What is the fear of Friday the 13th called? Fear of numbers

How does psychotherapy help, through what mechanisms does the psychotherapist achieve the desired changes in the patient’s thinking and behavior? The literature describes several factors of therapeutic action, called differently by different authors. We will consider a combined classification compiled on the basis of those described by R.Corsini and B.Rosenberg (1964), I.Yalom (1970), S.Kratochvil (1978). Some of the factors under consideration are characteristic of both individual and group psychotherapy, others - only for group psychotherapy.

1. VERSATILITY. Other designations for this mechanism - “sense of community” and “participation in a group” - indicate that this factor is observed in group psychotherapy and is absent in individual psychotherapy.

Universality means that the patient’s problems are universal, to one degree or another they manifest themselves in all people, the patient is not alone in his suffering.

2. ACCEPTANCE (ACCEPTATION). S. Kratochvil calls this factor “emotional support”. This last term has become entrenched in our psychotherapy.

With emotional support great importance has the creation of a climate of psychological safety. Unconditional acceptance of the patient, along with the therapist's empathy and congruence, is one of the components of the positive relationship that the therapist strives to build. This “Roger triad”, which has already been mentioned, is of great importance in individual therapy and no less in group therapy. In its simplest form, emotional support for an individual occurs when the therapist (in individual therapy) or group members (in group psychotherapy) listen to him and try to understand him. Next comes acceptance and compassion. If the patient is a member of the group, then he is accepted without regard to his situation, his disorders, his behavior and his past. He is accepted as he is, with his own thoughts and feelings. The group allows him to be different from other members of the group, from the norms of society, no one condemns him.

To a certain extent, the mechanism of “emotional support” corresponds to the factor of “cohesion” according to I. Yalom (1975). “Cohesion” can be considered as a mechanism of group psychotherapy, identical to “emotional support” as a mechanism of individual psychotherapy. Indeed, only a cohesive group can provide a group member with emotional support and create conditions of psychological safety for him.

Another mechanism close to emotional support is “instilling hope” (I. Yalom, 1975). The patient hears from other patients that they feel better, he sees the changes that are happening to them, this gives him hope that he too can change.

3. ALTRUISM. A positive therapeutic effect can be had not only by the fact that the patient receives support and is helped by others, but also by the fact that he himself helps others, sympathizes with them, and discusses their problems with them. The patient who comes to the group demoralized, unsure of himself, with the feeling that he himself has nothing to offer in return, suddenly begins to group work to feel necessary and useful to others. This factor - altruism - helps to overcome the painful focus on oneself, increases the feeling of belonging to others, a sense of confidence and adequate self-esteem.

This mechanism is specific to group psychotherapy. It is absent in individual psychotherapy, because there the patient is exclusively in the position of a person being helped. In group therapy, all patients play psychotherapeutic roles in relation to other group members.

4. RESPONSE (CATHARISS). Strong expression of affect is important integral part psychotherapeutic process. However, it is believed that response in itself does not lead to any changes, but creates a certain basis or prerequisites for change. This mechanism is universal - it works in both individual and group psychotherapy. Emotional response brings significant relief to patients and is supported in every possible way by both the psychotherapist and members of the psychotherapeutic group.

According to I. Yalom, responding to sadness, traumatic experiences and expressing strong, important emotions for the individual stimulates the development group cohesion. Emotional response is reinforced by special techniques in psychodrama in “meeting groups” (“encounter groups”). In "meeting groups" anger and its response are often stimulated by hitting a pillow, symbolizing the enemy, hard.

5. SELF-DISCLOSURE (SELF-EXPLORATION). This mechanism in to a greater extent present in group psychotherapy. Group psychotherapy stimulates frankness, the manifestation of hidden thoughts, desires and experiences. In the process of psychotherapy, the patient reveals himself.

In order to better understand the mechanism of self-exploration and the mechanism of confrontation described below in group psychotherapy, let us turn to the scheme of J. Luft and H. Ingham (1970), known in the literature as the “Jogari window” (from the names of the authors - Joser and Harry), which clearly conveys the relationship between the conscious and unconscious areas of the psyche in interpersonal relationships.

1. The open area ("arena") includes behavior, feelings and prayers that are known both to the patient himself, there and to everyone else.
2. The blind spot area is something that is known to others but not known to the patient.
3. Hidden area - something that is known only to the patient.
4. The unknown, or unconscious - that which is not known to anyone.

With self-exploration, a group member assumes responsibility because he takes the risk of realizing feelings, motives and behavior from his hidden or secret area. Some psychotherapists talk about “self-stripping,” which they consider the primary mechanism of growth in a group (O. Mowrer, 1964 and S. Jourard, 1964 - cited in S. Kratochvil, 1978). The man takes off his mask and begins to speak frankly about ulterior motives that the group could hardly guess about. We are talking about deeply intimate information that the patient would not trust to everyone. In addition to various experiences and relationships associated with guilt, this includes events and actions that the patient is simply ashamed of. Things can only come to the point of “self-undressing” if all other members of the group react with mutual understanding and support. There is, however, a risk that if the patient opens up and does not receive support, then such “self-undressing” will be painful for him and cause mental trauma.

6. FEEDBACK OR CONFRONTATION. R. Corsini calls this mechanism “interaction”. Feedback means that the patient learns from other group members how they perceive his behavior and how it affects them. This mechanism, of course, also occurs in individual psychotherapy, but in group psychotherapy its importance increases many times over. This is perhaps the main healing factor of group psychotherapy. Other people can be a source of information about ourselves that is not entirely accessible to us and is located in the blind spot of our consciousness.

For greater clarity, let's use the Jogari window again. If during self-exploration the patient reveals something to others from his secret, hidden area, then during feedback others reveal to him something new about himself from the area of ​​his blind spot. Thanks to the action of these two mechanisms - self-exploration and confrontation - the hidden area and the blind spot area are reduced, due to which the open area ("arena") increases.

In everyday life, we often come across people whose problems are directly written on their faces. And everyone who comes into contact with such a person does not want to point out his shortcomings, because... they are afraid of seeming tactless or offending him. But it is this information that is unpleasant for a person that provides him with material with which he could change. There are many such delicate situations in interpersonal relationships.

For example, a person who tends to talk a lot and does not understand why people avoid talking to him is told in a therapy group that his way of verbal communication is very boring. A person who does not understand why many people are unfriendly to him learns that his unconscious ironic tone irritates people.

However, not all information about a person received from others is feedback. Feedback must be distinguished from interpretation. Interpretation is an interpretation, an explanation; these are our thoughts, reasoning about what we saw or heard. Interpretation is characterized by statements such as: “I think that you are doing such and such,” and feedback is: “When you do such and such, I feel like this...” Interpretations may be erroneous or may represent the interpreter's own projections. Feedback, in essence, cannot be wrong: it is an expression of how one person reacts to another. Feedback can be non-verbal, manifested in gestures or facial expressions.

The presence of differentiated feedback is also of significant value to patients. Not all behavior can be assessed unambiguously - negatively or positively - it affects different people differently. Based on differentiated feedback, the patient can learn to differentiate his behavior.

The term confrontation is often used for negative feedback. G. L. Isurina and V. A. Murzenko (1976) consider confrontation in the form of constructive criticism to be a very useful psychotherapeutic factor. At the same time, they point out that when confrontation alone predominates, criticism is no longer perceived as friendly and constructive, which leads to increased psychological defense. Confrontation must be combined with emotional support, which creates an atmosphere of mutual interest, understanding and trust.

7. INSIGHT (AWARENESS). Insight means understanding and awareness by the patient of previously unconscious connections between the characteristics of his personality and maladaptive modes of behavior. Insight refers to cognitive learning and, together with emotional corrective experience (see below) and experience of new behavior, is combined by I. Yalom (1970) into the category of interpersonal learning.

S. Kratochvil (1978) distinguishes three types, or levels, of insight:
Insight N1: awareness of the connection between emotional disorders and intrapersonal conflicts and problems.
Insight N2: awareness of one’s own contribution to the emergence of a conflict situation. This is what is called “interpersonal awareness.”
Insight N3: awareness of the underlying causes of current relationships, states, feelings and behavior patterns rooted in the distant past. This is "genetic awareness".

From a psychotherapeutic point of view, insight N1 is an elementary form of awareness, which in itself has no therapeutic value: its achievement is only a prerequisite for the patient's effective cooperation in psychotherapy. The most therapeutically significant insights are N2 and N3.

The subject of constant debate among various psychotherapeutic schools is the question of whether genetic awareness alone is sufficient or, conversely, only interpersonal awareness. S. Kratochvil (1978), for example, is of the opinion that only interpersonal awareness is sufficient. From there you can go straight to learning new ways of behavior. Genetic awareness, from his point of view, can be useful in that it leads the patient to abandon childhood forms of response and replace them with the reactions and attitudes of an adult.

Genetic awareness is research own history life, which leads the patient to understand his real ways of behavior. In other words, it is an attempt to understand why a person became the way he is. I. Yalom (1975) believes that genetic awareness has limited psychotherapeutic value, which strongly disagrees with the position of psychoanalysts.

From a certain point of view, insight can be considered as a consequence of psychotherapy, but it can be spoken of as a therapeutic factor or mechanism, since it is primarily a means of changing maladaptive forms of behavior and eliminating neurotic symptoms. In achieving these goals, it is, as a rule, always a very effective, but not necessarily necessary, factor. Ideally, based on deep awareness, symptoms can disappear and behavior can change. However, the relationships between awareness, symptoms, and behavior are actually much more complex and less clear-cut.

8. CORRECTIVE EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE. Corrective emotional experience is an intense experience of current relationships or situations, due to which the incorrect generalization made on the basis of past difficult experiences is corrected.

This concept was introduced by psychoanalyst F. Alexander in 1932. Alexander believed that since many patients suffered psychological trauma in childhood due to the poor attitude of their parents towards them, the therapist needed to create a “corrective emotional experience” to neutralize the effects of the primary trauma. The therapist reacts to the patient differently than his parents reacted to him in childhood. The patient experiences emotions, compares relationships, corrects his positions. Psychotherapy takes place as a process of emotional re-education.

Most vivid examples can be taken from fiction: the story of Jean Valjean from “Les Miserables” by V. Hugo and a number of stories from the works of A.S. Makarenko, for example, the episode when Makarenko entrusts all the money of the colony to one guy, a former thief. Unexpected trust, which comes into contrast with earlier justified hostility and mistrust, corrects existing relationships through strong emotional experience and changes the guy's behavior.

During emotional adjustment, people around them behave differently than a patient with inappropriate forms of behavior might expect based on his false generalization (generalization). This new reality makes it possible to re-differentiate, that is, distinguish between situations in which a given reaction is appropriate or not. Thanks to this, the preconditions are created for breaking the vicious circle.

So, the essence of this mechanism is that the patient, in a psychotherapeutic situation (whether individual or group psychotherapy), re-experiences an emotional conflict that he has not been able to resolve until now, but the reaction to his behavior (the psychotherapist or group members) different from the one he usually provokes in others.

For example, one might expect that a patient with strong feeling distrust and aggressiveness towards men, which arose as a result of her experiences and disappointments in the past, will bring this distrust and aggressiveness towards male patients in the psychotherapeutic group. Unexpected manifestations on the part of men can have an effective impact here: they do not distance themselves from the patient, do not show irritation and dissatisfaction, but, on the contrary, are patient, courteous, and affectionate. The patient, who behaves in accordance with her previous experience, gradually begins to realize that her primary generalized reactions are unacceptable in new situation, and she will try to change them.

A type of corrective experience in a group is the so-called “corrective repetition of the primary family” proposed by I. Yalom (1975) - repetition family relations patient in the group. The group resembles a family: its members are largely dependent on the leader; group members may compete with each other to gain "parental" favor. The therapeutic situation can evoke a number of other analogies with patients' families, provide corrective experiences, and work through unresolved relationships and conflicts in childhood. Sometimes the group is deliberately led by a man and a woman so that the group situation imitates the family situation as closely as possible. Low-adaptive relationships in a group are not allowed to “frozen” into rigid stereotypes, as happens in families: they are compared, reevaluated, and the patient is encouraged to test a new, more mature way of behavior.

9. TESTING NEW BEHAVIOR (“REALITY CHECK”) AND TEACHING NEW WAYS OF BEHAVIOR.

In accordance with the awareness of old maladaptive stereotypes of behavior, a transition to the acquisition of old ones is gradually taking place. The psychotherapeutic group provides for this whole line opportunities. Progress depends on the patient’s readiness for change, on the degree of his identification with the group, on the persistence of his previous principles and positions, on individual traits character.

In consolidating new reactions, impulse from the group plays a large role. A socially insecure patient who is trying to gain acceptance by passive expectation begins to become active and express own opinion. Moreover, by this he not only does not lose the sympathy of his comrades, but they begin to appreciate and recognize him more. As a result of this positive feedback, the new behavior is reinforced and the patient becomes convinced of its benefits.

If change occurs, it triggers a new cycle of interpersonal learning based on ongoing feedback. I. Yalom (1975) speaks of the first turn of the “adaptation spiral”, which originates within the group and then goes beyond its boundaries. As inappropriate behavior changes, the patient's ability to improve relationships increases. Thanks to this, his sadness and depression decrease, self-confidence and frankness increase. Other people like this behavior significantly more than the previous behavior and express more positive feelings, which in turn reinforces and stimulates further positive changes. At the end of this adaptive spiral, the patient achieves independence and no longer requires treatment.

In group psychotherapy, systematically planned training can also be used - training based on the principles of learning. For example, an insecure patient is offered “affirmative behavior training”, during which he must learn to insist on his own, assert his opinion, accept independent decisions. The rest of the group members resist him, but he must convince everyone of the correctness of his opinion and win. Successful completion of this exercise earns approval and praise from the group. Having experienced satisfaction, the patient will try to transfer the new experience of behavior to a real life situation.

In the same way, in a group you can learn to resolve conflict situations in the form of “constructive dispute”, disagreement with established rules.

When learning new ways of behavior, modeling and imitation of the behavior of other group members and the therapist play an important role. I. Yalom (1975) calls this mechanism of therapeutic action “imitating behavior,” and R. Corsini (1989) calls it “modeling.” People learn to behave by observing the behavior of others. Patients imitate their peers, observing which forms of their behavior the group approves and which they reject. If the patient notices that other group members are being open, taking certain risks associated with self-disclosure, and the group approves of this behavior, then this helps him behave in the same way.

10. PRESENTATION OF INFORMATION (LEARNING BY OBSERVATION).
In the group, the patient gains new knowledge about how people behave, information about interpersonal relationships, and adaptive and maladaptive interpersonal strategies. What is meant here is not the feedback and interpretations that the patient receives regarding his own behavior, but the information that he acquires as a result of his observations of the behavior of others.

The patient makes an analogy, generalizes, and draws conclusions. He learns by observing. In this way he learns some of the laws of human relationships. He can now look at the same things from different angles, get acquainted with different opinions on the same issue. He will learn a lot even if he does not actively participate.

Many researchers especially emphasize the importance of observation for positive change. Patients who simply observed the behavior of other group members used their observations as a source of awareness, understanding, and resolution of their own problems.

R. Corsini (1989), when studying the factors of the therapeutic effect of psychotherapy, divides them into three spheres - cognitive, emotional and behavioral. The author considers “universality”, “sense”, “modeling” to be cognitive factors; to emotional factors - “acceptance”, “altruism” and “transfer” (a factor based on emotional connections between the therapist and the patient or between patients of the psychotherapeutic group); to behavioral ones - “reality check”, “emotional response” and “interaction” (confrontation). R. Corsini believes that these nine factors underlie therapeutic change. Cognitive factors, writes R. Corsini, boil down to the commandment “know yourself”; emotional - to “love your neighbor” and behavioral - to “do good”. There is nothing new under the sun: philosophers have been teaching us these commandments for thousands of years.

EFFECTIVENESS OF PSYCHOTHERAPY

In 1952, English psychologist Hans Aysenck compared the effectiveness of traditional psychodynamic therapy with the effectiveness of conventional medical treatments for neuroses or with no treatment in several thousand patients. The results obtained by the psychologist surprised and frightened many therapists: the use of psychodynamic therapy does not increase patients' chances of recovery; actually got better larger number untreated patients than those receiving psychotherapeutic treatment (72% versus approximately 66%). In subsequent years, Aysenck supported his conclusions with additional evidence (1961, 1966) as critics continued to argue that he was wrong. They accused him of excluding from his analysis several studies that supported the effectiveness of psychotherapy. They offered the following counterarguments: perhaps patients who did not receive therapy suffered less severe disorders than those who received it; non-medical patients may actually have received therapy from frequent psychotherapists; therapists assessing untreated patients may have used different, less stringent criteria than psychotherapists assessing their own patients. There has been much debate about how to interpret the results of H.Aysench, and this debate has shown that more reliable methods for assessing effectiveness need to be developed.

Unfortunately, performance evaluation work still varies greatly in quality. In addition, as D. Bernstein, E. Roy et al. point out. (1988), it is difficult to define exactly what is meant by successful therapy. Because some therapists are interested in changes in the areas of unconscious conflicts or ego strength, while others are interested in changes in overt behavior, different effectiveness researchers have different judgments about whether therapy was effective for a given patient. These points must be kept in mind when considering studies on the overall effectiveness of psychotherapy.

Recent reviews are more optimistic than H. Aysenck's studies. A number of works have refuted the “null hypothesis” of H. Aysench, and now the real percentage of spontaneous recovery ranges from 30 to 45.

Using a special mathematical procedure called meta-analysis (“analysis of analyses”), Smith M. L., Glass G. V., Miller T. J. (1980) compared the results of 475 studies that reported on the conditions of patients who received psychotherapy and those who did not receive treatment. The main finding was that the average patient who received psychotherapy felt better than 80% of those who did not receive therapy. Other meta-analyses confirmed this conclusion. These reviews have shown that when the results of all forms of psychological treatment are considered together, the view that psychotherapy is effective is supported.

However, critics of meta-analysis argue that even this complex combination of results, a “hodgepodge” of good and mediocre studies of the effectiveness of different treatments, can be misleading. Critics say these studies don't answer a more important question: which methods are most effective in treating certain patients.

Which of the main psychotherapeutic approaches is most effective in general, or which approach is preferable when treating specific problems of patients? Most reviews find no significant differences in the overall effectiveness of the three main types of psychotherapy. Critics have pointed out that these reviews and meta-analyses are not sensitive enough to detect differences between individual methods, but even studies that have carefully compared psychodynamic, phenomenological, and behavioral treatments have found no significant differences between these approaches, although they have noted their advantage over no treatment. When differences between methods are identified, there is a tendency to find behavioral methods to be more effective, especially in the treatment of anxiety. The favorable results of behavioral therapy and the attractiveness of phenomenological therapy to many psychotherapists have led to these two approaches becoming increasingly popular, while the use of psychodynamic therapy as the dominant method of treatment has become less and less popular.

Evaluating research on the effectiveness of psychotherapy can be approached from a completely different perspective and the question can be formulated as follows: are attempts to measure the effectiveness of psychotherapy correct?

On the issue of the effectiveness of psychotherapy, many share the opinion expressed back in 1969 by H.H.Strupp, Bergin A.E. (quoted by R. Corsini): The problem of psychotherapy research should be formulated as a standard scientific question: what specific therapeutic interventions produce specific changes in specific patients under specific conditions?

R. Corsini, with his characteristic humor, writes that he finds the “best and most complete” answer to this question in C. Patterson (1987): before any model subject to research can be applied, we need: 1) taxonomy problems or psychological disorders of the patient, 2) taxonomy of patients' personalities, 3) taxonomy of therapeutic techniques, 4) taxonomy of therapists, 5) taxonomy of circumstances. If we were to create such classification systems, the practical problems would be insurmountable. Let us assume that the five listed classes of variables each contain ten classifications, then research project will require 10x10x10x10x10, or 100,000 elements. From this C. Petterson concludes that we do not need complex analyzes of many variables and we should abandon the attempt to accurately study psychotherapy, because it is simply not possible.

Psychotherapy is an art based on science, and, like art, simple measurements such a complex activity.

Causes

To date, there is no consensus among researchers about the origin of triskaidekaphobia.

In addition, there is a biblical tradition indirectly related to the number 13 - at the Last Supper, Judas Iscariot, the apostle who betrayed Jesus, sat thirteenth at the table. The most common sign in the 19th century associated with the number 13 is associated with this legend - if 13 people gather at the dinner table, one of them will die within a year after the meal. Later in Christianity, the apocryphal belief spread that Satan was the 13th angel.

According to another version, the fear is partly caused by the fact that in the Jewish calendar (lunar-solar calendar) some years consist of 13 months, while the solar Gregorian and lunar Islamic calendars always have only 12 months a year.

Triskaidekaphobia also has roots in Viking mythology: the god Loki was the 13th god in the Old Norse pantheon.

Examples

Elevator without button 13th floor

It is widely believed that the earliest example of triskaidekaphobia is the Mesopotamian code of laws of Hammurabi (circa 1780 BC), which allegedly lacks Article 13. In fact, the 13th article is present in this code.

In some buildings (for example, in New York hotels), floors are numbered so as not to irritate triskaidekaphobes: after the 12th floor there may be a 14th floor, or there may be floors 12A and 12B in the building. Sometimes this also applies to house and room numbers.

An improved model of the German World War II fighter He.112 was designated He.100 to avoid the name He.113, which was considered unlucky. Adolf Hitler also suffered from triskaidekaphobia. Due to the superstitiousness of many pilots, the United States has never had an F-13 fighter. The YF-12 model (prototype of the SR-71 fighter modification) was immediately followed by the F-14 aircraft. A number of Boeing passenger aircraft do not have a thirteenth row (row No. 14 follows immediately after the 12th).

Many people see the reason for the crash of the Apollo 13 spacecraft in its serial number. Apollo 13 was launched at 14:13 Eastern Daylight Time on April 11 from Launch Complex 39 (three times thirteen), and was scheduled to enter lunar orbit on April 13.

In modern Formula 1, there is no car number 13. An explanation is often put forward that number 13 was excluded from the starting lists of Grand Prix auto racing after three accidents with cars with thirteen numbers over the years. However, this explanation cannot be considered completely reliable.

Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg suffered from triskaidekaphobia. That is why his last opera is called “Moses and Aron” (“Moses und Aron”) instead of the correct “Moses and Aaron” (“Moses und Aaron”): the number of letters in the second title is thirteen. He was born (and, as it turned out, died) on the 13th, which he considered a bad omen all his life. One day he flatly refused to rent a house at number 13. The composer was afraid of the day when he would turn 76, because these numbers add up to the notorious number 13. Many people know the legend according to which Schoenberg was terribly afraid of his 76th birthday, Friday the 13th , which fell on July 13. According to rumors, then he lay in bed all day, preparing for his supposed death. The wife tried to persuade her husband to get up and “stop this nonsense,” and imagine her shock when he just uttered the word “harmony” and died. Arnold Schoenberg left this world at 11:47 pm, 13 minutes before midnight. If we add up these numbers (1+1+4+7), we again get the ill-fated thirteen (it’s easy to see that the latter is performed every day).

American bard John Mayer released the album "Room for Squares" with 14 songs, although the thirteenth lasts only 0.2 seconds and is nothing more than silence. The thirteenth track is not even mentioned on the album cover. In the same way, the number 13 is neglected Hot group Hot Heat with the album “Elevator”: the thirteenth track is not listed in the list of songs, and in the recording it is replaced by 4 seconds of various noises.

Spanish motorcycle racer Angel Nieto, according to him in my own words, won 12+1 world motorcycle championships. The film about his life is called “12+1”.

At the same time, there are also opposite examples - for example, chess player Garry Kasparov always considered 13 to be his lucky number, always played the thirteenth games in an attacking style, and in 1985 he won the world championship match against Anatoly Karpov with a score of 13:11 and became the thirteenth champion world chess.

In Italian and Chinese cultures, the number 13 is traditionally considered lucky.

It is triskaidekaphobia that makes the number 13 truly dangerous, since many dangerous professions that require concentration, concentration and well-practiced actions can lead to injury or even death to a worker who considers this day or this going to work “unlucky” and therefore concentrates on “omens” rather than real dangers.

Similar phobias

• Tetraphobia, fear of the number 4, - in hotels and hospitals in China, Japan and Korea there are rarely fourth floors. In Chinese, the numeral "four" 四 and the verb "to die" 死 are homophones, and in Japan and Korea these words were borrowed from Chinese.

• Hexakosioyhexekontahexaphobia, fear of numbers, the so-called “number of the beast.”

Literature

• Lachenmeyer, Nathaniel (2004). 13: The Story of the World's Most Popular Superstition. New York: Four Walls Eight Windows. ISBN 1-56858-306-0.

Notes

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See what “Fear of the number 13” is in other dictionaries:

Tetraphobia is an irrational fear of the number 4, usually considered a superstition. This superstition is found mainly in East Asian countries such as China, Japan and Korea. The reason for the phobia is in pronunciation Chinese character... Wikipedia

Fear of the number 13 (/ ˌ t t ɪ ы к aɪ ˌ d ɛ k ə e oʊ b i ə, ˌ t t ɪ ы к ə - /, TRIS -kye- DEK -ə- FOH -ə or TRIS -kə- DEK -ə- FOH -bee-ə; from Greek tris - "three", kai - "and", deka - "10" and phobos, meaning "fear") is an avoidance of the number 13. This is also a reason to fear Friday the 13th -th, called paraskevidekatriaphobia (from Παρασκευή Paraskevi, from Greek - “5th day of the week”) or friggatriskaidekaphobia (after Frigg, the goddess of the Norse, after whom the short day is named in English).

Triskaidekaphobia is a persistent, irrational and unreasonable fear of the number 13. It has always been associated with something negative or evil: at the famous Last Supper Jesus had 13 guests, the 13th was the same one who betrayed Him. People with Triskaidekaphobia are called Triskaidekaphobes. They tend to experience severe anxiety at the thought or sight of this number. As a result, they may give up their homes on the 13th day of each month or avoid everything related to it. In many cases, this fear is considered deeply debilitating.

Even more common is anxiety around number 13, which occurs on Friday. This horror or phobia associated with Friday the 13th is called Paraskevicatcatriophobia. In France, King Philip IV famously led raids, arrested and tried Templars on charges of blasphemy, homosexuality, etc. October 13, 1307, it happened on Friday. As you know, this date is associated with various urban legends.

There are many superstitious beliefs associated with the fifth day of the week: it is believed that evil arises then, especially since the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus took place on this day. People are known to avoid gambling or purchasing lottery tickets during this time. (However, contrary evidence has actually shown that many lucky winners have received millions of dollars by playing the lottery on Friday the 13th, and children born on this day are actually considered blessed in some cultures). Consequently, in many nations, people hold a party on Friday the 13th to celebrate this. In Brazil, however, this period in August is considered very "harmful or dangerous" and rhymes with "desgosto" i.e. sadness.

So in the whole world there are many beliefs and associations with the number 13 and Friday, and not all of them are good or positive.

Judas theory

Since the 1890s, a number of English language sources have related thirteen to the idea that at the Last Supper, Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus, sat 13th. The Bible says nothing about the order in which the Apostles sat, but there were thirteen people at the table. Additionally, the number 13 is unevenly bad in the Judeo-Christian tradition. By the way, the characteristics of God (also called the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy) are listed in the Torah (Exodus 34:6–7).

Hammurabi theory

There is a myth that the earliest reference to the unlucky or evil number 13 is in the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi (circa 1780 BC), where the thirteenth law is considered omitted. In fact, the original manuscript is not numbered. Translated by L. W. King (1910), edited by Richard Hooker, one article is also omitted.

If the seller went to another world (that is, died), the buyer must recover damages in this case five times from the seller’s property.

Other translations of the Code of Hammurabi, such as those by Robert Francis Harper, include the 13th article.

Causes

Whatever the source or trigger of fear of the number 13, it is now known that logical and systematic thought has limits. The patient often knows that his anxiety is irrational and unfounded, but he is powerless to control it.

• As stated above, the fear of number 13 is deeply rooted in people due to tradition, as well as its Bible Association. Judas, who ultimately betrayed Jesus and led to His eventual death, was considered the 13th Apostle to attend the Last Supper.
• IN modern culture Fear of the number 13 may be triggered by airlines and hotels, as many refuse to use this number when numbering their aisles, floors, rooms, etc.
• A negative or traumatic event occurring in someone's life on the 13th day of the month also causes Triskaidekaphobia.
• Movies, news and books on this topic often increase fear.
• The phobia can also be associated with others such as Thanatophobia, Agoraphobia, etc. People already suffering from anxiety or panic disorders are more likely to experience Triskaidekaphobia.

Symptoms

Manifestations of this fear can be emotional, mental or physical. A phobic person has a constant film or negative footage in his head.

1. Triskaidekaphobe will try to avoid everything associated with this number.
2. He experiences deep anxiety at the thought or sight of the number 13.
3. Often, due to fear, a person cannot function normally.
4. He experiences one or more of the following: fast heart rate, shallow breathing, chest pain, fainting, trembling, urge to cry, scream or hide, etc.
5. The person is afraid of having a panic attack, which may cause him to lose control and embarrass himself.

Treatment

To overcome any phobia, it is important to figure out how the mind creates fear of a certain object or environment.

• Hypnosis is a great way to get to the root of fear. Once the patient understands the sources, he is in better position to overcome this.
• Writing down scary thoughts and changing them to positive or happy ones is another way to overcome anxiety associated with number 13.
• Meditation, deep breathing, yoga and other powerful body-mind practices can help relieve anxiety.
• Medicines are also used, but these are not a long-term solution and have harmful side effects and withdrawal symptoms.
• Creating new neural pathways in the brain is an important method of overcoming a phobia or fear of the number 13. This is done through a therapy called NLP, which advocates neuro-linguistic programming. This helps to recode the mind with new feelings and situations so that the brain does not produce the same response every time it encounters the number 13.

Thus, to overcome Triskaidekaphobia, you can use a number of methods, but it is best to seek help from specialists to learn methods that help “restructure” the mind and overcome the fear of the number 13 once and for all.

Events associated with failure

Apollo 13 was launched on April 11, 1970 at 13:13:00 CST and on the 13th at 21:07:53 CST an oxygen tank exploded. He returned safely to Earth on the 17th of that month.

In November 2015, a terrorist attack took place in Paris, it was Friday the 13th.

On October 13, 1307, the arrest of the Knights Templar was ordered by Philip IV of France. While the number 13 was considered unlucky, Friday the 13th was not considered unlucky at the time. The idea that their arrest was related to a phobia is incorrect. The thirteenth day of the 5th day of the week in beginning of XXI centuries released and popularized the novel “The Da Vinci Code.”

In 1881, an influential group of New Yorkers led by American Civil War veteran Captain William Fowler came together to put an end to this and other superstitions. They formed a cabaret dinner establishment called the Thirteenth Club. At the first meeting, on Friday, January 13, 1881, at 8:13 p.m., 13 people sat down to dinner in a room with 13 seats. The guests walked under the stairs to enter and sat among a pile of scattered salt. Over the next 40 years, many thirteen clubs emerged. Their activities were regularly reported in leading newspapers, and the number included five future US presidents, from Chester A. Arthur to Theodore Roosevelt. Thirteen clubs had various imitators, but all of them gradually faded from interest.

Registration plates Vehicle in the Republic of Ireland are such that the first two digits represent the year of registration of the car (i.e. 11 - registered car 2011, 12-2012, etc.). In 2012, it was suggested among members of the Society of the Irish Transport Industry (SIMI) that the prospect of having "13" registered cars could discourage motorists from buying new ones due to superstitions surrounding the number thirteen, and sales of the industry (which had been already weak). The government, in consultation with SIMI, introduced a system where vehicles registered in 2013 had the age mark identification line of their registration plate read "131" for vehicles registered in the first six months of 2013 and "132" for those issued in the last 6.

• Number 666 (Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia) or 616.
• Tetraphobia, fear of the number 4. In China, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Korea and Vietnam, as well as in some other East Asian countries, buildings (offices, apartments, hotels) often miss floors with the number 4 and the Finnish mobile phone manufacturer Nokia phones 1xxx-9xxx do not include model numbers starting with 4. This comes from Classical Chinese, in which the pronunciation of the word "four" (四, sì in Mandarin) is very similar to "death" (死, sǐ) and remains the same in the vocabulary Sino-Xenic countries (Korean sa for 2, Japanese shi for 2, Vietnamese tứ "four" vs. tử "death").
• 17 is an unlucky number in Italy, perhaps because in Roman numerals 17 is written XVII, which rearranges to VIXI, which is Latin for "I lived" but may be a euphemism for "dead". In Italy, some planes do not have row 17, and some hotels do not have room 17.
• Paraskevidekatriaphobia is the fear of Friday the 13th, which is considered a day of bad luck in a series Western cultures. In Greece and parts of Spain and Latin America Tuesday the 13th is also considered unlucky.
• 39 is a belief in several parts of Afghanistan that 39 (three times 13) is cursed or a sign of shame.

Lucky number 13

In some regions, 13 is considered lucky. For example, 13 is lucky in Italy, except in contexts where they are sitting at the dinner table. In Cantonese, Hong Kong and Macau, the number 13 is considered lucky because it is similar to words meaning "sure to live" (as opposed to the unlucky number 14, which sounds like the expression "sure to die"). Colgate University was founded by 13 men with 13 prayers, which is why 13 is considered a lucky number. Friday the 13th is Colgate's luckiest day.

It is known that many athletes wear jersey number 13 and perform successfully. In 1966, Portugal achieved their best finish at a World Cup finals, finishing third, thanks to Mozambican striker Eusebio, who scored nine World Cup goals - four of them in a 5–3 quarter-final win. North Korea- received the Golden Boot award as the tournament's top scorer while wearing number 13. In the 1954 and 1974 World Cup finals, Max Mackloch and Gerd Müller respectively played and scored in the final while wearing number 13. More recently, other top footballers have successfully performed despite wearing No. 13, including Michael Ballack, Alessandro Nesta, Raphinha and others. Other athletes who have chosen 13 as a squad include Venezuelans Dave Concepcion, Omar Vizquel, Oswaldo Guillen and Pastor Maldonado.

Triskaidekaphilia is considered its antonym and is described as "love of the number 13".

Impact on naming of the Shuttle US program

• The disaster that occurred on Apollo 13 may have been a factor that led to the renaming, which prevented the plan to be called STS-13.
• STS-41-G was dubbed the thirteenth flight of the Space Shuttle. However, STS-41-C was originally an STS-13 mission. STS-41-C was the eleventh orbital flight of the space shuttle program.

After STS-9, the Space Shuttle numbering system was replaced with a new one. It started with STS-41B, the previous one was STS-9. The new scheme had the first number for the American financial year, the next one, was considered the launch site (1 or 2), and then came the mission number, numbered by letter for that period. In the case of the actual 13th flight, the crew apparently were not superstitious and made a humorous mission patch that featured a black cat. Plus, they landed on Friday the 13th, which one of the crew called "pretty cool." Due to the way the launch designations and manifest work, the mission numbered STS-13 may not have launched at the 13th location as propagated by the shuttle program. In fact, he ended up 11th. One reason for this was that the launch had to be cleaned, which delayed its mission.

NASA reported in a news article in 2016 that this is due to a much higher frequency of planned launches (pre-Challenger disaster). As it happened, the Shuttle program did experience an accident on its one hundred and thirteenth mission, leading up to the launch date of STS-107.

The actual STS-113 mission was a success and was launched earlier due to the nature of the launch manifest.

At first glance, it may seem surprising that an agency that should be focused on science and technology would place such emphasis on an ancient superstition... but, firstly, the ill-fated voyage of Apollo 13.

Tragedy and Triumph in Orbit: The 80s and Early 90s by Ben Evans.

Famous people with a fear of number 13

• Arnold Schoenberg
• Sholom Aleichem
• Stephen King

Man, in force own faith in the magical power of numbers, you can beware of the onset of certain days of the year. One of these is Friday the 13th. Some people do not pay much attention to this date, while others may develop a fear of Friday the 13th.

Friday the 13th is associated with many signs and superstitions

The fact is that according to popular signs and beliefs, on this day a misfortune can happen to a person. But should we be afraid of the ominous date?

Why are people afraid of the number 13?

Fear of the number 13 is closely intertwined with historical events, as well as famous adaptations of horror films. The fact is that the current situation around this number is partly invented and “tied” to modern literature and cinema. These numbers have no connection with reality. Many experts have been trying for years to find evidence of the influence of a single number or Friday the 13th on human destiny. Historians believe that it was on this day, in the 14th century, that Philip IV ordered the start of a legal battle against the Templar Order. According to historical data, members of the order were subjected to painful torture and inevitable execution.

These are the only facts that have received at least some confirmation from various sources. Only religious figures add fuel to the fire. But their evidence is unclear and is not supported by anything other than their own faith. The fear of Friday the thirteenth is just an “attached” stereotype that not many people can correctly perceive today.

It is believed that it was on Friday the 13th that the trials against the Templars were launched

Religion and folk beliefs

Religious leaders also have their own point of view about the ominous figure. There is information in both Christian scriptures and pagan ones. The most interesting information is:

• Christ was crucified on the fifth day of the week (Friday);
• Judas Iscariot, the betrayer of Jesus, was the 13th apostle;
• Satan – 13th angel;
• V Scandinavian mythology the thirteenth god Loki began a war with other gods.

There is also a popular belief that on Friday the thirteenth, witches hold a Sabbath. Such myths are common among the Slavs. In Europe and around the world, there are also many demonic folk beliefs in relation to the fifth day of the week and the number 13. So, in England there is a belief about a missing ship called “Friday”, and in Italy on November 13, 1868, the composer Rossini died, who all his life considered the number 13 to be devilish and Friday to be a bad day.

Features of the development of a phobia of a mysterious date

The study of human phobias has led to the identification of many objects of fear. Some people are afraid of the number 13 and everything connected with it. This phenomenon in medicine is called triskaidekaphobia (literally translated from Greek as fear of the number 13). The name of the disease was introduced into psychotherapy by the American D. Dossey.

In an ordinary person mentally healthy person Fears of mysterious dates and certain numbers can only bring a smile to your face. But the problem is much more serious than it might seem.

The fact is that triskaidekaphobia is divided into subtypes, one of which is the fear of Friday the 13th. This disease is called paraskaidekatriaphobia.

Causes and symptoms of triskaidekaphobia

Suffering from this disease most often are suspicious people who believe in the power of numbers and their influence on human life. Signs of this disease are detected more often in depressed, hyper-emotional and anxious people. The reasons may be different:

1. Poor stress tolerance and susceptibility to anxiety due to poor health nervous system. The phobia is more often diagnosed in people suffering from alcoholism and drug addiction.
2. Pathological diseases of the nervous system.
3. Character traits that originated in childhood.

This phobia manifests itself in different ways. Some people prefer not to leave the house on an ominous date, postpone their affairs, etc. Others refuse to meet new people and communicate with loved ones. Even a simple coincidence with a route 13 bus or a seat in a movie theater causes anxiety and fear in people. How do the symptoms of paraskavedekatriaphobia manifest:

• headache and dizziness;
• attacks of nausea;
• increased heart rate;
• hard breath;
• muscle weakness or tension.

Because of their fears, people become emotionally tense and unpredictable. The influence of stress can be so strong that a person is capable of committing an inappropriate act or even losing consciousness.

How to get rid of the fear of Friday the 13th

Combating a phobia can be effective both through self-therapy and with the help of a psychologist. The main thing is to force yourself to think rationally, because all thoughts about a mysterious devilish number or date are false and invented. They have no proven basis. This goal is set by a qualified specialist working with a patient. Visits to the doctor's office, conversations with the patient and further therapy are based on identifying fear and finding ways to control it.

Psychologists use various methods to combat the fear of mysterious numbers. Neurolinguistic programming is the most popular.

Sometimes hypnosis and cognitive behavioral treatment may be needed. The choice of method depends on the patient’s condition and the doctor’s qualifications. Most often, the symptoms of a phobia cease to bother the patient after 5-10 sessions.

A qualified psychologist will help you get rid of your phobia

Conclusion

Fear of Friday the thirteenth is a rare type of phobia. Its causes may include pathological conditions of the nervous system, as well as human character traits. Signs of the disease prevent a person from working, making plans for the future, etc. Therefore, you should know how to get rid of triskaidekaphobia.

Triskaidekaphobia is a panicky fear of the number thirteen. The history of this phobia dates back to ancient times, when everyone was superstitious and too religious. The concept was introduced before the 18th century, some time after the period of Orthodoxy in the Middle Ages. All fears regarding this number are related to religion.

People have long been inclined to complicate simple things and search for non-existent relationships. So it is with the number thirteen. Many consider him dangerous, “bad”, scary. There are several theories why fear of this number arises.

Examples of fear of the number 13

In some countries, a special study was conducted to identify people with this phobia. It turned out that about 25% of the population of European countries suffer from panic fear of this figure. For this reason, even the economy suffers developed countries. On Friday the 13th, many people sit at home, afraid that something might happen to them on the way to the supermarket.

There are quite a lot of examples of cases where triskaidekaphobia is taken into account around the world. The phobia spread to known species sports For example, in Formula 1 there is no number 13 car. Superstitious athletes do not want to get into such transport, so as not to doom themselves to loss or injury.

For a long time in France, hospitable hosts and the party receiving official guests avoid thirteen guests at the table. To dilute this number, some specifically hire one more person as a guest.

In the USA, some multi-story buildings do not have such a floor. There are 12th and 14th. In this country, citizens with this panic fear are overly respected. Many hotels and inns do not have a room under this number. The owners are trying their best to avoid this figure.

Airlines also do not forget this superstition or phobia when creating the next aircraft. Many passenger planes do not have a 13th row or seat. The phobia is complemented by people's fear of heights. Few people would buy a ticket for this seat or row.

But some openly oppose this superstition, this phobia of people. NASA workers “laughed” at this “fad” of many residents of the country. They specifically launched spaceship Apollo 13 at 13:13 on April 11, 1970. The complex from which the ship launched was numbered 39 (some have calculated that this is three times 13). According to the plan, it was supposed to enter orbit on April 13. It was assumed that such an action would destroy superstitions in every possible way. But, either by coincidence, or whether it really mattered, the ship crashed.

Many musicians and famous people They fear this number like fire. It is a known fact that the composer Arnold Schoenberg was born and died on the 13th, who was terrified of this number. He even corrected the titles of his works so that they did not consist of thirteen words. And on his 76th birthday (which adds up to 13), he lay on his bed all day and died 13 minutes before the end of that day.

But there is also positive examples when people were not afraid of this number. For example, the population of China and India are accustomed to consider 13 as their lucky number. The Chinese and Indians do not need to know what the fear of the 13th is called, since they love it. Football players and chess players also recognize 13 as their lucky companion of victories.

Similar phobias

This is not the only phobia that is associated with numbers. A companion to triskaidekaphobia is friggatriskaidekaphobia - the fear of “Friday the thirteenth”. On this day, many people try in every possible way not to expose themselves to any external influences, not to solve important issues and not to take exams.

Tetraphobia - fear of 4. In Japan, China, Korea, four is very similar to the verb to die. For this reason, they avoid this number.

Hexakosioyhexekontahexaphobia - fear of 666. This number is called the “number of the beast”, which causes unpleasant emotions for many.

Many people believe that the fear of 13 is a prejudice. Psychologists and psychotherapists agree that panic attacks for this reason are a disease or disorder. You cannot ignore it, since constant fear of this number or sum of numbers prevents you from living fully. There are treatments for this disorder.

Many people know that triskaidekaphobia has an influence on human behavior; it is a kind of blocker of actions and emotions. Therefore, psychologists advise overcoming it together with a person for whom it is not typical: buy 13 delicious products or come to an important meeting on the 13th. It is better if its positive results are known to the other person in advance.

It is worth reminding yourself that it is not the number that influences a person’s fate, but his daily choice to act or not. Do not forget that even the most successful person has periods of decline in emotions, success in work, and family relationships. And if such a period falls on calendar day number 13, it is not the number that is to blame, but simply such a period in life has arrived.