Usually, the source of a phobia is unknown. Our brains are wired to respond to danger, but phobias or traumatic events can teach our brains to react strongly to very specific situations. 'The usefulness of a holistic approach, where the assertion, 'The whole is greater than the sum of its parts,' is taken into consideration when analyzing human behavior.' And that's okay. Perales-Blum wants people to understand the complexity of phobias, and that while they can have a devastating effect on our daily lives, they are ultimately treatable. 'He is able to imagine a future, living on his own and working as an actor, and this is an idea he likes,' the team reports. Since starting treatment, he has shown a marketable improvement in health and happiness. They also prescribed medication to help treat his anxiety. In the case of the Mexican teen, the doctors enrolled him in therapy to help him validate his fears, show him empathy and give him the tools to cope with his condition. As a result, there are no clinically proven ways to treat it.

'There have only been two other cases of gerascophobia,' writes the team at the Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon in Mexico. According to the National Institutes of Health, specific phobias like this one affect 8.7% of Americans. Rather, it may be the result of many factors, including his history of sexual abuse, bullying and battling an anxiety disorder.Ī new epidemic? Not so much. Laurencia Perales-Blum, co-author of the report, told Mic.ĭoctors believe there is no single cause for the boy's phobia. 'He was able to carry on extreme measures, such as faking his voice and posture non-stop for almost 2 years, with total commitment, in order to hide his growth,' Dr. He is deeply fearful of growing pubic hair, and he cries when people make remarks that he is getting taller. He searches the Internet with the hope of learning how not to ejaculate out of fear of reaching sexual maturity. He changes his voice so it is softer and more high-pitched. His symptoms are severe and numerous: He eats very little out of fear that food contains nutrients that will spur his physical development.

Meet the primary subject of the scientific research on gerascophobia. When this danger response system causes us to react to fear in a debilitating way, it becomes a phobia. For instance, we might get sweaty palms when meeting someone new, or goosebumps when about to give a speech before tons of strangers. Over time, our brain develops a pattern of responding to things that scare us most. This system regulates how we respond to danger (think fight-or-flight). The science: Fear is thought be controlled by three parts of the brain that work together as a danger-response system. As it turns out, it's among a list of the most poorly understood phobias. A team of researchers in Mexico explain this condition in their study, published this month in Case Reports in Psychiatry. He has a clinical condition called gerascophobia, the official name for the fear of aging. Instead, it has taken a very real toll on his health.Īnd it's not just in his head.

But for one 14-year-old in Mexico, this fear manifests in a more profound way than wanting to stay in high school forever, or 'forgetting' to take that college requirement that would land you a diploma. Most of us experience the looming and abstract fear of finding a good job and paying bills - hallmarks of adulthood. These six words comprise what may be the most universally understood human desire.

Fear of growing up drawing