All About Haphephobia, the Fear of Being Touched, & How To Overcome it with CBT, Therapy & Counselling in Wolverhampton & West Midlands

What is Haphephobia?

Haphephobia is the Fear of Being Touched and may include both ‘appropriate’ touch (for example between trusted loved ones) and ‘inappropriate’ touching that may occur in other environments, often in the workplace or in crowded places.

Haphephobia can be experienced in many different environments including the work place where it would be classified as harassment through to intimate personal moments which may feel uncomfortable for a variety of reasons.

This phobia may also be expressed in a sexual context as Genophobia.

A persons own ‘personal space’ has defined limits which varies amongst people for a very wide range of reasons and personal experiences.

All phobias, regardless of what the feared object or circumstances are, produce feelings of Anxiety and Stress for the sufferer, and Haphephobia is no different in this sense.

Whilst the feared object or situation may seem, to other people, to be ‘ridiculous’ or ‘silly’, the person who suffers from Haphephobia knows only too well that the Anxiety that they experience is real enough.

We completely understand this here at Tranceform Psychology and will treat you and your Haphephobia seriously.

For many years Psychologists have been aware that our minds are more than capable of producing a real biological reaction to any given situation and so as long as the Haphephobia sufferer “believes” that the object or situation they fear represents danger to them, then they will experience real fear.

Haphephobia Symptoms

The symptoms of Haphephobia are very similar to other specific phobias and will often include:

• Anger problems
• Generalised Anxiety
• Social anxiety
• Control issues
• Feelings of depression
• Insomnia & sleeping problems
• Low Self-Esteem
• Low Self-Confidence
• Panic attacks
• Overthinking things
• Paranoia
• Stress
• Avoidance and safety behaviours

Haphephobia Symptoms are generally automatic and uncontrollable and can seem to take over a person’s thoughts which frequently leads to extreme measures being taken to avoid the feared object or situation, what are known as “Safety” or “Avoidance” behaviours.

Unfortunately, for the sufferer, these safety behaviours have a paradoxical effect and actually reinforce the phobia rather than solve it!

Haphephobia may be the result of negative emotional experiences that can be either directly or indirectly linked to the object or situational fear.

Over time, the symptoms often become “normalised” and “accepted” as limiting beliefs in that person’s life – “I’ve learnt to live with it.”

In just as many cases, Haphephobia may have become worse over time as more and more sophisticated safety behaviours and routines are developed.

The good news is that the vast majority of people who suffer from Haphephobia will find a course of Psychological Therapy helps enormously.

Psychological Therapy for Haphephobia

Tranceform Psychology can offer a range of different psychological therapy solutions for Haphephobia which you can read about below.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Haphephobia

If you’re committed to overcoming your fear of being touched then we highly recommend following our Tranceformental CBT 10 session programme.

The Tranceformental programme is a highly successful & pragmatic psychotherapy course, run over 10 sessions, that will teach you everything you need to know to understand your problem, identify how unhelpful thinking and limiting beliefs might be reinforcing the issue, and then show you how to make any changes to your unhelpful thinking styles or maladaptive safety behaviours that you may have developed as part of your coping strategies.

The programme is also available as an online self-help CBT programme.

Our Tranceformental CBT programme is an evidence-based, research supported approach used by mental health practitioners around the World.

Alternative Therapies for Haphephobia

Although our preferred form of psychotherapy for haphephobia is Tranceformental CBT we also offer alternative psychotherapies for those who might prefer a different approach.

These include:

Psychodynamic therapy which focuses more on emotional problems and relies on the Therapeutic Relationship to bring about change. Available with Paul.

General Counselling which is less structured but still provides a safe and non-judgmental environment to discuss issues which is therapeutic in its own right.

Hypnotherapy is an alternative form of therapy that can be applied to a very wide range of problems and is available with Joan.

Free Initial Consultations for Haphephobia

We offer all prospective clients a FREE initial consultation to discuss your fear of being touched prior to commencing any treatment plans.

The consultation is free and lasts around 50 minutes.

During this consultation we will discuss the various therapy options that are available to you and make a considered recommendation based on your individual personal circumstances.

Initial consultations are also available as part of our online therapy service.

At Tranceform Psychology we recognise the importance of the therapy relationship in helping people to bring about effective change, so its important to be able to ‘meet’ to discuss any therapy treatments BEFORE proceeding.

Our policy is to help people make a fully balanced & considered decision about undertaking work with us, including both the financial and personal implications.