Ommetaphobia, excessive fear of eyes

Phobia is defined as an excessive fear of something. Usually, objects or situations that are feared are things that are also often avoided by many people such as snakes, spiders, or heights. However, what if someone has an eye phobia? Called ommetaphobia, see the following explanation.

What is ommetaphobia?

Source: AC Lens

This phobia may sound silly and make no sense to you. In fact, phobias can appear in anything, including in one part of your body.

Ommetaphobia, or fear of the eyes, is a phobia that makes a person feel worried about the state of his eyes at any time.

They always feel anxious about experiencing impaired or losing their vision, so most of them will usually always wear sunglasses to protect their eyes.

People with ommetaphobia often have difficulty doing small things like touching around the lids or putting drops in the eye. Going to the ophthalmologist can be a very scary activity, they can even cause an unusual panic reaction when their eyes are exposed to dust.

Sometimes they also avoid eye contact with other people. If it continues to happen, the impact will certainly have a profound effect on the quality of daily life. They may not want to be in direct contact with other people for fear that this will trigger a phobia.

Various causes of ommetaphobia

There are many factors that allow a person to experience this phobia. Here are some of the most common:

• Traumatic experiences. As with other phobias, the person with ommetaphobia may have experienced traumatic eye-related events in the past. These events can be in the form of a history of eye disease or accidents that have been experienced by the sufferer, it can also be from seeing scary things that have happened to the eyes of other people.
• Heredity. Phobias can arise when the sufferer has a father, mother, or sibling who also has this phobia.
• Been under the care of a person with ommetaphobia. When a child lives and grows up with someone who has this phobia, there is a possibility that the fear can be transmitted and arise when the child gets older.
• Films and other media. Many horror films, especially those with elements of violence, feature scenes of sadistic torture including attacks on the eyes.
• Social phobia. One of the things that can also trigger eye phobia is excessive fear of social situations or activities that require them to communicate with others one-on-one. People who also experience this, of course, must immediately take care because this phobia is included in the complex phobia.

Symptoms experienced

Often times, the symptoms experienced appear suddenly, this is because sometimes ommetaphobia can appear when someone thinks about the possibility of creepy things that could happen to their eyes. Some of the symptoms of this phobia are:

• Panic attack
• A cold sweat
• The body shakes
• Hard to breath
• Faster heart rate
• Chest tightness or pain
• Nausea
• Dizzy
• The feeling of being temporarily paralyzed and unable to speak
• Dry mouth
• Tense muscles

Of course, symptoms do not only appear and appear physically, but also psychologically. They will lose control of themselves, feeling like hopelessness, dazedness, and fear because they feel they will die in the near future.

Things you can do to overcome ommetaphobia

There are several ways you can overcome phobias. Usually, sufferers will need treatment with the help of professionals. Various types of therapy such as talk therapy (counseling) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) are common for people with ommetaphobia.

Therapy aims to help you change your mindset towards the object you are afraid of and learn how to stop the sufferer from avoiding phobia triggers.

CBT therapy also helps you in controlling negative thoughts and dealing in new ways when encountered with the object of fear.

People with ommetaphobia are also advised to do meditation or yoga exercises which can help produce a better therapeutic effect.

In more severe cases, especially those with anxiety and depression, your doctor may prescribe medications such as antidepressants, transquillizers, and beta-blockers.

However, some of these drugs can only provide a short term solution. Routine therapy remains the most effective way of dealing with phobias.