The fear of happiness is real: Check if you have it!
Although the term cherophobia is not fully defined or widely used, some medical professionals classify this phobia as a form of anxiety.
Have you ever felt like you don’t deserve to be happy?
Even when you work hard for your own happiness and all the circumstances agree, you still have that grain of doubt that maybe you’re not good enough.
Namely, there is a lot left in the subconscious that we can’t consciously say, not even the fact that we actually think we don’t deserve some things. And that’s how we behave, that is, we sabotage ourselves.
Individuals with an irrational aversion to happiness actually suffer from so-called cherophobia, the fear of happiness.
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In other words, these people regularly refuse to participate in anything fun and that would give them a sense of satisfaction.
They are not actually afraid of the activities themselves but of the possibility that things will go wrong if they just relax and enjoy themselves.
Although the term cherophobia is not fully defined or widely used, some medical professionals classify this phobia as a form of anxiety.
Some more symptoms:
- You get anxious when you’re invited to a party.
- You miss opportunities that would lead to positive changes in your life because of the fear of a possible bad outcome.
- You refuse to participate in fun activities.
- You think that after a happy period inevitably comes a bad one.
- If you’re happy, you think that’s why you’re a bad person.
- You think showing happiness reflects badly on you and your friends.
- You feel like you’re wasting your time trying to make yourself happy.
A feeling of complete hopelessness.
Hedonophobia, i.e. fear of pleasure, is related to cherophobia.
Psychiatrist Kerry Barron, according to the Independent, says that the reason for such fear is probably some bad experience from the past.
Blogger Stephanie Jeboh revealed in an interview what it’s like to live with Cherophobia: “It’s a feeling of complete hopelessness that leads to anxiety or avoidance of active participation in different things because you think happiness won’t last.”
The fear of happiness, he states, does not mean that the individual is constantly in a bad mood or sad, but rather it is triggered by stressful or traumatic events.
The fear of happiness is real: Check if you have it!
