An Idea on Ergophobia

A phobia is an exaggerated, persistent and unreasonable fear or anxiety that is stimulated by a particular activity, object, person, animal, or incident. The effect of phobia can extend from annoying to severely paralyzed. Phobia is classified as an anxiety disorder; the individual can experience anxiety as a major symptom. The patient with phobias may realize the response to fear occurs almost all the time that the situation or object is confronted. There are various types of phobias, but all fall within the anxiety disorder. Ergophobia is an irrational fear of work. They experience specific symptoms and can be gradually treated. 

Ergophobia

Ergophobia is one type of phobia. It is an abnormal, extreme, unreasonable, persistent fear of working. It is also known as ergasiophobia, or ‘work aversion’. 

• An individual with stress is more scared to look for employment. 
• A person with Ergophobia has a more irrational level of fear and so they avoid even the application for work.  

Causes of Ergophobia

It affects two types of people, one is a working employee and another is unemployed individuals throughout their lifetime. It has been observed that ergophobia arises from both genetic and environmental factors. The fear of work phobia may be acquired by the harmful occurrence. 

There are some underlying causes of ergophobia as follows

• Neurological disorder or clinical stresses- The stressed people are more suffered from intense fear about seeking a job. People with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, a neurological disorder, are mostly avoided work. 
• Traumatic or harmful experience- Some incidents such as work-related harassment, abuse by colleagues, or burglary at the workplace provides stress. The fear of failing to achieve the assigned task or fear of speaking can also lead to fear of work.
• Genetic illness- A person with a family history of mental illness is more sensitive to ergophobia. 
• The difficulty of managing society- Sometimes, the mental disorder of handling social situations can lead to this type of phobia. This condition is called Schizophrenia. 
• Other causes- Medical drugs, fatigue, and sleeping disorders can also result in ergophobia. 

Symptoms 

People with a fear of work can express frequent changes in jobs, missing work, and loss of interaction with their co-workers. Extreme anxiety is a common symptom of all types of phobia. The fear of work phobia has experienced the following symptoms; 

• Dry mouth
• Avoidance taking an excessive duty in work 
• Detached from the workplace
• Excessive sweating
• Difficulty in breathing
• Extreme anxiety during working
• Lack of ability to control negative thoughts
• Migraine
• Dependent on others
• Nausea

Treatment

The fear of work can be reduced by stimulating positive thoughts and suppressing the remembrance of harmful incidents in the workplace as well as genetic illness. There are various forms of treatment available for ergophobia, including therapeutic methods as follows;

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

• It is another frequent treatment for all mental disorders. 
• The therapist helps the patient learn to handle the antagonistic thoughts about the work. 
• They reveal the reason behind their fear of work then they provide delightful thoughts. 

Exposure Therapy

• Exposure therapy is favored as the treatment for any other type of phobia, it can also include ergophobia.
• In this therapy, the patient is exhibited to the source of origin of his fear over a certain period.
• The patient is exposed to imaginary pictures of the workplace to trigger their stimulus. This treatment is undertaken for twelve sessions. 
• The ultimate goal of this therapy is to swap the association between the fear response and stimulus. 

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) 

• This treatment is generally used for people with personality disorders, it can also be used to treat ergophobia. 
• They treat particular skills for patients to handle the negative thoughts about work, it includes emotional regulation, mindfulness, and distress tolerance. 

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR)

• It is a mutual psychotherapy technique used to alleviate psychological depression with traumatic memories.
• It can provide significant improvements in therapy within a limited duration.
• It facilitates the identification and processing of traumatic incidents and other harmful experiences. 

Meditation/Yoga

• Yoga or meditation are the usual options of relaxation for many people.
• It plays a vitally important role in the management of anxiety. 
• The breathing methods in a yoga pose are the ultimate factors in relaxing the mind.

Conclusion

It has been concluded that there are different types of phobia with one similar symptom of anxiety. Ergophobia is a fear of wear due to causes of genetic and environmental factors in the workplace. It impacts the emotions of an individual and can lead to a lack of interaction with colleagues, failing to achieve the work tasks, missing their jobs, frequently changing jobs, etc. There are some additional physical symptoms including extreme sweating, nausea, migraine, dry mouth, and anxiety. The treatment for ergophobia is based on swapping the feelings between fear response and positive stimulus. They can provide significant improvement in patients.