14 DAY TRIAL // Writing in the journal Case Reports in Psychiatry, researchers with the University of Nuevo León in Mexico detail how, having had the chance to talk to him for a while, they ended up diagnosing a young boy with geraschophobia, a condition best described as an excessive fear of growing up and aging.
The researchers explain that, although not something that they made up simply because they wanted to put a label on the boy's symptoms, geraschophobia is an extremely rare condition. In fact, it is understood that just three cases of people suffering from this condition have so far been documented.
Yes, this count includes the case of the young boy that specialists at the University of Nuevo León in Mexico had the chance to diagnose and study. Interestingly enough, the other two instances of geraschophobia until now reported on a global scale both involved adults.
The condition made the boy behave strangely
It is understood that, when he was about 11 years old, this boy that was eventually diagnosed with geraschophobia started eating less hoping that this would keep his body from growing. Because of this, he found himself losing as much as 26 pounds (about 12 kilograms) over a fairly short period of time.
To hide the fact that he was growing taller, the boy got into the habit of stooping when walking or sitting. When he became a teenager and his voice changed, he did his best to speak in a high pitch, looking to hide the fact that he was becoming an adult.
What's more, the boy even forced his mother to treat him as if he were still a child. Thus, the boy demanded that she help him choose what to wear and dress him each and every day. Besides, he expected his mother to sing him lullabies whenever he went to sleep at night.
At the time when the University of Nuevo León researchers met him, the boy was 14 years old and his condition had progressed to such an extent that the teenager was experiencing fear and anxiety whenever he noticed that his body was becoming that of an adult.
Writing in the journal Case Reports in Psychiatry, the specialists who attempted treating the boy detail that, when asked why he was so afraid to grow up, the teenager told them that the reason he was so scared of adulthood was that he did not want to get sick and die.
The boy might make a full recovery
Looking to help the boy overcome his condition, doctors prescribed him antidepressants. Coupled with family therapy and psychotherapy, the drugs helped the boy feel somewhat better. He now weighs 13 pounds (6 kilograms) more than he did when the University of Nuevo León specialists first saw him.
He no longer stoops when walking and sitting, and has even grown accustomed to using his natural tone and not a high-pitched one when talking. What's more, he talks about wanting to become an actor when he grows up. The one thing that he is still scared of is the responsibilities of adult life.
In an interview with Live Science, Dr. Alan Manevitz, now working as a clinical psychiatrist at New York's Lenox Hill Hospital, explained that the child most likely developed geraschophobia after being exposed to several unfortunate events while he was still very young.
Specifically, Dr. Alan Manevits said that the fact that he lost his father when he was 5, was abused by a neighbor at the age of 6, and got bullied a lot in school triggered the boy's fear of growing up. The better doctors understand what caused his condition, the easier it could be for them to treat the boy, the specialists wished to stress.