The fear of fear is called phobophobia. It’s an intense, persistent dread of experiencing fear itself, whether that means dreading the physical sensations that come with being afraid or worrying about developing a specific phobia in the future. Unlike most phobias, which are triggered by a particular object or situation, phobophobia is triggered by the emotional and physical experience of fear itself, creating a loop that can be difficult to escape without help.
How Phobophobia Works
Phobophobia takes two main forms. Some people with the condition are primarily afraid of the physical sensations that accompany fear: the racing heart, shortness of breath, sweaty palms, or dizziness. They may interpret these sensations as dangerous, believing they could cause permanent harm or even be life-threatening. Others are afraid of developing a new phobia, spending significant mental energy worrying about whether they’ll become terrified of flying, heights, enclosed spaces, or something else entirely.
In both cases, the anxiety of anticipating fear becomes a phobia in its own right. Experts often describe this as a self-fulfilling prophecy: worrying about becoming afraid produces the exact fear response the person was trying to avoid, which then reinforces the cycle. The more someone monitors themselves for signs of fear, the more likely they are to notice normal fluctuations in heart rate or breathing and interpret them as the beginning of a fear response.
Physical Symptoms
Because phobophobia is ultimately an anxiety disorder, it produces the same cascade of stress responses as other phobias. Common physical symptoms include a pounding or accelerated heart rate, chest tightness, shortness of breath, sweating, trembling, hot or cold flushes, dizziness, nausea, and numbness or tingling. Some people feel like they’re choking or that they might faint.
What makes phobophobia particularly frustrating is that these symptoms are both the trigger and the response. Feeling your heart speed up might be the very thing you fear, so noticing it causes more anxiety, which makes your heart beat even faster. This feedback loop is a core feature of the condition and a major reason it can escalate quickly without intervention.
Clinical Classification
Phobophobia does not appear as a standalone diagnosis in the DSM-5, the standard classification system used by mental health professionals. Instead, it would typically fall under the broader category of specific phobias or, depending on how symptoms present, generalized anxiety disorder or panic disorder. The lack of a dedicated diagnostic code doesn’t mean the condition isn’t real or recognized. It simply means clinicians classify it within existing anxiety categories when making a formal diagnosis.
What Causes It
There isn’t a single cause. A history of panic attacks is one of the most common pathways into phobophobia. If you’ve experienced a panic attack, which can feel genuinely terrifying, you may begin to fear having another one. That anticipatory dread can generalize into a broader fear of any fear-like sensation. People with other anxiety disorders or existing phobias are also more likely to develop phobophobia, since they already have experience with intense fear responses and know how unpleasant they can be.
Family history plays a role as well. Growing up with a parent or close relative who had severe anxiety or phobias can shape how you relate to fear from a young age. You may learn to treat fear as something inherently dangerous rather than a normal, temporary emotion. Temperament matters too: people who are naturally more sensitive to their own bodily sensations tend to be more vulnerable to this kind of inward-focused anxiety.
Breaking the Cycle
The most effective approach for phobophobia is gradual exposure therapy, often delivered as part of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). The basic principle is counterintuitive but well supported: instead of avoiding fear, you deliberately and gradually expose yourself to situations that trigger mild fear, then stay in them long enough for the anxiety to subside on its own.
This typically starts with rating feared situations on a scale from 0 to 100 based on difficulty. You begin with the least distressing situation and work your way up. The goal at each step is to remain in the uncomfortable situation until your fear rating drops by roughly half before moving to the next level. This teaches your nervous system that the physical sensations of fear, while unpleasant, are not dangerous and will pass.
One important part of this process is resisting the urge to distract yourself during exposure. Scrolling your phone, seeking reassurance from someone else, or mentally checking out all prevent you from fully experiencing the fear response and learning that you can tolerate it. Sitting with the discomfort without escape behaviors is what gradually rewires the association between fear sensations and danger.
The cognitive side of CBT addresses the thinking patterns that fuel phobophobia. Many people with the condition catastrophize, jumping from “my heart is beating fast” to “something is seriously wrong.” Therapy helps you recognize these thought patterns, evaluate whether they’re realistic, and replace them with more accurate interpretations of what’s happening in your body.