What is Chirophobia the fear of?

Chirophobia (from Greek word chiro,"hand") is the fear of hands and is often triggered due to traumatic experiences in the past while being afraid of washing hands. The most common symptoms are the feelings of dread, overwhelming thoughts of terror and panic, fast heartbeat, and tunnel vision. They try to avoid using their hands which is impossible because we use our hands in everything that we do. Muscle strengthening and hand exercises are ways to help overcome this phobia.

Taking control is always the key in resolving phobias, so learning to use the hands more effectively may help with the symptoms. If past trauma is the cause of chirophobia, it may be necessary to deal with the panic and fear that arise when faced with some triggers. This can be done by psychotherapy or rarely with medications.

It is generally thought that people come to suffer the phobia due to combination of events. Biological factors, psychological factors and social factors, combine together and interact to influence an individual's physical and mental health, which is then applied to specific phobias. A possible biological factor in chirophobia is that one feels too much anxiety because the body's response has gone wrong. Therefore, repeatable feelings such as tension and distress emerge toward the hands. That could be caused by a traumatic situation regarding a hand in one’s past. Otherwise, “parental modeling” is likely to be the cause.