Haphephobia

Haphephobia is a specific phobia involving an intense and persistent fear of touching other people or of being touched, sometimes described under related names such as aphephobia, thixophobia, or chiraptophobia. People with the condition can experience marked anxiety, chest pain, heart palpitations, hyperventilation, nausea, dizziness, sweating, and trembling when physical contact is anticipated or occurs, and some report dissociation, a choking sensation, or an overwhelming feeling of impending danger. The fear can extend beyond intimate contact to ordinary social touch such as handshakes or accidental brushes in a crowd, and avoidance of these situations can make everyday social and professional interaction difficult. It is treated within psychiatry as one of the specific phobias, a category of anxiety disorder in which fear is directed at a particular object or situation rather than being generalized, and like other specific phobias it is commonly addressed with graded exposure therapy and cognitive behavioral techniques aimed at reducing the anticipatory anxiety around contact.