ocnophil

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ὀκνέω (oknéō, “to shrink from, fear, hesitate”) + -o- +‎ -phile with the final "e" dropped. Coined by Hungarian psychoanalyst Michael Balint in 1955.

Noun

ocnophil (plural ocnophils)

1. (psychoanalysis) A personality type characterised by avoidance of dangerous of unfamiliar situations, and the reliance on other people for security.

   Coordinate term: philobat

   • 2018, Josephine Klein, Doubts and Certainties in the Practice of Psychotherapy:

     People who need other people around them much of the time are people whose well-being depends massively on the feelings of others towards them. This alarms the philobats (the spacebats), but the ocnophils (the homebodies) like it that way.

Derived terms

• ocnophilic