Symptoms, Causes, Treatment, and More

Athazagoraphobia is the fear of being forgotten or of forgetting. Remembering or being remembered is a major part of being human, and the idea of losing one’s memories is distressing to many people. However, people with athazagoraphobia experience intense worry about being forgotten or not being able to remember others.

Because athazagoraphobia is rare, there is less research about it than there is about other common phobias, such as claustrophobia (fear of confined spaces) or acrophobia (fear of heights). However, researchers do know that athazagoraphobia is a specific phobia, which is when you have a severe, irrational fear about something.

Specific phobias can be treated and managed with cognitive behavioral therapy, exposure therapy, and medication.

Athazagoraphobia has two main facets: the fear of being forgotten and the fear of losing your own memories. These feelings, however, can also elicit anxiety symptoms.

Fear of Being Forgotten

The aspect of athazagoraphobia that concerns a fear of being forgotten is similar to how some people with social anxiety feel, where they become fixated on the idea that people will reject them, not find them memorable, or will not notice them.

But in people with athazagoraphobia, this fear is wrapped around the idea that they will be forgotten—perhaps after death or simply by people in their current lives. This fear becomes a phobia when people with the fear hyper-fixate on it, even if there is no immediate danger or harm they’re in.

Fear of Forgetting

Many people have fears that they will lose their memories—from an accident, an incident of amnesia, as part of the normal course of aging, or as a result of a neurodegenerative disease like Alzheimer’s disease. If Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia run in your family or you’ve cared for someone who has lost their memory, this fear may be more severe.

Having athazagoraphobia doesn’t mean you have memory loss. It just means that you are fixated on the fear of having it now or in the future. This fear can take over your life and affect some people’s daily functioning.

Anxiety Symptoms

People who have specific phobias like athazagoraphobia will experience signs of anxiety when they are faced with the thing they fear, whether that means experiencing it or even thinking about it. This phobia can lead to the following anxiety symptoms:

• Extreme worry
• Sweating
• Racing heartbeat
• Shaking or shivering
• Nausea
• Stomach ache
• Avoiding social situations

There is no research on the causes or risk factors for athazagoraphobia particularly. Because it’s a specific phobia, it’s assumed that it has similar causes to other specific phobias. Specific phobias are usually caused by:

• Genetics
• Psychological changes
• Social and environmental factors

The family you are born into or raised by can affect your risk of developing a phobia. Many phobias tend to run in biological families, meaning that there may be some genetic risk factor for athazagoraphobia. However, witnessing a parent have a phobic reaction to a specific trigger teaches a child to react similarly and thus develop a phobia as well.

If you are showing symptoms of athazagoraphobia, seeing a healthcare provider about your fears can help you get the treatment you need. Many people opt to visit their primary care provider for a referral to a psychologist or psychiatrist, while others with existing mental health providers see them directly.

During your appointment, your provider will ask you about your symptoms and learn more about your triggers and prior experiences. It’s worth noting that no single test can explicitly diagnose you with this phobia. Instead, mental health providers diagnose it based on the diagnostic criteria for specific phobias, as outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5).

To receive a diagnosis for a specific phobia, your provider will look for the following signs:

• High level of anxiety about the situation, object, or thought
• Extreme anxiety when encountering the trigger
• Going out of your way to avoid the trigger
• Anxiety is irrational or unproportionate to the threat
• Fear or worry has lasted longer than six months
• The phobia affecting your daily life
• Other mental health conditions aren’t causing your symptoms

If you receive a diagnosis of athazagoraphobia, your provider will recommend several general treatments for people who live with specific phobias. Research suggests the following therapy options are most beneficial for people with phobias:

• Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT): Helps you reframe harmful or negative thoughts and behaviors to more positive ones to minimize fear and worry
• Exposure therapy: Slowly exposes you to your fear or triggers to help you become more comfortable with your phobia
• Group therapy or phobia clinic: Places you with other people who have similar phobias to help work through fears as a group

In some cases, anti-anxiety medications can help treat certain phobias. However, this is on a case-by-case basis and should only occur under the supervision of a psychiatrist.

It’s not always possible to prevent a phobia from existing, but there are some things you can do to limit how a phobia affects your well-being and work through your fears. Therapy is the gold-standard treatment for phobias, but there are other lifestyle habits you can implement to decrease anxiety and fear, such as the following:

Although athazagoraphobia is usually considered a specific phobia, it may be related to or may overlap with other mental health conditions, such as:

• Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD): This condition causes obsessive behaviors, intrusive thoughts, and compulsions. It has some traits in common with athazagoraphobia. People with OCD may obsess about things like germs, numbers and counting, and order and patterns. These obsessions might focus on forgetting or losing something. Others with OCD have a general fear of forgetting, which may include losing their memory or being forgotten.
• Social phobia: Athazagoraphobia and social phobia (intense anxiety in social situations) can have overlapping symptoms. People with social phobia often believe that they are being looked down upon by others and may feel like they are constantly being judged. They may also feel like people don’t notice them and that they will be rejected or forgotten in social situations.

For some people, athazagoraphobia diminishes with time or outgrows during adulthood. But for others, athazagoraphobia is something that lingers throughout life. Living with a phobia can be extremely challenging and scary, but it’s important to know that there is support.

If you’re experiencing intense worry or anxiety about a fear you have, it’s okay to get help. Talking to your healthcare provider, meeting with a mental health professional, leaning on your loved ones for support, and checking in with a support group can all help improve your quality of life.