Processophobia – the fear of processes often triggered by the word “process”. Can trigger severe symptoms if the word is overheard in a “work”-related environment. People seems especially triggered by sentences as:
We need to define a process for that
Do we have a process covering this
We need to follow the process
There are no registered cases of processophobia in newborn babies, which has led to the conclusion that it is transferred from the environment. Some people seem to develop symptoms in the first part of their adult life and in most cases it coincides somewhat with their first real job. Early data suggested a strong correlation with office-jobs, but lately that correlation seems to vane which suggests that the use of “process” might have spread from the confines of offices to the outside World.
Processophobia seems to be on the rise. In the last 5-10 years, there have been an ever increasing number of cases registered. As the use of processes have spread from the confines of offices to anything from health care to construction, more people have been reporting severe symptoms of processophobia.
Symptoms
Mild symptoms can vary from over-focusing on the word “process” each time it is overheard in sentences to minor ticks or twitching of the eye in said scenario.
Some people report mild manic-like symptoms where they have started rigorously drawing a line each time the word has been heard. In some corporate environments this has led to over-consumption of notebooks and although seen as productive by colleagues and superiors left the patient with an empty void inside.
If left untreated the patient can develop severe symptoms that in worst case can be irreversible.
Treatments
There is no currently no known cure for processophobia. As far as all data suggests it only gets worse with age.
Some people have reported relieved symptoms by promptly stepping on their own toes or biting their tongue, when they hear the word “process”. The theory behind this is that the pain felt will somewhat overshadow the pain from hearing the word “process”. It should however be noted that this intervention only works in some cases.
Data suggests that especially in creative or fast paced environments, even a sharp pain from electroshock is not enough to distract the patient from the pain felt from hearing the word “process”