Lights twinkling in the streets, inauguration of the decorated windows, installation of the Christmas tree, the nativity scene, drawing up an agenda of the festivities... At this simple evocation comes the desire to flee, to hibernate, and to come back only after New Years Eve?
You probably suffer from “natalophobia”.
From the Latin "natalis", "relating to birth" (that of Christ in Bethlehem, in this case) and from the Greek "phobos" ("fear"), as well as the definitions of the French Academy let us hear , “natalophobia” is an unrecognized pathology, characterized by a morbid fear that some people feel at the thought of celebrating Christmas.
To discover
Crosswords, arrow words, 7 Letters... Free to play anywhere, anytime with the Le Figaro Games app
Moment of family communion par excellence,
"going to the Christmas party is, for these individuals, as if they agreed to participate in the definition of "we are happy together", but this is not necessarily the case"
, explained at the microphone of RTL Info Stéphanie Haxhe, professor of family psychology at the University of Liège.
But then does this phenomenon really meet the definition of the word "phobia"?
From psychopathology to concept
"Agoraphobia" (fear of the crowd), "glossophobia" (fear of speaking in public), "pharmacophobia" (fear of drugs)... The list of unhealthy fears relating to the affective domain is long.
Appeared in the 1880s in France, although existing since 1786 across the Channel (under the form "phobia"), the word "phobia" is a term of psychopathology.
As Alain Rey explains in his
Historical Dictionary of the French Language
(Le Robert), it is by extension part of current usage, in the sense of deep aversion.
Also, we speak, using it as a suffix, of "phobophobia" (fear of being afraid), for example.
Recently however, the use of this term in the political and societal sphere has served the birth of nebulous concepts.
Have you ever heard of "transphobia", "grossophobia", or "Islamophobia"?
Just as an "arachnophobe" does everything to avoid contact with a spider, a "grossophobe" is supposed to designate any individual who is intolerant of overweight people, an "Islamophobe" of Muslims, due to a deep aversion to them.
But, as the same Alain Rey pointed out to the Huffington Post, designating a person in these terms, then subjectivizing the presence of a pathology, has the effect of freezing any discussion.
Using these words against individuals suggests that, supposedly ill, they would not be in a condition to reason, to develop an argument,
Thus, more than a fear at the idea of celebrating Christmas, “natalophobia”, through its (now) sulphurous suffix, is it in the process of qualifying the impossibility of speaking of the nativity of Christ?
