Alexinomia: The fear of using personal names

Frontiers in Psychology

Psychology

Lisa Welleschik¹  Natalie Rodax²  Thomas Ditye³ 

[1] Association for Psychotherapy, Counselling, Supervision and Group Facilitation, Vienna, Austria;Institute for Person-Centered Studies, Vienna, Austria;Faculty of Psychology, Sigmund Freud University, Vienna, Austria;Faculty of Psychology, Sigmund Freud University, Vienna, Austria;Association for Psychotherapy, Counselling, Supervision and Group Facilitation, Vienna, Austria;

关键词: social anxiety;    fear;    attachment;    identity;    names;    addressing;    alexinomia;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1129272

 received in 2022-12-21, accepted in 2023-03-03,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

IntroductionPreliminary research based on everyday observations suggests that there are people, who experience severe fear when addressing others with their personal names. The aim of this study was to explore the extent to which this hitherto little-known psychological phenomenon really exists and to investigate its characteristic features, considering the everyday experience of not being able to use names and its impact on affected individuals and their social interactions and relationships.MethodsIn this mixed-methods study based on semi-structured interviews and psychometric testing, 13 affected female participants were interviewed and evaluated using self-report measures of social anxiety, attachment-related vulnerability, and general personality traits. An inductive content analysis and inferential statistical methods were used to analyze qualitative and quantitative data, respectively.ResultsOur findings show that affected individuals experience psychological distress and a variety of negative emotions in situations in which addressing others with their name is intended, resulting in avoidance behavior, impaired social interactions, and a reduced quality of affected relationships.DiscussionThe behavior can affect all relationships and all forms of communication and is strongly linked to social anxiety and insecure attachment. We propose calling this phenomenon Alexinomia, meaning “no words for names”.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2023 Ditye, Rodax and Welleschik.