Being interested in psychology, you know exactly what a phobia is. But since the variety of phobias includes an impressive list, there is a high probability that you are hearing about intimate phobia for the first time. In this article we will look at what this phobia is. We will touch on the causes and signs, and also give brief recommendations on what you need to do if you recognize yourself or your partner as an intimophobe. What is intimophobia I will not say with one hundred percent certainty, but I can assume that after reading the title of the topic, you thought - speech will talk about a phobia associated with sexual intimacy. I hasten to reassure you that this concept is much deeper in its semantic component and more multifaceted. Explaining what intimaphobia is, the words of the popular American psychologist R. May are most suitable: “People are most embarrassed by tenderness, which goes hand in hand with spiritual and psychological nudity, than by the physical nudity of sexual intercourse.” In its structure, intimaphobia consists of fears: rejection (separation); fusion (control, absorption). Simply put, a person who suffers from intimate phobia is afraid not of physical contact, but of emotional contact, which involves long-term, close, and intimate communication. That is, he is afraid of a serious relationship with one person. This is why intimophobes avoid long-term relationships. Reasons for the occurrence of intimophobia The reasons for the development of this phobia, according to researchers, are primarily associated with the period of early development from one and a half to three years in terms of the psychological incompleteness of distance from one or both parents. Again, speaking about the reasons, it is important to start from two main fears that have already been identified above. In childhood, a child could literally be smothered with love and care, as a result of which a fear of being absorbed as a person developed. Or, on the contrary, one or both parents behaved emotionally coldly, or the child was raised in a single-parent family, or was generally left by his parents in the care of his grandmothers/ grandfathers.Another main reason may be the intergenerational transmission of discomfort with intimacy. With a high probability, if a girl was raised by an avoidant type mother, she will also avoid relationships, as a result of which she will face loneliness or will not be able to be in a relationship for a long time. If we talk about the cause of intimate phobia very succinctly, then a completely logical conclusion suggests itself: the main reason is childhood psychotrauma. Again, it is important to consider that intimate phobia can develop in infantile people. This is due to the fear of responsibility to: partner; children; family. How to recognize an intimate phobe People of the avoidant type tend to either abstain from sexual contacts, or, on the contrary, perceive physical intimacy as a springboard of their self-affirmation and a mechanism for receiving approval from significant persons. You can easily understand that you are dealing with an intimate phobe by the following signs: He, like Cerberus, protects his personal space. If such a person is offered to live together, the mere thought that someone will be on the same territory with him will become unbearable for him. It will not be possible to have a heart-to-heart talk with him. As you understand, such conversations require openness and trust. But for an avoidant type, this is unacceptable - he is completely closed off from others. They can rely on a sexual connection, but at the same time they make it clear that they should not count on anything more. Moreover, physical intimacy itself is purely mechanical in nature, so to speak. This is something like the story from the French film “The Pornographic Liaison,” albeit with one caveat: the characters in the film gradually became closer and real and deep feelings arose between them. Intimophobes are not are accustomed to investing in relationships: neither financially, nor morally, nor physically. Those who are afraid of close relationships are characterized by sublimation, that is, a psychological defense mechanism that shifts the emphasis from one segment of life towards another. The point is that, without imagining