medical conditions. Let’s study the symptoms, causes, and treatment of fear of foot phobia in detail.

Causes or origin of the fear of feet phobia

• No one knows for sure why the fear of feet occurs.
• Some experts believe that a traumatic or damaging experience in the past, which had something to do with the feet, could have triggered this phobia.
• A child may recall being kicked over and over by an older man or brother and thus intensely hate or dislike the feet.
• In such cases, the photophobic tends to become irritated, anxious, or extremely scared when seeing other people barefoot.
• Some doctors believe that the fear could have been hereditary or have genetic causes.
• Sometimes it can just exist for no explainable reason.
• Painful foot conditions like bunions, hammer toe, etc. They can also lead to fear of foot pain.
• In some cases, these conditions may be related to pedophobia.
• Generally speaking, people who tend to be very nervous, overly anxious, or have some form of adrenal deficiency can also develop pedophobia.

You may also like to read: Fear Of Flowers: Causes, Symptoms, Overcoming.

Symptoms of photophobia

As with other phobias, pedophobia can also be persistent. The patient may experience many physical or psychological symptoms despite knowing that the feet are not harmful or dangerous. However, you are powerless to overcome the symptoms:

• Shortness of breath or a fast heartbeat and palpitations when looking at or thinking about your feet
• Extreme fear or anxiety leads to constant movie-like images of feet in the phobic’s mind
• Sweating, shaking, or shaking
• Gastrointestinal pain, nausea
• Dizziness and fainting
• Constantly covering your feet or asking others to protect yours
• Refusing to talk about the feet or even about topics related to them, such as shoes or socks
• In some cases, pedophobia can become so severe that the phobia associates death or death with the feet. Naturally, this can backfire on progress and severely impact one’s daily life. The dread can withdraw from social interactions as your friendships and relationships can be affected by this phobia.

Overcome and treat photophobia

• In case of any phobia affecting daily life, it is essential to seek medical help.
• Most therapists recommend gradual desensitization to overcome a fear of the feet.
• This involves slowly exposing yourself to photographs or images of your feet.
• This can be followed by touching your feet or having other people feel yours.
• People who fear their own feet are also encouraged to get pedicures regularly.
• This can help them rationalize their fear of feet.
• Hypnotherapy can help get into the patient’s mind and discover the roots of the phobia.
• This can help one feel more comfortable around the feet when facing their fear.
• Medication and meditation are also prescribed as part of therapy to help reduce anxiety resulting from pedophobia.
• Other helpful therapies known to cure pedophobia include cognitive behavioral therapy, neurolinguistic programming, psychotherapy, self-help books, etc.