This ‘fear’ that was multiplied with the Covid-19, continues to suffer some people

With the pandemic, we got used to no physical contact among us. And many people, for fear of getting infected, avoided kissing and hugging with their closest friends. Even when you met up with your friends after months, you were practically forced to ask them if they were comfortable with the conventional greeting.

The key, however, is that this fear is long before Covid. And although it increased with the pandemic, there are still many people who live with it. The difference is that before nobody understood those who suffered from it and now it is easier to put ourselves in their place. It’s about ‘hafephobia’, which means -in Greek- ‘fear of being touched’. It is also known by other terms such as aphephobia, hapnophobia, haptephobia, haptophobia or thixophobia.

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Sometimes this fear not only appears with people, but also with objects. People who suffer from haphephobia are afraid of falling ill and do not want to touch a piece of furniture in an unknown place or some element on the street because may have been in contact with a virus or bacteria.

It’s not a worry, it’s a real fear. To those who suffer from it, haphephobia produces aanxiety, sweating, or even dizziness.