

Substance abuse disorders such as drug addiction or alcoholism.Illness anxiety disorder (hypochondria).Your healthcare provider will also try to determine if you have any other mental health disorders, like: How long have you had a fear of failure?.How does fear affect your life at home, school or work?.Does your fear of failure prevent you from relaxing, sleeping or enjoying activities you used to like?.Does your fear of failure ever cause feelings of depression, irritability, anger or hopelessness?.Do you avoid or put off tasks or activities because you think you may not complete them successfully?.They may ask a variety of questions, such as: Your healthcare provider collects detailed information about your fear of failure. Your healthcare provider can diagnose the condition based on discussions with you about: There aren’t any tests to diagnose the fear of failure. Upset stomach or indigestion (dyspepsia).Unwilling to accept constructive criticism or help.Ītychiphobia can also cause panic attacks, which may lead to:.Prone to procrastination if a task or activity seems challenging.Pessimistic (negative outlook on life).Afraid of performing simple tasks at work, home or school.Or you may feel that a past failure of yours led to a terrible result, such as death or destruction. Traumatic experiences: If you’ve suffered abuse or severe punishment as a result of failure, you may fear experiencing those consequences again.Or someone with mysophobia (fear of dirt and germs) may develop atychiphobia if they feel they constantly fail at staying clean. For example, a child with scolionophobia (fear of school) may also have atychiphobia. Other phobias: Sometimes, phobias occur together.Learned behavior: You may have grown up in an environment where people taught you that failure was unacceptable, or that anything less than perfect was failure.Family history: If mental health disorders such as phobias, anxiety or depression run in your family, you may be more likely to have these conditions.Possible causes of atychiphobia may include: We do know that about 1 in 10 American adults and 1 in 5 teenagers will deal with a specific phobia disorder at some point in their lives, though. Many people may keep this fear to themselves or may not recognize they have it. It’s hard knowing exactly how many people have a specific phobia, like atychiphobia. The fear might seem irrational to others, but the person with the phobia feels genuinely scared, threatened and at risk. It causes an overwhelming sense of fear about an object, situation or event. What is a phobia?Ī phobia is a type of anxiety disorder. Extreme perfectionism can escalate into atelophobia. Someone with atychiphobia focuses on failure and battles feelings of panic, worry or doom about what could happen if failure happens. Perfectionism means you try to be flawless and have an intense focus on success. Are atychiphobia and perfectionism the same?Ītychiphobia and perfectionism have some similarities, but they’re different conditions. It may negatively affect how you perform at school or work, or how you interact with friends and family members.Ītychiphobia is different from atelophobia, which is a fear of imperfection. For example, if you’re so scared of failing a test that you refuse to take the test, you may end up failing an entire class.įear of failure can lead to a broad range of emotional and psychological problems, including shame, depression, anxiety, panic attacks or low self-esteem. It can also mean being afraid of a failed relationship, a failed career or being a disappointment to others.

People with atychiphobia may avoid any situation where they see a potential for failure, such as an exam or job interview. It comes from the Greek word “atyches,” meaning "unfortunate.” Atychiphobia is an intense fear of failure.
