Fear of love play (malaxophobia)

Malaxophobia is described as a fear of love play, meaning affectionate or intimate touch between partners. It can show up as tensing at a partner’s touch or holding back from closeness, even in a caring relationship.

About this phobia

This term is rarely reported and is found only on lists of unusual fears, with no clinical writing behind it. Worries like this are more usefully thought of as a fear of intimacy, which can have many different causes.

What it feels like

• Tensing up or pulling away when touched affectionately
• Finding reasons to avoid close moments with a partner
• Worry about letting a partner down

Explore more unusual fears in the rare phobias A to Z, or browse the common phobias.

Common questions

Who can help with fear around intimacy?

A GP is a good first step, and relationship or psychosexual counsellors work with this kind of worry. If this fear is linked to something that happened to you, a GP or specialist counsellor can help, at whatever pace feels right.

How can you help?

I use hypnotherapy and NLP to change how your mind responds to the thing you fear, so the old alarm stops going off. Sessions are one to one over Zoom, and you get a recording of the hypnosis to listen to afterwards.

How many sessions will I need?

Many clients notice a real difference after one 90 minute session. If the fear goes back a long way, three sessions gives us room to make the change stick.

Ready to start?

Book a £49 consultation call and we’ll talk through your fear, or take the free suitability test first.

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