Kopophobia is the abnormal and persistent fear of fatigue.
There's not a lot of information on this one. I think it's safe to assume that this phobia is possibly caused by extreme fatigue and the inability to accomplish ones tasks for the day.
Personally, I can totally understand what would trigger this phobia. I have Fibromyalgia and I am tired 24/7. It doesn't matter how much I sleep or how much I rest, I'm still tired. When you are an adult and you have responsibilities there is not enough time to be tired all the time. Sometimes I dread getting up in the morning because I don't want to spend the day totally fatigued and unable to do what I need to do. So I can definitely see this turning into a full blown phobia very quickly. I'm certain that anyone with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Myofacial Pain Syndrome, Lyme Disease, any type of cancer or one of the many other chronic illnesses that cause extreme fatigue will agree with me.
If you suffer from Kopophobia please tell us your story. What triggered it and how do you cope with it? It would also be interesting to know if you have a chronic illness.
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Dear Cristina,
I am answering to your post about KopoPhobia. I am 27 years old and since 7 years old I have problems with this phobia. What means that? Well.. I don't like the feeling of being tired mentally or physically during the day.
So, I feel fear anytime I know that I will not have a proper sleep in the night before the next day. I feel worried if there is something that can stop me from getting a good sleep.
For me, the best sleep is always needed. I always feel the need to rest well in the night, in perfect silence. Also, for example, I avoid to do hard things like going to gym, or jogging, or going to beach in the day when I know that the following night will be kinda "not sure" about my sleep.
I avoid going to camping; sleeping with someone; going to a Hostel where are many people; things like that.
I know it's just a phobia, a paranoia one! maybe. And I want to treat it.
The best thing that works for me is to study about it. But unfortunately I don't find many informations available about this phobia. Do you know? There is a book or something I can read? A web page, etc?
What else I do.. I try to talk to myself. I try to convince myself that there are so many bad , bad, worse things that happen in the world that this what I pass throw is just a caprice.
Of course, is not always working very good, but at least, i can fall asleep in the end and that's awesome!
So when i don;t get my sleep I feel very nervous, i feel panic, I feel that I will not be able to fulfill my tasks next day, that I won;t be functional enough. I feel very desperate, and this is the right word. Is awful.. what can I say..
Well, let me know if you found something else that can help!
Regards,
Alina
I think I may have this. I grew up a workaholic. My parents would urge me to stop doing homework and take a break. I was a perfectionist. About 3 years ago I was in a situation in college where I worked myself literally to exhuastion. I finally broke down, quit my job, quit school. I became very depressed, thinking of myself as a quitter but unable to handle the idea of ever going back to that lifestyle. Since then I am horribly afraid of fatigue. I am trying to finish school but I procrastinate all day long. I do other things. I avoid doing my schoolwork because I'm so afraid of wearing my body out again and having another breakdown. But my procrastination just makes me feel terrible about myself. The fear of starting to work is paralyzing; yet I MUST do this work so I feel more and more overwhelmed. I don't know how to stop this downward spiral.
Omg.. this almost literally describes the position which I'm in right now.. Strughling with procratination and getting work done.. how to handle this..
I've just figured out that this is exactly my fear, and it's just cost me my 14 year marriage!
When I was a young girl I had the most terrible time falling asleep at night. I would literally toss and turn the whole night and get so frustrated that I could never fall asleep. I would have to get up each morning and carry on with all the usual things--getting ready for school in the morning, I would feel sick from lack of sleep, riding the bus would make me feel nauseous. I would drift off mentally during lessons and miss what was being taught, or forget to do my homework at the end of the day because I was so tired.
I was always scared of getting in trouble because I missed my homework, or didn't follow what was going on in class. I just remember being tired all the time.
My way of handling this was to always go to bed early, to try and cram in as much sleep as possible before the alarm would go off each morning and my day would start all over again. It's a habit I still do this day.
This week, my husband told me that he felt there was no chemistry left in our relationship and I know why this happened now. My fear of being tired has caused me to push him away too many times when he has wanted to make love at night.
I can hear the stupid voices going off in my head that if I get excited/stimulated/aroused, or whatever, I won't get to sleep afterwards and I will feel all those same feelings of fatigue and nausea the next day. It always takes me a couple of days to catch up from a sleepless night, and I feel nauseous and exhausted the whole time. I'm gripped by this constant nagging fear of living with fatigue.
I've tried to hide from this fact for my whole life, but this week I got the wake up call of my life. I've literally pushed my husband away due to my fear of being tired, and I didn't even know why I did it until now! He thought I didn't want to be with him, but it turns out that I am just completely neurotic about being tired.
Fortunately for me, I've just figured out that I have this deep-rooted problem and will be looking for some therapy to help me get past it, but I think it's too late to fix my relationship. Who the hell knew this could happen? I'm just so sorry I didn't realize this until now…
My fear started this summer as I was training hard - doing long distance runs, but drinking not enough water. Combined with my stressful work a situation took place that enabled this fobia: I stood up and felt that I was going to fade out. I was convinced that this was a sunstroke (which was not the case - just a spontaneous fatigue as it was determined later on).
Afterwards each time I had to walk for a prolonged time or had any kind of even mild exhaustion (physical or mental) anxiety symptoms would kick in which positively enforced my phobia.
Now I am rehabilitating with a strict plan that includes gradually increasing load at work and in sports. Sometimes it comes back, but the episodes are getting more scarce. Confronting the fears again and again is the only way to cope with it I guess.
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