Chorophobia!

Chorophobia is derived from the Greek Word “Choro” meaning dance. A person having chorophobia is irrationally fearful and extremely uncomfortable about dancing and also scared of getting euphoric. A chorophobic person is distressed of any event, ceremony or people associated with dance. The person can also become upset by merely seeing other people dancing before them. This kind of phobia is also related with another phobia of getting touched known as haphephobia or aphephobia.

This phobia is generally caused by some influence of dancing in a person’s life through cinema, childhood memories, books, events and dreams. Some might also have a past experience of dancing in front of a crowd and due to any of their mistakes they have felt embarrassed and since then anything associated to dancing causes fear in them. Chorophobia is often associated with other fears such as fear of embarrassment, social phobia or phobia of crowds.

SYMPTOMS OF CHOROPHOBIA

Panic Attacks- A panic attack is caused by intense fear or discomfort and these panic attacks reache their peaks within minutes. Some of the signs of a panic attack are: increased heart rate and difficulty in breathing and excessive sweating and shaking

Any one who suffers from this phobia may separate themselves from others.

Avoiding Places of Dance.

For a person who is fearful of dance, going to places such as weddings, parties, nightclubs can be terrible for them and so they generally choose to avoid those places.

People with this phobia become aggressive when they are asked to dance. A person’s behavior can be erratic when stressed.

Anxiety when thinking of dancing and unable to cope with their dancing. They also suffer from anxiety when they are near people who are dancing.

They can experience muscle tension, shakiness and sweating.

CAUSES OF CHOROPHOBIA

An embarrassing or any other traumatic events can be the cause of one’s this kind of fear.

Other fears such as the fear of being touched and being in public places can also enhance the intensity of chorophobia.

Depression has been linked to many mental illnesses including phobias.

TREATMENT

Chorophobia can be treated using different psychotherapies. In extreme cases of panicking, medications can also be used. Exposure therapy is a very effective psychotherapy used to slowly reduce the fear and anxiety associated with dancing. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is another effective psychotherapy used for treating Chorophobia.