"Therapists are seeing patients who exhibit a paralyzing fear of being publicly shamed and ostracized. This fear is modern in its details but ancient in its design, rooted in our evolutionary history."
"Akyronophobia, a term proposed for this new anxiety, reflects the dread that one's career, relationships, and reputation could be destroyed overnight due to a joke or an old social media post."
"For most of human evolutionary history, survival depended on reputation. If others valued you, you thrived; if devalued, you faced exclusion from essential cooperative networks."
"Shame is not just an unpleasant feeling; it is a sophisticated mental mechanism designed to minimize reputational damage, reflecting the intense social pressures that have shaped human psychology."
Therapists are encountering a new anxiety disorder, akyronophobia, marked by an intense fear of public shaming and ostracism. This fear is rooted in evolutionary history, where reputation was crucial for survival. Anxiety disorders affect about 20% of Americans annually, but the rise of cancel culture has intensified these fears. Clinicians are noting that existing treatments can be effective, but they must adapt to the social realities of exposure treatments to address this unique anxiety effectively.
Read at Psychology Today
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