Autophobia can be derived from social anxiety. When people with this phobia are left alone, they will often experience panic attacks, which is a common reaction in those suffering from social anxiety. This disease can also stem from depression because when people become seriously autophobic, they start to find certain tasks and activities almost impossible to complete. This usually occurs when autophobes are faced with a possibility of going into a public place where there are lots of people or simply a place that is uncomfortable or unfamiliar to them. This phobia can also be closely related to agoraphobia, which leads to lowered self-confidence and uncertainty of their ability to finish certain activities that need to be done alone. People suffering from this phobia tend to imagine the worst possible scenario. For example, they might have a panic attack and then think that they are going to die from this event.

Another experience that doctors believe leads individuals to develop this phobia is children being abandoned, usually by their parents, when they are very young. This first causes childhood trauma that then persists to effect them as they grow up. This turns into autophobia because they are now afraid that all of the important people in their lives are going to leave or abandon them. Therefore, this particular phobia can come from behavior and experiences that these people have had when they were growing up. However, abandonment does not necessarily mean being left alone physically, this also includes being isolated financially or emotionally. Having drastic, life-altering experiences, particularly causes more trauma which makes this phobia worse. People that have very high anxiety and in this case are more “high strung,” are more susceptible to this phobia.

Although this phobia is often developed at a young age, it can develop later in life as well. Individuals sometimes develop this fear with the death of a loved one or the ending of an important relationship. Autophobia can also be described as the fear of being without a specific person. Tragic events in a person's life may create this fear of being without one specific person, but this often will eventually progress into a fear of being secluded in general.

Autophobia, also called monophobia, isolophobia, or eremophobia, is the specific phobia of isolation; a morbid fear of being egotistical, or a dread of being alone or isolated. Sufferers need not be physically alone, but just to believe that they are being ignored or unloved. Contrary to what would be implied by a literal reading of the term, "autophobia" does not describe a "fear of oneself". The disorder typically develops from and is associated with other anxiety disorders.

Autophobia can be associated with or accompanied by several other phobias such as agoraphobia, and is generally considered to be a part of the agoraphobic cluster. This means that autophobia has a lot of the same characteristics as certain anxiety disorders and hyperventilation disorders. The main concern of people with phobias in the agoraphobic cluster is getting help in case of emergency. This means people might be afraid of going out in public, being caught in a crowd, being alone, or being stranded.

Autophobia is not to be confused with agoraphobia (fear of being in public, or caught in large crowds), self-hatred, or social anxiety although it can be closely related to these things. It is its own phobia that tends to be accompanied by other anxiety disorders and phobias.

Like astraphobia, lilapsophobia is a common fear for children, although less common. Because children are just learning to distinguish between fantasy and reality, major storm broadcasts on television or discussion by parents can cause fear that the storm is coming with a tornadic potential or a hurricane.

Because fear is a part of normal child development, this phobia is not diagnosed unless if persisted for more than six months. Parents should conquer the child's fear by telling them how rare the major storms that hit hometown area are.

Lilapsophobes spend a lot of time watching the weather or checking weather online to keep an eye out for oncoming storms. When a storm hits, sufferers either watch for severe weather alerts constantly or take cover, like under the bed or in the windowless room. In the extreme cases, sufferers take tornado shelter as soon as rain starts falling, usually in the basement or storm shelter. Sufferers who have weather radio or mobile phones can watch the radar and alerts using it while hiding.

Data from the 2001–02 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions indicates a prevalence rate of 2.36% in the American general population. It appears to occur with equal frequency in males and females. In one study, it was seen in 14.7% of psychiatric outpatients.

Avoidant personality disorder is reported to be especially prevalent in people with anxiety disorders, although estimates of comorbidity vary widely due to differences in (among others) diagnostic instruments. Research suggests that approximately 10–50% of people who have panic disorder with agoraphobia have avoidant personality disorder, as well as about 20–40% of people who have social anxiety disorder. In addition to this, avoidant personality disorder is more prevalent in persons who have comorbid social anxiety disorder and generalised anxiety disorder than in those who have only one of the aforementioned conditions.

Some studies report prevalence rates of up to 45% among people with generalized anxiety disorder and up to 56% of those with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Posttraumatic stress disorder is also commonly comorbid with avoidant personality disorder.

Avoidants are prone to self-loathing and, in certain cases, self-harm. In particular, avoidants who have comorbid PTSD have the highest rates of engagement in self-harming behavior, outweighing even those with borderline personality disorder (with or without PTSD). Substance use disorders are also common in individuals with AvPD—particularly in regards to alcohol, benzodiazepines and heroin—and may significantly affect a patient's prognosis.

Earlier theorists proposed a personality disorder with a combination of features from borderline personality disorder and avoidant personality disorder, called "avoidant-borderline mixed personality" (AvPD/BPD).