PYSCHOLOGY

 

CHEROPHOBIA

Have you ever had that feeling while enjoying or having fun? That feeling which makes you question your happiness or makes you think that something bad might happen after this. Well, it’s safe to say even I have felt like that. It’s not wrong to think like that. We belong to India where we have always been taught that everything in life creates a balance if there is bad there will always be good too. Just like that if there is sorrow there will be happiness.

But sometimes people tend to develop a negative way of looking at these. Which leads us to the topic for today, Cherophobia. The word ‘Chero’ means ‘to rejoice’ coming from the greek. So now the question is what does Cherophobia really mean.

In simple terms Cherophobia means aversion from being happy. To get into more details, it creates a scenario in which the person might run away from activities or moments that make them happy. They develop a mindset which makes them believe that something bad will happen if we are happy now. This often leads to the person being unhappy and unwilling.

This type of case is mostly popular in the eastern culture rather than the west. The western culture believes in yearning for more happiness and that good will follow if you strive for it. This leads us to another side that in fact cherophobia is not considered as a fatal disorder and is not FDA medication approved. The reason being that cherophobia is a bit skeptical and a smaller problem compared to the rest of disorders.

Yes, it may look a bit smaller of a problem and mostly spontaneous beautiful you think about it. Running away from things that make you happy will instead create a negative look at life and cause more harm than good.

I mean, we should all strive for happiness instead of living a dreadful empty life. Happiness is what keeps us going. It’s a way to actually feel alive and to enjoy the precious life given to us. What’s the point of living if things that make you happy aren’t there. I know sometimes it’s hard to accept. Happiness is a right that nobody can take from us. We all deserve every inch of happiness that comes our way.

Enough about that. I did point out a few possible reasons but I didn’t address them enough.

Why people tend to do that is still unclear as cherophobia is sometimes considered a part of anxiety disorder. But we can say that there can be many reasons which lead to such behaviour.

Consider for once, a guy might develop cherophobia if certain things happen in continuation. Imagine he is happy that he got a new car and just after that a guy on a motorcycle hits him from behind damaging the car. The guy who was happy about his new car suddenly feels lost and in a moment of sadness although it wasn’t his fault. He will blame his luck for it. If a few more coincidental things like these happen he might start believing that bad follows good. This is where the cherophobia kicks in. After such incidents that person will just avoid being happy.

Now that doesn’t necessarily mean that they are sad. It just means that the person is avoiding being happy.

In the anxiety blog I did address a small thing where I said that sometimes we want to do certain things but due to external and internal pressure we tend to panic and feel anxious enough to leave it all together. Cherophobia works just the same and there are ways to treat it just like normal anxiety disorder.

In the worst case scenario visiting a psychologist would be the best option but there are ways to treat it by yourself too.

Firstly, try some relaxation exercises, breathing techniques or write a journal or diary.

Second, try to reach out and take a step forward into activities that make you happy. Do it one small step at a time and keep your mind as blank as possible while doing so. It will be hard initially and you might feel like you are never getting out of this but learn to trust yourself and be as much positive as you can. One problem at a time.

That’s all for today. Let us know in the comments below what you want us to address and we will try our best.

Good Day                                            ~ Utkarsh