Logizomechanophobia is the irrational fear of computers. This mental disorder will typically cause heightened states of anxiety and terror when they are near computers. Essentially, it is a more specific form of mechanophobia. Their fear of computers may be so severe that they may not have any type of computer devices at all.

This means that besides them not owning a computer, they may also not own cell phones or other modern forms of technology. Someone with logizomechanophobia may also stay away from modern vehicles as well as they often contain smart technology.

The person suffering with logizomechanophobia may find that they are greatly inconvenienced as they don’t have the luxury of using computers to help them fix problems or to make life easier due to their intense fear of them. They may purposely use older modes of transportation to go places and they may use very outdated household appliances as well.

Though some people’s logizomechanophobia is only for binary computers, it is not far fetched to think that some people would take it even further due to the increased rise in smart technology.

There is no question of the insurmountably large impact that technologically advanced machines have ensued, especially computers. Someone experiencing logizomechanophobia may be unable to experience the countless benefits and wealth of information that can be instantly tapped into on the internet. They in fact may realize how useful computers are for not only its internet use, but also for storing and processing information, among numerous other benefits.

Symptoms of Logizomechanophobia

There are many different symptoms of logizomechanophobia and though these will typically vary from person to person, there is a consensus that the main symptom of the disorder is avoiding computers. This may make it much more difficult for them to attain information as their is an unbelievably large amount of information readily available on the internet, as well as the staggeringly fast speed to which you can access this information in search engines (i.e. typically under .5 seconds).

So, besides being inconvenienced, someone suffering from logizomechanophobia may also be less informed than the average person as to what the local and national news is. This is not to say that computers are the only source of information, but it is just to point out that those suffering from logizomechanophobia may have to be more dependent on TV and the newspaper to get informed about things.

Below, you will see some other very common symptoms of this phobia:

• Intense anxiety when around computers
• Anxiety when thinking of computers
• Refusal to use computers
• Distrust of computers (e.g. being spied on)
• Refusal to use cellphones
• May feel paranoid

Causes of Logizomechanophobia

There are no known causes of logizomechanophobia. However, genetics and one’s environment probably play significant roles in someone developing this illness. Someone with a family history of mental illness may have a higher risk for developing phobias like logizomechanophobia, especially if their disorders were in the “anxiety disorder” category. However, having a genetic predisposition for developing mental illness isn’t the only way to develop this phobia as one should also look at their environment.

Growing up in an environment where technology, especially computers was scorned and frowned upon can make someone grow up with a distaste for computers. We can see several societies in the modern world today that overtly and consciously decide not to use computers even though their society or country has the resources and the funds to make it easily accessible. Such is the case with the Amish.

The Amish people consciously choose to abstain from the use of modern technology like computers due to their beliefs, not out of an irrational fear. Merely ceasing from the use of computers or having never used them in one’s life due to either ignorance, a lack of resources, or a lack of interest does not mean that they have logizomechanophobia. Rather, this phobia is characterized by an intense, irrational fear of computers that is out of touch with reality.

Though the specific reasons as to why someone may develop logizomechanophobia while someone else develops ligyrophobia may differ significantly, there is commonly a consensus among healthcare professionals that the main causes of mental disorders developing is due to genetics and the environment they grew up in or currently live in. Talking to your doctor may shed some light as to why you may have or have not developed logizomechanophobia.

Logizomechanophobia Treatments

There are no known treatment methods specifically designed for logizomechanophobia. However, there are ways that you can help to lower the symptoms associated with this mental illness. For one, you can see a therapist or a social worker who can help you by using some form of behavioral therapy. A common form of talk therapy that may be very advantageous for those suffering from logizomechanophobia is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). This type of talk therapy will help the patient to think differently and more productively about the worry thoughts associated with logizomechanophobia.

You may also benefit from exposure therapy. This form of treatment is typically used for those suffering with phobias and even some anxiety disorders such as obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). With exposure therapy, the therapist slowly exposes the patient to computers. Though this will give the patient an influx of anxiety at first, the goal is for their anxiety to decrease the more they get exposed to that which they fear. This technique is also called “desensitization“.

Exposure therapy is not for everyone. Nevertheless, depending on the severity of your logizomechanophobia and the adeptness of your therapist, it may be a very beneficial form of treatment. Anti-anxiety medication may also be able to significantly reduce the anxiety and dread that is commonly experienced with phobias.

Reducing Caffeine for Logizomechanophobia

It is no secret that consuming large amounts of caffeine throughout the day can aid in making you more anxious. This makes sense when we look closely at how caffeine affects our body’s physiology. When we consume a high dose of caffeine, our heart will start to beat faster and we become more tense. Essentially, our body will begin to go into a “fight or flight” state of mind. Such a frame of mind is often a precursor for someone with logizomechanophobia to experience panic attacks.

So, consuming little to no caffeine throughout the day may be able to significantly help reduce your day to day anxiety. Although doing so will likely not make all of your anxiety go away, it will indeed help you to reduce any unnecessary suffering that you would have otherwise experienced if you were to consume a large amount of caffeine.

Beverages like coffee and tea are often high in caffeine, as well as some energy drinks. In fact, even some foods have caffeine in them as well, such as dark chocolate. Being more conscious of your daily caffeine consumption may help you to reduce some of the symptoms associated with logizomechanophobia.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) for Logizomechanophobia

DBT is a very effective form of treatment for people struggling with emotion regulation. It is often used to treat people suffering from borderline personality disorder. Nevertheless, it can also be very advantageous for someone suffering from anxiety disorders like logizomechanophobia too. This is due to the numerous amount of coping skills you can expect to learn in a DBT group. These groups typically last about 6 months long and can have anywhere from two people to several people depending on how many join the group.

One very effective DBT skill for helping someone with logizomechanophobia is half-smiling. This technique works by having you think about that which you fear or upsets you all while slightly raising the corners of your mouth by lightly smiling, thus the term “half-smiling.” Although, it isn’t enough to just think about your fear while half-smiling, you also have to try and refrain from entertaining those painful emotions that your specific fear may evoke.

Mindfulness meditation is also heavily used in DBT and can greatly benefit someone with logizomechanophobia as it is done in a group setting, which helps to put the patient out of their comfort zone. These group mindfulness practices may include drinking warm tea to hone in on the sense of taste and tactile senses or simply focusing on the breath.

Coping ahead is another very useful DBT skill that can help someone with logizomechanophobia. With coping ahead, you will want to find a place where you can sit down quietly without distraction. Close your eyes and then think about the many different possible scenarios where you would face your specific fear and overcome it or cope with it. Doing so will help you to be much better adept at coping with your logizomechanophobia when you are actually exposed to the specific fear associated with it in real life.

Meditation for Logizomechanophobia

There are many different forms of meditation that exists which can be very advantageous for someone suffering from logizomechanophobia. Specifically, mindfulness meditation has been shown to be quite beneficial for helping people to enter into a more equanimous state. There are many different ways with which you can implement mindfulness meditation and there are also many different meditation apps which are designed to make things as easy as possible for you.

Mindfulness has the potential to significantly help those suffering from logizomechanophobia due to how it will help one to distract themselves from their fear by refocusing their attention onto something else that does not have any sort of emotional baggage attached to it, such as by focusing on the breath for example. This is one of the most basic ways that one can meditate and be present.

For someone with logizomechanophobia in the midst of a panic attack, redirecting one’s attention to the various sensations felt when breathing can actually help to reduce the amount of mental anguish experienced during such an influx of anxiety.

To implement mindfulness meditation to help relieve one’s symptoms of logizomechanophobia, you can do so by paying close attention to the way the muscles in your abdomen and chest contract and relax with every inhale and exhale. You can spend time dwelling on how it feels as your chest expands during each inhale and how it sinks in with every exhale.

Besides focusing on your breathing, you can also focus on the sounds around you, the way your skin feels as you touch certain objects, the way foods taste, as well as the way certain aromas smell. Essentially, honing into your 5 senses can significantly help you to reduce some of the anxiety that is associated with logizomechanophobia. Also, remember that it will take a lot of practice to become an adept meditator. So, practice is key.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for Logizomechanophobia

CBT is a psycho-social intervention that aims to improve one’s mental health. It is a modality that is often used to treat people suffering from anxiety disorders such as generalized anxiety disorder and OCD. Someone with logizomechanophobia may also be able to benefit from CBT as well seeing as how it would allow them to have a much better understanding as to why they think and behave the way they do in relation to their irrational fears.

CBT can be immensely helpful for someone with logizomechanophobia given the sheer automaticity of their symptoms. For example, when someone with logizomechanophobia is exposed to their fear, they will almost always have an instantaneous subconscious reaction to their fear. Such a lack of introspection is likely a large part of why someone with this condition will suffer to the extent that they will. CBT can help you to take a step back and analyze your fears more deeply than you typically would.

Besides learning to be more fastidious with regards to understanding one’s specific fears, someone with logizomechanophobia engaging in CBT can also expect to learn various other skills aimed at helping to relieve the anxiety caused by their condition.

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) for Logizomechanophobia

MBSR is an 8-week evidence-based program that offers secular, intensive mindfulness training to help people who are suffering from anxiety, stress, depression, and other sorts of mental anguish. MBSR may be able to significantly help someone who is suffering from logizomechanophobia as mindfulness meditation has been shown to be very beneficial for anxious people. In such a structured program, someone with logizomechanophobia can expect to learn a plethora of different skills that can help them to relieve the intense anxiety that’s associated with their specific phobia.

Talk to your doctor or therapist to see if MBSR can help you to reduce the intensity of your symptoms of logizomechanophobia, as well as where to find MBSR programs in your area.

Exposure Therapy for Logizomechanophobia

As previously mentioned, exposure therapy is one of the most common ways to treat anxiety disorders such as logizomechanophobia. It can be an efficient way to help desensitize the patient to their specific fears. Be that as it may, it is imperative that the therapist implementing it on their patient is very adept at doing so. For example, if the therapist were to slightly expose someone with logizomechanophobia to their fear, then it may not be very effective as they may need a higher amount of exposure to truly trigger any sort of worthwhile change in the patient.

The same can be said for the antithesis of this scenario. If the therapist were to excessively expose someone with logizomechanophobia to their fear, then doing so could be highly counterproductive to the point to where their logizomechanophobia may become immensely worse due to the therapy alone. So, it is paramount that the therapist implementing exposure therapy for someone with logizomechanophobia has a very strong sense of just how severe their symptoms are so that they can know the level of exposure that the patient will likely be able to handle.

Exercise for Logizomechanophobia

Exercise has been shown to be extremely beneficial for people suffering from anxiety disorders, including logizomechanophobia. Specifically, cardiovascular exercise can significantly help to relieve one’s stress. This is not to say that weight-resistance training would not benefit someone with anxiety, but rather that aerobic exercise is has been shown to be more effective at releasing those feel good chemicals in the brain, such as endorphins.

According to the American Psychology Association, exercise can help to condition the mind to better cope with stressful situations. This makes sense when we take into consideration the high amount of stress that the body is put under during strenuous exercise. So, if you yourself are sedentary, then engaging in some form of aerobic exercise may be able to significantly help reduce your symptoms of logizomechanophobia by making it much easier for you to cope with the anxiety and stress that’s associated with this condition.

There are many different aerobic modalities that you can partake in to help reduce your symptoms of logizomechanophobia, such as swimming, biking, skiing, walking, and jogging. You can also acquire the many benefits of exercise by playing sports such as tennis, soccer, basketball, and racquetball, among many other sports. Engaging in some form of exercise consistently may be able to help relieve some of the pain associated with logizomechanophobia over time.

Medication Therapy for Logizomechanophobia

Antidepressant drugs

These types of medications aren’t only for people who suffer from depression as they can also help people suffering from anxiety disorders as well, such as logizomechanophobia. Some common antidepressants are Paxil, Zoloft, and Lexapro, among several others. These drugs may be able to help reduce some of the symptoms of logizomechanophobia.

These types of drugs are typically taken on a daily basis. They can indeed help prevent panic attacks from occurring, but they are more so used to help reduce people’s daily anxiety. Talk to your doctor to see if taking antidepressants can help to reduce your symptoms of logizomechanophobia, as well as whether or not it is safe to do so.

Anti-anxiety drugs

These types of medications are very useful to help prevent panic attacks. Such drugs can be extremely useful for people suffering from severe logizomechanophobia due to the fact that people with phobias often experience panic attacks as well. Some common anti-anxiety medications include Xanax, Valium, and Klonopin, among many others.

These types of drugs are not typically taken on a daily basis, but they may be insofar as their logizomechanophobia is severe enough. However, this is something that you should first discuss with your doctor before you decide to do so to ensure that it is safe and effective.

Yoga for Logizomechanophobia

There are numerous different yoga poses that can substantially benefit someone who is suffering from logizomechanophobia. In part, this is due to the meditative state of mind that yoga tends to emit in those who practice it on a consistent basis. Yoga can be thought of as meditation in motion. It can help to relieve some of the anxiety associated with logizomechanophobia due to the mere fact that by engaging in yoga, your attention will be redirected to something more productive.

There are many different types of yoga that someone with logizomechanophobia can benefit from, such as hatha yoga or hot yoga, among many others. Nevertheless, regardless of the many different forms of yoga that exist, virtually all of them can help to relieve some of the stress and anxiety that is associated with logizomechanophobia.

If you have never practiced yoga before, then it may be in your best interest to take a class or watch some guided videos that can help you through each pose. Just like with meditation, the more you practice yoga, the more adept you will become at it. Besides helping you to reduce your symptoms of logizomechanophobia, you can also expect to acquire increased strength and flexibility, among other benefits.

If you think you may be suffering from some of the symptoms of this condition, then you may benefit from therapy. Feel free to reach out to your doctor or local mental health clinic to see what your available options are and to see if there is any sort of discount or promo code available to help you with the costs of treatment, as well as if your health insurance will cover treatment costs.