Erythrophobia

EREUTHOPHOBIA, erythrophobia, fear of blushing, one of the most common phobias. At its foundation lies heightened excitability of the vasomotors in constitutionally nervous subjects, leading to the fact that the slightest causes provoke the appearance of redness in the face. If someone enters a room, if the erythrophobic person hears his name pronounced by others, or if in general any questions are discussed that are even indirectly related to him, his cheeks begin to blush. Because of this, a painful state of constant affective tension develops, fear that he may reveal his secret thoughts, that others may attribute his redness to embarrassment from the need to hide something bad, especially if in his past there were indeed any deviations from the norm (for example, in sexual life-masturbation). The patient somehow covers his face, wears large dark glasses, sits behind screens or in dark corners, etc. In the end, the matter can reach the point that at the slightest attempt to move, to speak, or even to enter a room where there are people, an absolutely irresistible fear appears in the patient.