Do you have an irrational fear of large crowds? If so, you may suffer from Enochlophobia, also known by the name Demiphobia. It’s more common than you think.

I have many phobias. I can’t say which, at the moment, affects me more, but I know I am afraid of crowds, that’s one of them. I don’t like being around groups of people that much and I even shy away from a single person if I get a strange vibe from them.

Anyway, Enochlophobia, or Demiphobia, whichever name you’re familiar with, has more than one cause. You can never be certain which cause is responsible until you get to know a person for a bit.

Causes of the fear of crowds

My son is afraid of little spiders, and I can tell you why. It’s because he swatted at a spider egg sack and it burst, sending baby spiders all into his curly hair. That was when he was a toddler. He is still afraid of them, thus, he has arachnophobia. Needless to say, there are many other causes of this fear too.

Now, back to Enochlophobia. What are the basic causes that we know?

Why are you afraid?

1. Past trauma

Well, as with my son’s hair full of spiders, something just as horrific could cause the fear of crowds.

Let’s look at an example. Say, you were a small child at a festival with your parents, and for some reason you became lost. In only a moment, a large group of people broke out into a riot and you were swallowed by the large group. You were pushed to and fro and almost trampled to the ground. Eventually, when you made your way out and found your parents, you were traumatized.

It’s possible that many of these kinds of things happened to you, and if they did, you grew up to hate large crowds. It’s kind of obvious, right? Past traumas or events can cause phobias to develop, and these phobias take time to heal if they ever do. I believe there’s a way to cure most every phobia, to be honest.

2. Genetics

If your mother and father hate crowds, maybe you will too. Maybe you already know and you are an entire family of Enoclophobians. Anyway, it could have been your grandmother who hated crowds and the gene passed down to you. Although it does seem kind of weird to think about it this way, genetics can be to blame.

3. Introverted anxiety

I am an introvert, and I hate crowds. When I am surrounded by people, I start sweating and my heart begins to race. That’s because I don’t like being around people, and my anxiety makes it worse when it’s a crowded situation. Unfortunately, there are so many of my loved ones who do not understand why I act strange when approaching a large group of people.

I know that being an introvert doesn’t mean you have to be anxious, but I am. I can stay at home alone all day and be perfectly happy. I can enjoy my family when they come home too, but I don’t like surprise visits and my anxiety hates those crowds. So, there you go, another cause of enochlophobia.

4. Wrong beliefs

If someone has never been in a crowd of people before, which is rare, they may depend on someone else to tell them what it’s like. The wrong person can tell them horror stories about crowds. This can actually cause them to develop a fear of crowds before they ever endure it for themselves.

As I said, I think this is a rather rare cause, but it is a cause none-the-less, especially for children or teens who’ve never experience festivals or concerts.

5. Chemical imbalances

Enochlophobia can come from imbalances in certain chemicals within the brain. For instance, bipolar disorder, with its drastic ups and downs, can trigger this fear of crowds.

Maybe it doesn’t seem sensible to think the mania side of this illness would cause this phobia, but it can. As mania rises higher and higher, panic can sometimes ensue. Being in large crowds is obviously stimulating and extra stimulation to the manic person is never a good thing. It can cause terrible consequences.

Help for the Enochlophobia

Although the fear of crowds can be suffocating and seem like something you will never shake, it’s okay, I understand. There are a few things you can do to alleviate those fears. Here are a few simple steps:

  • Breathe deeply, over and over and allow your heart rate to slow.
  • Focus on something. An object or a person, until you’ve removed a bit of the dizzy feelings.
  • Always have someone for support when you know there will be massive crowds.
  • If you have to, take your mind somewhere else and let the noise fade into the distance.
  • You can also learn desensitization, or enduring smaller crowds, until you can take the larger ones.

Phobias are no joke, trust me. It’s going to take some time to get over something that seems to have complete control over your mind and your entirety of a person.

The best thing to do is to practice these steps and have mercy for yourself. Try to hold your head up high and ignore anyone who sees your problems as an excuse. I know about that, I’ve been told that many of my issues weren’t even real. So, first of all, get all that nonsense out of your head right now.

If you want to cure your fear of crowds, then you do it at your own pace. I’m rooting for you!

References:

  1. https://www.nimh.nih.gov
  2. https://www.scientificamerican.com

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This Post Has 10 Comments

  1. Fred Carpenter

    I pick up the energy of crowds (and people in general) and there are others who may be considered HSP’s, Empaths, or people on the autistic spectrum who do this as well (which I feel are interrelated). I often have to intentionally focus on the people around me if I find I am having negative feelings to determine if it is coming from me or the people around me. I think that most people get caught up in the same energy field, they just aren’t sensitive enough to actually feel it, but they do react to it. Some use shielding, and it works for them. However, I’ve tried numerous techniques and it doesn’t work for me.

    From what I’ve read about you, you may be an HSP and someone who picks up energy at a psychic level. When the emotion is strong and positive, it has been referred to as a “contact high.”

    1. Sherrie Hurd

      Unfortunately, when I pick up negatively energies, it’s so strong, I often grow angry. I want to leave, and I act snobby. There really aren’t many people who genuinely like me because I exhibit my true feelings about what I’m vibing. I don’t mean to be angry and defensive, but I do genuinely pick up strange feelings. I pick up when people are going to be trouble for me and my own. I pick up when they are fake, and I pick up danger as well. On the surface, you wouldn’t want to be around me often. I’m not that much fun….not for the “run-of-the-mill” person.

      But, honestly, I am a good person, good heart and everything. I just don’t sugar coat much and don’t hold much back. And yes, I can feel everything, and I’m on medication to actually dull those sensations so I can interact a bit more normally with others. I’m not being a mean person, just being honest. So, I dunno…I stay to myself most of the time.

      1. Fred Carpenter

        I understand and completely agree with you. I used to be able to tell when my late fiance was going to have a panic attack hours before she had one. I could feel the turbulence in her auric field. I see people and objects glow. I also pick up emotions through sounds and photos on the internet, and I take medication to dampen my abilities as well. Here is something my Empath Psychology teacher wrote to me a while back that seems like it might describe you as well:

        Fred, you are a catalyst (a catalytic agent) amongst other things. Your presence, your vibe, your energy vibrates at such a level that it may actually “open” energy fields, triggering PROCESS, triggering RELEASE, triggering REVELATION, triggering CHANGE, and taking the target energy and “setting it off.” (there are a lot of IMPlications here but I will keep it brief).

        In the presence of a lower (yes, lower) vibration, or a convoluted vibration, your catalytic presence can open up a Pandora’s box. For an undeveloped Psyche and/or Soul, this could be very threatening and, at best, overwhelming. This is very much like Healing, except I am focusing on an agent that stimulates whatever needs to be revealed TO BE revealed. Understand? If it’s something ugly that the person needs to face, well, they certainly aren’t going to thank you (unless they are more evolved).

        This could create a lot of heartache for you. For your intent and your Soul reaches out to share, to heal, to teach, and to counsel. But if your energy hits certain trigger points in them that they cannot or will deal with then you are faced with their psychological dynamics to repel the process.

        In other words, you are kind of like a litmus test for higher consciousness. The higher the consciousness of the ones you encounter, the more they can take your vibe. The lower the consciousness the more they are likely to implode and to project onto you. (spew split pea soup?)

        The more real a person is, meaning the more they are truly in touch with “who they are”, the more they can deal with your stimulating presence.

        But the hard part is, how many enlightened or actualized souls can one hope to meet in a day?

        1. Sherrie Hurd

          Not to sound depressing, but revealing truths seems to cause me pain. I am around so many people who seem to think they don’t have any issues, no blame, or anything of the sort. When confronted, they are almost like kids throwing tantrums. If I try to ignore it, then it eats at me. I will watch them put on a mask and go out impressing others with their “goodness”. As I watch this happen, I don’t feel bad about myself at all, I feel so sad, I feel so sorry for them because they aren’t strong enough to face their demons. It hurts because I know that over time if I cannot get through to them, I will have to create distance for my own health.

          The more I reveal about what I know, the more they lash out and maybe even dislike me. Some of the stuff that they say is so ridiculous, I laugh. I even stopped getting mad when their relatives gave them to create for things I said or did. I’ve never been able to understand the pretender. I’ve been a lot of negative, dirty, mean, and inconsiderate things in my lifetime, but I never hid it from anyone except my parents. That was only to keep from being punished. And, of course, right at this very moment, I am analyzing my own mind to make sure I’m not telling any unknown lies to you now. I like self-examination because they can leave me, call me names or anything else, but they cannot take the truth from my heart. 🙂 You should remember that too.

          1. Fred Carpenter

            “Not to sound depressing, but revealing truths seems to cause me pain”

            It causes them pain too. That’s why they lash out when you trigger something in them they don’t want to face.

          2. Sherrie Hurd, A.A.

            This is so true. My husband told me that I was the only person that could make him get angry and yell. So, I told him that maybe I was the only person who cared enough to tell him the truth and challenge his issues.

        2. MDS

          Thank you for your comments. You are describing what I go through all the time. There is a reason I prefer to work alone, in the wilderness with just a horse and a dog. I dislike all the catalytic events that happen just by me being present.

          1. Sherrie Hurd, A.A.

            Being in the wilderness with a dog and horse sounds wonderful. I miss nature. I spend so much time behind a screen. However, I wasn’t raised that way. I was raised before all this technology that seems to be a lifeline to people. It may be wrong, but sometimes I wish I could take a break and get away from it all for a moment.

  2. Ibrahim

    My only concern for this kind of fear in crowd is that, it stimulates high blood pressure

    1. Sherrie Hurd

      Yes, it does. Fortunately for me, I have thin blood and extremely low blood pressure.

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