A Surgeon's Fear of Operating
Ergasiophobia
Ergasiophobia is defined in the reference literature as a fear that one's own movements will disastrously affect the surrounding world, and only secondarily as a surgeon's fear of operating. A surgeon is the one person for whom the primary definition is not a metaphor.
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What the definition is actually about
The third edition of the encyclopedia of phobias, published in 2008, gives ergasiophobia as a fear that one's movements will disastrously affect the surrounding world, and adds that the word is sometimes used for a fear of surgical operations. It files ergophobia separately as fear of work, related to social anxieties, perfectionism and fear of failure as well as to anxiety about exertion and effort.
The primary definition describes something unusual. Most fears in this catalogue are of what the world might do to the person. This one is of what the person might do to the world, which puts it closer to a scruple than to a phobia and makes the surgical application obvious rather than incidental. Every other worker can make a mistake and correct it.
Which sources contest the name
The English Wikipedia article, as it stood in 2026, treats ergophobia, ergasiophobia and ponophobia as one term with three spellings, covering an extreme and debilitating fear of work: of manual or non-manual labour, of finding or losing employment, or of particular tasks. On that reading the surgical sense disappears entirely and the word means a fear of the job.
The encyclopedia's arrangement is the opposite: ergasiophobia is the fear of consequence, ergophobia the fear of work, and the two are separate entries. A reader arriving at the word will get whichever version the source they land on happens to hold.
Where the manuals put it
Nowhere in particular. The DSM does not define ergophobia specifically, and a case would be coded under the residual category of specific phobia, 300.29 and F40.298, which is the same slot that holds the fears of vomiting, of swallowing and of contracting an illness.
The features described are consistent with social phobia or performance anxiety rather than with a phobia of an object: the features are social rather than object-shaped:
- irrational anxiety about the work and the workplace
- fear of failing an assigned task
- fear of speaking in front of colleagues
- fear of socialising with them
- fear of being hurt at work For a surgeon, performance anxiety and fear of failing the task are not neighbouring conditions. They are the whole of it.
What the single measured finding is
A study of burnout among teachers found that those experiencing ergophobia scored significantly worse on a physical health index than their colleagues. That is the only quantitative result in the sources and it comes from a different profession, which is a fair summary of the evidence base: the word is applied to surgeons and measured in teachers.
The reported impairments are practical. An inability to meet the requirements of the job, difficulty holding it, and avoidance of taking on more. The physical symptoms are the standard set: a racing heart, a dry mouth, heavy sweating, general unease and panic attacks.
Told apart
Often confused with A Surgeon's Fear of Operating
- Fear of WorkWikipedia treats ergophobia and ergasiophobia as the same word. The 2008 encyclopedia does not, giving ergophobia the fear of work and ergasiophobia the fear of consequence. Both arrangements are in print.
- Fear of SurgeryTomophobia is the patient's fear. This is the surgeon's, and the two are on opposite sides of the same table.
- Fear of FailureThe features described, anxiety about the assigned task and about failing it, are performance anxiety. For a surgeon that is not a neighbouring condition but the substance of the fear.
Common questions
Questions about Ergasiophobia
- What is the primary definition?
- A fear that one's movements will disastrously affect the surrounding world. That is the 2008 encyclopedia's wording, and the surgical sense is given after it as a secondary use. It describes a fear of what the person might do rather than of what might be done to them, which is unusual in this vocabulary.
- Is ergasiophobia the same as ergophobia?
- It depends which source is asked. Wikipedia treats ergophobia, ergasiophobia and ponophobia as one term meaning a fear of work. The encyclopedia of phobias keeps them apart, with ergasiophobia the fear of consequence and ergophobia the fear of work. The Greek supports the split: ergasia is the activity, ergon the work done.
- Does the DSM recognise it?
- Not by name. Ergophobia is not specifically defined, and a case would be coded in the residual category of specific phobia, 300.29 and F40.298, alongside the fears of vomiting, swallowing and contracting an illness.
- Has it been measured?
- Once, and in the wrong profession. A study of teacher burnout found that teachers experiencing ergophobia scored significantly worse on a physical health index than their colleagues. Nothing comparable exists for surgeons, who are the group the word is most often attached to.
Added 2026-08-24 · Revised 2026-08-26
Nearby in the catalogue
Related entries
- Fear of WorkWilliam Upson defined it as the art of laziness and a morbid fear of work in one breath. Its own source now cautions that people mistake occupational stress for it.
- Fear of SurgeryChildren fear the masked figure and the separation; adults fear the pain afterwards. A quarter of cataract patients feared blindness from the operation preventing it.
- Fear of FailureHigh scorers on the fear of negative evaluation scale think they are performing badly and are performing well. Low scorers overestimate their effectiveness.
- AgoraphobiaWestphal coined it in 1871 from agora, the marketplace. The situations it covers include queues, cinemas and being at home alone. What unites them is escape.
- ClaustrophobiaRachman and Taylor showed in 1993 that two beliefs drive this fear, and neither is about how small the room is. What the record holds, including the miners.
- Fear of AccidentsDystychiphobia is the fear of accidents, a word that lives in phobia lists rather than in clinics. Its object is a probability, which is why it hides inside other fears.