The term refers to the completely absurd fear of obese people or of gaining weight. The word, originally called “fat phobia” (obesophobia), was coined by doctors B. E Robinson and J. O'Reilly in a study carried out in Minnesota, United States, due to the dissatisfaction of the citizens of that locality with respect to to fat people.
Specifically, the perishing individuals of Pocrescophobia, begin with the desire to want to lose weight, which progresses until it becomes a kind of addiction that becomes more and more attached to the patient. Even so, the anxiety that comes into play because of the desire to lose weight quickly and compulsively, puts a subject under pressure that they could not bear, so they would gain weight. However, the weight gain is a great disappointment and an incredible failure for the pocrescophobic, and, in some cases, depression can occur.
This phobia, according to scientists in charge of their research, can lead to the phobia of gaining weight (weight phobia), a term devised by Arthur H. Chrisp, referring exclusively to people who suffer from Anorexia Nervosa, a disorder of neurotic origin that It affects mostly young people, and is characterized by continuous rejection of food, accompanied by vomiting provoked and extreme weight loss.
Also, there are the kind of pocrescophobes who fear people who are exuberantly fat. They usually feel disgusted or, strangely, fear that grossly obese subjects will do some damage to them. In this stage of the phobia, nervous anorexics occur mainly, in addition to the imposition of society to maintain “a healthy body and a healthy life” , although this is vital for health, it imposes on the individual a certain intimidation that leads to indiscriminate fear of weight gain.
For the correct diagnosis of this phobia, the patient, presumably pocrescophobic, needs to meet with a professional psychologist. Regarding the treatment, the subject will undergo desensitization practices, that is, they will get in contact with the fears that are components of the phobia, and they will also carry out gradual exposure practices to a situation in which they need to face his fear.
