First off, what is a phobia?
A phobia is a type of anxiety disorder.
What then, is anxiety ?
Anxiety is distress or uneasiness of the mind. A state of apprehension and psychic tension. (dictionary.com, edited.)
Anxiety disorders are a group of mental disorders characterized by significant feelings of anxiety and fear.
Anxiety is a worry about future events.
Fear is a reaction to current events.
Anxiety disorders include phobia's (there are many others).
An individual may have more than one anxiety disorder.
Anxiety disorders are thought to be a combination of genetic and environmental factors.
Anxiety disorders often occur with other mental issues.
Anxiety disorders differ from normal fear.
They persist.
In the case of phobia's, this anxiety disorder presents itself as a 'persistent and excessive fear' - either of an object or a situation.
Phobia reactions result in a rapid onset of fear.
A fear that persist, thus turning into anxiety.
Those affected will go to great lengths to avoid the situation (or object).
Around 75% of those with phobias have multiple phobias, which would suggest that phobia's have other, underlying causes.
I.E. the phobia(s) themselves are merely an expression of something else. A deeper pathology.
Some 'phobia's' are, in my opinion, not remotely related to other types of phobia.
For example - The most common phobia's are a fear of spiders, or snakes - and a fear of heights.
These are rational fears , not irrational (the irrational ones are the ones of psychological interest).
Fear of things that can, quite literally, kill you, is, to me , a product of genetic imprinting that's been going on for millions of years.
It's logical to be irrationally fearful anything resembling something that can end your life.
Without this fear the chances of any genetic reproduction are greatly diminished.
These are not the fears that I'm discussing.
Here, I'm going to be looking at one specific phobia.
...Phobias that may be caused by a negative experience or situation in early childhood.
GELOTOPHOBIA
Gelotophobia is a morbid fear of being laughed at.
Many people are uncomfortable with being laughed at, (an ego defense mechanism).
There are, however, people that exceedingly fear it.
They relate any laughter that they hear, to be directed at themselves.
This has been connected - has correlation with - the extreme narcissistic and 'authoritarian' personality type.
(also paranoid schizophrenia, but that's an entirely different subject).
The primary anxiety stems not from the laughter itself - but being laughed at.
This is a symptomatic of a fragile ego. (which can be due to a overly dominant superego - the authoritarian personality).
Gelotophobe's seem to constantly 'scan their environment' for signs of laughter and ridicule.
A hypersensitivity.
They are looking for signs of a 'perceived threat' to their fragile ego's.
Two other behaviors related are gelotophilia, (joy of being laughed at), and katagelasticism, (joy of laughing at others).
Gelotophilia describes the joy of being laughed at.(comedians, for example) . Gelotophiles are persons that actively seek and establish situations in which others may laugh at them.
They do not feel psychologically vulnerable when sharing embarrassing things that have happened to them , for example.
Katagelasticism is a psychological condition in which a person excessively enjoys laughing at others.
(and, probably contrary to the opinions on Hive, I'm a NOT a Katagelasticist... as I will explain later).
So, back to Gelotophobia...
A person with gelotophobia always takes laughter to be a form of ridicule, and mostly at their expense (fragile ego).
Social environments - where laughter is commonplace - will be 'scanned' by the gelotophobe, and instead of feeling any joyful emotions, it will be replaced with an anxiousness .
Symptoms of gelotophobia include:
a)social withdrawal (to avoid being ridiculed).
b) Appearing humorless, or with no sense of humor.
c) A lack of liveliness and 'spontaneity', of 'joy'.
d) Physical expressions such as headaches, and sleep disturbance.
Causes of Gelotophobia
Like most other irrational phobias, gelotophobia is probably the result of a traumatic event experienced earlier in life.
(this fits in with the causes of narcissistic personality 'disorder'NPD, and the authoritarian mindset).
A person who was never taken seriously, or constantly laughed at as a child, may grow up to develop gelotophobia.
Someone who was constantly laughed at (or bullied) as a teenager may also develop gelotophobia.
Gelotophobia can be a life altering anxiety disorder, and can lead to low self-esteem, social anxiety or depression.
Realizing that you suffer from gelotophobia is the first step towards changing your own anxiety disorder.
I mentioned earlier in the post about NOT being a Katagelasticist. (irritating wanker? Erm...Yes.. I can accept that).
The reason I said that, is this...
Believe it or not, I do not gain pleasure from ripping people to shreds and laughing at them.
No, honestly - I really don't.
I DO get joy from making people smile and laugh.
Growing up in humorless environment , I see applying humor as a real 'acid test'.
To really see a persons character, a persons intellect, a persons values..... a persons perspective of life.
Using humor as this 'acid test', also serves to highlight the psychological positions and personality types of many different people, quite quickly.
(time, for me, is too short for faux pleasantry and social pretense/image)
Humor (sarcasm/satire/pisstaking) is a great exposer of liars, manipulators, narcissists, and weak characters...
(fragile ego's).
Exposing these character traits for the world to see scares them.
Their self image and their fragile ego's are wrapped up -entwined - in the persona that they try to present to the world.
Humor as weapon - strips through it all.
There is no defense, only in the form of aggression and threats.
Either way, it shows them up for who they rally are..with the persona stripped away.
Laid bare.
AND IT SCARES THE FUCKING SHIT OUT OF 'THEM'!
and THIS!!!!...I do get joy from.
I like truth.
'They' fucking hate it.
...and hence I'm not a katagelasticst - I get no joy from laughing at fake people...
I do get joy for exposing them as frauds.
AND HUMOR DOES THAT VERY...VERY... WELL...
If there were no duplicitous manipulative scumbags - (mostly with some trauma or other that's contributed towards their adult pathology), then all my expressions of humor would be of the 'making people laugh at no ones expense', type.
....The joy of laughter for its own sake.
But while there are duplicitous, manipulative scumbags out there to expose...Humor is my weapon of choice.
I do actually have a reason for using this 'genre of expression' as a weapon...
First off, 'they' really have no defense against, as I've just mentioned, but that isn't THE ONLY reason that I use it.
I use it because I have very low empathy - for fake people.
It's one of my more pronounced narcissistic traits - but with some qualification.
You see, I have lots of empathy for real, authentic, people.
Humor cuts through 'the fakes' in society (both intellectually and emotionally) quicker than a hot knife through butter.
Yes, fake people have reasons for being fake - I get that.
(I was one of those 'fake people' for many years, to a degree, kinda..)
Yes, damaged people have reasons for being like the way they are.
But guess what?
Everyone has reasons - for everything!
Legit ones, and not so legit ones.
It's no fucking excuse , either way - for NOT dealing with your own issues, and growing the fuck up!
Clean your heads!
All my posts concerning psychology are all from a motivational
standpoint of wanting help people.
To help people see fakes in people that they thought were authentic.
To recognize the fakeness issues within your self.
To help the authentic people in this world, by destroying the fake persona and letting the authentic one shine.
(We all have it - It's just that some people are too 'chicken shit scared' to show who they really are..)
Hopefully my authenticity will help inspire others to shine for themselves.
I already know this perspective scares the fuck out of some spinless individuals on here.
No balls, or spine, just anger and fear....
Frightened little children who've never dealt with their own issues.
" I'll teach anyone to fish, but if you don't have the courage to go fishing...then fuck you!"
... I'm now, officially, 'empathized out'...
...@lucylin now toddles off to go and find an offensive meme, that will melt a lefty, or two.......