Fear of flowers ( Anthrophobia) or flower fear is defined as an abnormal and persistent fear of flowers. People suffering from flower fear experience undue anxiety even though they realize they face no threat from flowers. There is no specific flower which causes this fear, any genus or species of flowers can instill fear. So can any flower part, such as a petal or stem.
Fear of flowers is termed “Anthophobia,” a word derived from the Greek words- “anthos”, meaning flower and “phobos”, meaning fear. Flower fear is also known as Anthrophobia.
Anthophobia is an intense fear of flowers that poses little or no actual danger. While adults with anthophobia realize that these fears are irrational, they often find that facing, or even thinking about facing, the feared situation brings on a panic attack or severe anxiety.
Symptoms of Flower Fear
Typical symptoms of flower fear include breathlessness, dizziness, excessive sweating, nausea, dry mouth, feeling sick, heart palpitations, inability to speak or think clearly, a fear of dying, becoming mad or losing control, a sensation of detachment from reality or a full blown anxiety attack, although different people experience flower fear in their own way and may have different symptoms as such.
What is the cause of Flower Fear?
Like all fears and phobias, flower fear is created by the unconscious mind as a protective mechanism. At some point in your past, there was likely an event linking flowers and emotional trauma.
Whilst the original catalyst may have been a real-life scare of some kind, the condition can also be triggered by myriad, benign events like movies, TV, or perhaps seeing someone else experiencing trauma may also lead to flower fear.
But so long as the negative association is powerful enough, the unconscious mind thinks: “Ahh, this whole thing is very dangerous. How do I keep myself from getting in this kind of situation again? I know, I’ll attach terrible feelings to flowers, that way I’ll steer clear in future and so be safe.” This is how flower fear is generated. Attaching emotions to situations is one of the primary ways that humans learn. Sometimes we just get the wiring wrong.
The actual flower fear manifests itself in different ways. Some sufferers experience it almost all the time, others just in response to direct stimuli.
