It’s Okay to Fail, and It’s Okay to Succeed – The Psychological and Ecological Implications
behind Atychiphobia and Achievemephobia
Zachary Johanntges
At a young age, one of the earliest emotions we learn is the complex, secondary, and selfconscious emotion known as pride. Beginning as early as two years old, the concept of feeling
proud of accomplishments—as simplistic as they are at that age—begins to take hold (Nauert,
2018). From age four, we start to notice and understand the concept of pride in others, and from
age five, we begin to do so in ourselves (Nauert, 2018). Shortly after this developmental
realization of self and others, developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst Erik Erikson
proposed through his stages of psychosocial development that children reach the transitional,
psychosocial crisis known as Industry versus Inferiority (Weiten & McCann, 2019). During this
psychosocial crisis, competence and social function are imperative as guardians nurture their
children less. In turn, their children begin to increasingly engage with concepts of achievement
and accomplishment, during which pride plays an integral role in this conceptualization. The
emphasis on working hard to realize greater achievement in the eyes of peers begins to play a
more prominent role in children’s lives, as scholastic, artistic, and even athletic prowess become
highly valued among those in and around their social circle. Children are taught that doing well
is expected, accomplishments are revered, and achievements are sought after and celebrated—
ultimately provoking their sense of pride.
Atychiphobia—an irrational fear of failure—is defined most commonly by its several
emotional and physical symptoms. The physical symptoms can include sensations such as a
difficulty breathing, a feeling of tightness in the chest, as well as uncontrollable shaking or

trembling; the emotional symptoms can include feelings of panic or anxiety, feeling as if one has
lost control over their situation, or otherwise a general sense of powerlessness (Marcin, 2017).
These symptoms often occur through the anticipation of failing an upcoming tested
circumstance, which rouses feelings of panic and anxiety within the recipient and may impact the
performance they can exert over the aforementioned circumstance.
Research conducted at Penn State University (2015) suggests that causes of Atychiphobia
“could include demeaning parents or family members, traumatic and/or embarrassing events that
arise from minor failure early in life, or an individual experiencing a significant failure and being
ill-equipped to effectively cope with it” (para. 1). This continues to assert that those living with
Atychiphobia may exhibit a reduced willingness to participate in certain forms of activities,
which may lead to a loss of self-confidence or motivation, and potentially even lead to
depression. Because a loss of self-confidence or motivation will escalate the anxiety and
anticipation surrounding potential, upcoming failure, this creates a negative feedback loop within
the individual; fear of failing an upcoming test or event will create feelings of panic and anxiety,
which will sap an individual’s self-confidence and motivation, thus leaving them with an even
greater fear of failing subsequent upcoming tests, events, or anything that will rouse those
feelings of panic and anxiety once more. Combining these symptoms and results with potential
attributions to depression, and it becomes clear that Atychiphobia proves itself a dangerous
phobia to the mental and emotional health and stability of any individual that is living with it.
Achievemephobia, on the other hand, presents a very different (albeit equally
debilitating) circumstance: the irrational fear of success or breaching achievement. Despite
Achievemephobia pertaining to the opposite of failure (success), the overall symptoms of
Achievemephobia are very similar to Atychiphobia: shortness of breath, increased heart rate, as

well as similar feelings of panic and anxiety. This is because the responses exhibited from
feelings of excitement run parallel to the same responses exhibited from a trauma reaction—the
inherent psychological and physiological reactions the body makes when an individual is put
through a single, or multiple traumatic events (Babbel, 2011). The research surrounding this
comparison continues to conclude that individuals who have experienced trauma in the past may
associate the excitement feelings of success with the psychological and physiological reactions
of trauma, and thus begin to avoid subjecting themselves to circumstances which may induce
feelings of excitement—establishing a phobia of success or achievement (both primarily
excitement-inducing occurrences) in the process. Further research from this comparison has
determined that Achievemephobia may also stem from the threat of disappointment when taking
uncertain risks, as well as potentially from a past of verbal abuse. The internalization of this past
verbal abuse would cause the individual to believe they do not deserve success, thus presenting a
tremendous impact on the individual’s self-worth and self-esteem, or through a staunch
comparison of discomforting concepts such as competition, or envy.
The idea of fearing success and achievement reaches further than tested circumstances,
however; because self-worth and self-esteem play such an integral role in the procedure of
processing and accepting success or achievement in a healthy manner, dysregulation of these
processes may impact the individual in social situations—most notably during circumstances in
which the individual is subjected to compliments from peers. Psychologist Guy Winch (2013)
confirms these assertions through his comparison of self-worth, self-esteem, and the receptivity
of compliments. In this comparison, he concluded that because people often seek to verify their
own personal perceptions they have of themselves (whether positive or negative), and because
the receptivity of compliments is often a reflection of the recipients’ feelings of self-worth and

self-esteem, compliments can make those with lower levels of self-esteem feel uncomfortable
due to those compliments contradicting their own (in this case negative) self-views.
This social-emotional response, in tandem with the psychological and physiological
similarities to trauma, can as well cause Achievemephobia to create a dangerous negative
feedback loop within an individual. The rousing feelings of anxiety and panic in the face of
success or compliment, urging disconnection and isolation from any source of these
circumstances, and further increasing the levels of anxiety and panic should these circumstances
arise again. Much like Atychiphobia, these symptoms within a negative feedback loop then
attribute to one of the most common mental disorders encountered worldwide: depression.
So, what is the significance of Atychiphobia and Achievemephobia? Why is it relevant in
this setting? The answer is obvious: this is a college setting. This is a place of academia, fraught
with the very concepts that produce the aforementioned phobias extensively: abundant testing,
assignments, and projects, all of which fall directly under the very cores of failure and success.
By the time students reach a college setting, these concepts are not at all foreign to them; from
the very beginning of the schooling and education process, these very same concepts are applied
to teach children of what is commonly perceived as universal constants in modern society:
failure is bad, and success must be reached. Whether through the education system children
experience during their upbringing, through their peers, family, and friends, or simply the
societal standards children are born into, the concepts of failure and success along with their
connotations are ingrained into the minds of aspiring generations. Over many years, these
concepts have caused enough of an impact that the terms “Atychiphobia” and
“Achievemephobia” were coined in the first place.

Utilizing an ecological systems perspective, the interactions within the individual and the
different surrounding systems throughout their life—when considered with the traditional
societal views of failure and success, as well as the existence of Atychiphobia or
Achievemephobia—seem almost designed to either assimilate the individual into these
traditional societal views, or otherwise begin fostering the emotions and negative feedback
which then attribute to the acquisition of Atychiphobia or Achievemephobia. The ecological
systems theory itself (also known as the systems theory) places a heavy emphasis on the
interrelationships of individuals and their immediate environments (the micro, meso, exo, and
macrosystems). It centers itself around the key idea “that these systems comprise interrelated
parts and constitute an ordered (or disordered) whole, and each part influences other parts of the
whole. A breakdown in one system will affect other systems and the persons involved in those
systems” (Hick & Stokes, 2017, p. 81).
Due to the interconnectedness of the ecological systems theory when applied to an
individual living with Atychiphobia or Achievemephobia, the unfortunate result is that through
the lens of societal views surrounding failure and success, an individual will experience conflict
and adversity within each system surrounding their life; thus creating a constant state of
dysfunction, as well as mental and emotional dysregulation. This dysfunction and dysregulation
then contribute to the negative feedback loop those living with either phobia experience.
Within the microsystem, the family and peers of an individual can apply mental and
emotional pressure to succeed and avoid failure; the former of which may impose a tremendous
impact on the psyche of younger children, as familial ties and their relationships to the individual
play an integral role in shaping emotional responses to stimuli such as failure and success, and
when conditioned in such a way (through mental and emotional pressure, verbal abuse, or

otherwise) can invoke the creation of a phobia to the allotted stimuli (Weiten & McCann, 2019).
As a result, by imparting these culturally universal perspectives of failure and success on the
individual child, family and friends can unknowingly begin fostering the dysregulation attributed
to Atychiphobia or Achievemephobia at a very young age.
Within the mesosystem, schooling and educational systems thrive on the concept of
competitive test scores, high-stakes achievement, and the perpetuation of the societal
perspectives pertaining to failure and success. Because the nature of the schooling systems in
western culture plays such a large role in shaping the sociocultural upbringing of children within
society, it becomes no surprise that these same societal perspectives are imprinted onto the grand
majority of children moving through that system. Children at a young age are
essentially ”taught” to value and adhere to these perspectives, with any disagreement passed off
as being “lazy” or “unmotivated” to not place emphasis on avoiding failure and seeking success.
As a result, these societal perspectives of failure and success impose a tremendous mental and
emotional impact on individuals moving through their schooling systems. While some accept
this perspective and its impact without difficulty, others may not regulate it in the same manner,
and develop an aversion to its preconceived notions of failure and success.
When it comes to the exosystem within an individual’s community and the impact it has
on their mental and emotional regulation regarding the topic of failure and success, the
ideologies surrounding it are unfortunately drawn from the upbringing a general culture
experiences and reciprocates amongst itself through the educational systems and sociocultural
norms that have been established in the given society. Just as a generation of children experience
an upbringing consumed by the western societal perspectives of failure and success, so too will
they reciprocate this knowledge upon the next generation; repeating the process to establish this

perspective as a societal norm within their community, and ultimately allow it to perpetuate and
ingrain itself in the culture as a whole. While social welfare services do exist within the
exosystem that push back against this unhealthy perspective, it is unfortunately contested by
mass media, workplace and child welfare systems, and other social community influences that
covertly affect an individual’s life. The perpetuation of such ideologies surrounding failure and
success find their place in these day-to-day systems, resulting in the sociocultural acceptance of
the ideology as a societal norm to be applied not only to the competitive educational systems
children are put through while growing up, but applied to many functions and systems beyond
these educational systems as well. It is because of this that workplaces are teeming with the
feeling of pressure through competition between opposing businesses, or even other
colleagues—leaving the idea of failure as seldom an option, and success expected by peers and
employers alike. Even within child recreational systems, the semblances are similar: sports teams
adhere to the objective of “beating” the other team, and children playing lighthearted board
games are taught and encouraged to be the “winner” every time. Even within creative,
noncompetitive activities such as writing or painting, children may foster artificial challenges
with each other to decide who is the “best” at any given activity. To many people, much of this
would be seen in good fun. The idea of friendly competition is how many were raised within
these societal perspectives, and has become normalized within western society. However, to
some people, this very notion of friendly competition only serves to stoke the flames of their
anxieties, and ultimately intensify the budding feelings of Atychiphobia or Achievemephobia that
may be growing inside an individual during their younger years.
Throughout the systems discussed within the ecological systems theory so far, the idea of
societal perspectives regarding failure and success has been a constant factor amidst each one of

them. These societal perspectives were born and developed through the all-encompassing
macrosystem: the system pertaining to the attitudes and ideologies of a given culture as a whole
(Hick & Stokes, 2017). It is within this system that societal and sociocultural norms or
perspectives are created, and spread through any given culture to be processed and adhered to
when applied to the smaller systems, and the different parts of the community they influence.
Due to the inherently competitive nature of western society, in combination with the societal
perspectives surrounding failure and success, the ideologies which stand to magnify the effects
of Atychiphobia and Achievemephobia are found rampant throughout every social system within
a community. These ideologies then become celebrated and perpetuated without consideration of
who may be negatively impacted by the prominence of them within any given society.
There are many theories as to why these ideologies became the norm in western society,
and why competition is rampant and encouraged throughout each social system. Hayward and
Kemmelmeier (2007) argue that a rise of the pervasive aspect of competition throughout
different societies may be attributed to a rise of egoistic individualism. They believe that due to
economic development, which has created many technological and social changes, the idea of
traditional communities has diminished in favour of replacing a collectivist ethos with a more
radically individualistic one. Hayward and Kemmelmeier (2007) continue to claim that
“individualism provides justification for self-interested behavior because it emphasizes
individual agency and thus promotes the ideal that people should be rewarded or punished on the
basis of their individual efforts and achievement” (p. 370). If this sort of individualistic mentality
were assumed a staple within the current western society, it would explain the motivation behind
perpetuating and encouraging current societal perspectives surrounding failure and success. By
diminishing the idea of a collectivist ethos and encouraging personal agency amongst

individuals, the idea of being in constant competition with essentially every individual in one’s
society would be prominent—the importance of achieving success and avoiding failure among
peers even more so. In this sort of society, the concept of encouraging competitive success and
condemning personal failure throughout one’s childhood and adult life would be reasonable; any
individual that didn’t follow this approach would be socially ostracized, and most likely would
rarely see success in their society.
While the idea of slowly-evolving individualistic ethos compelling culture to shift its
norms may be a likely candidate in creating the competitive, success-driven society seen today,
Jim Taylor, Ph.D. (2013) argues that one of the greatest founders and influencers of competitive
culture and the societal perspectives surrounding failure and success is the proliferation of
competitive reality television, as well as other forms of competitive mass media that have taken
western society by storm. Taylor claims that activities that were once considered to be
noncompetitive, freely approached passions (such as dancing, cooking, or even poetry) have now
since been turned into competitive pursuits through the media’s use of these passions to appeal to
popular culture. Taylor (2013) then asserts that “competitive reality TV shows provide viewers
(or [rather] voyeurs) with the ability to live vicariously through the winners while experiencing
the most exquisite schadenfreude watching the losers, without having to face the potential risks
of experiencing these highs and lows firsthand” (para. 13). Due to the astounding influence,
popular culture has shown to have over the mass populace of any given society. It is reasonable
to believe that the rise of competitive reality media would contribute to the increased nature of
competitiveness throughout western society, perhaps enough so to explain the societal
perspectives surrounding failure and success that are so prominent today. Taylor concludes his
thoughts questioning the notion of society no longer finding simple hobbies meaningful without

a competitive aspect, and considering the correlation between increased competitiveness and a
change in the values and priorities of modern, western society.
Regardless of the reasoning behind this infatuation with competitiveness and the
assertion of societal perspectives surrounding failure and success, these sorts of ideologies are
exceedingly unhealthy when encouraged upon many individuals both inside and outside of the
educational systems throughout western society. In a study conducted in the province of Ontario
in 2016, it was found that 33.1% of college students felt anxiety impacted their academic
performance within the last twelve months, and 21.9% felt depression did the same (American
College Health Association [ACHA], 2016). This study continued on to find that at any time
within the last twelve months of its conduction, 61.4% of students felt things were “hopeless,”
89.2% felt overwhelmed by all they had to do, 46.1% felt so depressed that it was hard to
function, and 65.4% felt overwhelming levels of anxiety.
Keep in mind these numbers are not representative of those directly living with
Atychiphobia or Achievemephobia; they are a report of the representative sample of college
students in the province of Ontario. However, to imagine such shocking percentages most likely,
including those living either phobia, the levels of anxiety amassed within such an individual
would be overwhelming. As western society already values success and competitiveness so
highly that 89.2% of a sample of college students feel overwhelmed during their schooling, it’s
no wonder those living with such debilitating phobias experience such harsh, negative feedback
loops. Societal norms and perspectives are not adapted with their wellbeing in mind, and as a
result, they will suffer for it.
While there are studies and methods that have attempted to combat the rising societal
perspectives and infatuation with competitiveness regarding the mental and emotional regulation

of individuals, they unfortunately have been found to be quite rare. In addition, their
effectiveness and relevance towards those living with Atychiphobia or Achievemephobia are
debatable. In an article written at the Western Kentucky University, one study argued a
perspective that society’s current ideologies surrounding success seek to develop levels of
obsession towards success that foster monstrous egos, dangerous and destructive inclinations,
and in the cases of some individuals, even lead to their deaths (Burch, Cangemi, & Allen, 2017).
This study further argued that due to the parents and authority (within the micro and exosystems,
respectively) placing overwhelming expectations on young children for academic, athletic, or
other forms of achievement, this study believed that “many individuals fail to learn the value of
self-restraint, humility and common courtesy because the light of their own perceived
extraordinary self-worth has blinded them, often leading to a permanent fall from grace” (p.
211). This argument undermines the socially accepted positive stigma of seeking success in lieu
of a far more critical, psychologically-based outlook on the impact of seeking success to the
degree that society does today, and the negative connotations brought with the concept of
excessive hubris within an individual.
In terms of self-regulation when encountering failure, Cowden & Worthington Jr. (2019)
suggested a self-forgiveness framework which—while used in their study to combat failure in
competitive sports—could be used to acknowledge and self-regulate the concept of failure
whenever it may arise. Within their study, a stress-and-coping framework is adopted, drawn on
previously researched stress-and-coping theories to highlight self-forgiveness through a
eudaimonic (happiness-focused) process, and ultimately avoid responding to failure “with undue
self-blame and disproportionate ascriptions of self-responsibility, prompting excessive
condemnation and punishment directed towards the self.” Cowden & Worthington Jr. argued this

in the hopes that self-forgiveness could be reached through the acceptance of personal
responsibility, affirmation of the self, and arriving at a point in which reconciliation of negative
emotional experiences can be achieved. These methods of mental and emotional self-regulation
have the potential to aid those living with Atychiphobia, and through a process of selfforgiveness as noted in a stress-and-coping framework, can potentially build enough selfconfidence in an individual’s ability to regulate the impact of failure that feelings of anxiety and
panic at the thought of failure may be reduced.
When tackling the problem of Achievemephobia, the most commonly used method of
therapists, social workers, and other general practitioners is cognitive behavioural therapy (or
CBT). CBT is most commonly cited as “a structured, goal-oriented treatment that emphasizes the
‘here and now’ rather than the past. Clients learn skills and strategies to manage current
symptoms and prevent relapses” (Hick & Stokes, 2017, p. 95). Due to the nature of irrational
fears stemming from excess-ridden behaviours that take place with great frequency and intensity,
CBT seeks to utilize a non-traditional psychoanalytical approach in order to positively alter
thought patterns through the interrelations of beliefs, thoughts, feelings, and behaviours, while
employing methods such as group, individual, or family therapy to apply this approach
(Fritscher, 2019). While this type of approach may take several steps and sessions to accomplish,
CBT is renowned for its use of treating phobias and the symptoms that they carry. Through a
study conducted in 2012, CBT was found equal in effectiveness to applied tension or applied
relaxation, generating large range effect sizes, with long-term maintenance of gains (Hofmann et
al., 2012). In that same study, CBT was also found equally efficacious to supportive therapy,
relaxation therapy, and psychopharmacology when handling generalized anxiety disorders—a
category which is applicable to both Atychiphobia and Achievemephobia.

While these studies and methods do make a reasonable attempt to tackle the occurrences
of Atychiphobia and Achievemephobia, as well as critique societal values and perspectives
which may instigate these phobias, unfortunately, neither they, nor other studies and methods
conducted in the future may be able to generate a shift of societal norms to the point in which
these mentally, emotionally, socially, and arguably culturally unhealthy ideologies will be
reformed. Due to the increasing propagation of pop culture through mass media distribution
(much of which is charged with hyper-competitive ideologies), and due to the proliferation of the
current societal perspectives of failure and success throughout the western culture and each of its
systems when following the ecological systems theory, it is unlikely that a focus on
competitiveness, adoration of success, and condemnation of failure will decrease in our current
society and culture. At this stage of sociocultural values and norms, the most that may be hoped
for is the de-escalation of these phobias at an individual level, advocation for individuals living
with these debilitating phobias, and the resources needed to promote further awareness to the
mental and emotional regulation of these individuals—young and old—when encountering the
thoughts and feelings most commonly associated with failure and success.
While it is concerning to consider that an entire cultural ideology may be producing fullfledged phobias which instigate anxiety and depression en masse in our society, the importance
now lies most prominently with our peers, and the next generation they leave in their wake.
Perhaps if those living with these phobias can be reached and treated, their knowledge may be
imparted to future generations, and awareness may slowly increase within western society. It
may take several generations for this awareness to more notably be seen, but for the sake of our
children, our peers, our employees, our students, our neighbours, our families, and perhaps even
ourselves, it may be worth the effort.

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