Zoophobia: causes, symptoms and treatment

Our planet is inhabited by a wide variety of living things. Some touch us and make us smile, while others frighten us. But those who suffer from zoophobia are equally afraid of fluffy cute ones, and unsympathetic snakes or toads.

Zoophobia is a large list of specific pathological fears that are associated with certain species or groups of animals. Zoophobia as a fear of animals as a whole does not exist; fear of mustachioed, furry, winged and reptiles is always associated with an irrational and illogical strong fear of any one type of living creature.

Most often, fear is formed in childhood, when the child's psyche is "mobile", and when even a small animal can make an indelible impression. A person grows, becomes larger than an animal, but his fear is always greater than himself.

Such types of zoophobia are becoming a problem, which are associated with the emergence of a panic fear of animals.that a person can meet at any time, for example, in front of cats or pigeons. If a person is afraid of an exotic creature, which he has little chance of meeting, then he may not even guess about his mental disorder. Agree, it is difficult for an arachnophobe from Oymyakon to meet a tarantula in permafrost conditions!

A mental disorder is considered isolated in any case, since it is usually associated with one specific object, for example, only with cats or only with toads. Less commonly - with two or three objects. But a person cannot be afraid of all living beings at once in principle.

How many animals, insects, amphibians exist, so many types of zoophobia can be counted. Let's list the most common:

• agrisophobia - a panic fear of feral and wild animals;
• ailurophobia - fear of felines, kittens;
• apiphobia - fear of bees and wasps;
• arachnophobia - fear of spiders in panic;
• batrachophobia or ranidaphobia - an irrational fear of frogs, toads, and other amphibians;
• blattophobia - fear of cockroaches;
• blenophobia - panic fear of jellyfish and mucus;
• verminophobia - an irrational fear of worms, parasitic insects;
• vespertiiophobia - fear of bats;
• herpetophobia - fear of reptiles, lizards;
• hippophobia - fear of horses;
• zemmiphobia - fear of moles, mice, rats and other small rodents;
• insectophobia - fear of insects;
• ichthyophobia - fear of fish (both living and dead);
• kinophobia - a panic fear of dogs;
• myrmecophobia - fear of ants;
• bird phobia - fear of birds;
• ophidiophobia - fear of snakes;
• selachophobia - fear of sharks.

A person can be afraid of geese, wolves, cows, whales, and bears, and each of these phobias will have a name in which the scientific name of the animal species and the word "phobia" will be present, which means "fear" ...

Fear of a particular animal (no matter what it is called) is manifested by the emergence of a whole spectrum of unpleasant strong emotions and vegetative signs.

Very often zoophobia is manifested by attacks of panic attack: in a person pupils dilate, he is thrown into cold sweat, heart rate changes, blood pressure jumps, there is a feeling of lack of air, tremors of hands, lips, the zoophobe is capable of uncontrollable actions, he passionately desires only one thing - to escape and hide away from the terrible object. In severe cases, the person loses consciousness. All these manifestations are the result of a sharp release of adrenaline into the blood. A zoophobe can behave in different ways: run away screaming or remain standing still, as if paralyzed.

Mild forms of mental disorder manifest themselves with less severe symptoms, usually everything is limited an increased sense of disgust in relation to the frightening object. The person retains the ability to control bodily reactions, but is unable to overcome his disgust.

People with certain types of zoophobia choose avoidant behavior. They do everything, plan their lives so as not to meet with the creatures that frighten them. And if a resident of Oymyakon, with fear of tarantulas, is not difficult to do this, if he does not decide to go on a trip to hot countries, then the ailurophobe or kinophobe has to constantly be vigilant, be in tension, because a cat or a dog can appear in the field of vision at any moment.

According to psychiatrists and psychotherapists, the most common reason this phobic disorder develops is personal unpleasant experience, which, as a rule, in childhood had a strong effect on the psyche. For example, little Napoleon Bonaparte was frightened in childhood by a cat that jumped on him, as a result of which the great commander and conqueror suffered from a fear of cats all his life.

It is in childhood that the wrong connection is often formed between the image of a certain animal and a sense of danger: the child was barked by a dog, frightened by the unexpected appearance of a mouse, and the next time the brain stubbornly reproduces this relationship. The experience could be traumatic - the child was scratched, bitten by an animal, or it could be the result of a reaction to other people's injuries - the child witnessed the dog's aggression towards another person or another animal.

Impressionable, vulnerable, anxious children may begin to feel fear of an animal, bird or sea creature after watching a horror movie in which the animal was presented as aggressive, dangerous. A child may be impressed by a peer story, a scary story involving an animal such as a spider or a rat.

In adults, the main reason for the development of zoophobia is personal traumatic experience.which had negative consequences. For example, a phobia in a man or a woman can be provoked by an attack by a pack of dogs or a flock of bats suddenly flying out of a gorge. If a person is in a normal frame of mind, then there is a high probability that the incident will remain only a frightening memory. But if before that he was under stress for a long time, experienced neurosis, that is, there is a high degree of probability that the exhausted psyche will be undermined, and a persistent mental disorder will form.

Zoophobia is distinguished by the fact that it is very difficult to treat. And the point is not even that doctors do not know what to do with such fear, which is rooted in the deepest, primitive regions of the brain, but that many patients do not consider it necessary to see a doctor. This is especially true for men who are simply ashamed to admit their fear of a spider or a mouse.

It is even more shameful to admit fear of ordinary cats and dogs., and such zoophobes will diligently avoid situations in which danger may lie in wait for them, carry with them a stun gun, a dog repeller. Arriving at the sea, with the fear of sharks, they will be afraid to go into the water and spend the whole vacation on the sand. But a simple decision (to go to a specialist and get rid of fear) will not even occur to them.

As a result, the phobia progresses, often "overgrows" over time with concomitant mental disorders, and therefore experts advise not to delay treatment. Very effective are psychotherapy, rational and cognitive behavioral therapy, and in severe cases - hypnotherapy and NLP.

Medication for zoophobia is usually not very effective and in the case of an isolated phobic disorder, there is no need to take them. But if the fear of an animal is accompanied by panic attacks, depression, then at the discretion of the doctor can be recommended antidepressants, sedativesthat will help maintain a normal emotional background, improve sleep and mood.

Psychotherapy allows a person to reconsider their fear at its source, that is, to destroy the incorrect connection between the concept of danger and the image of a certain animal, fish or reptile. Gradually, the person begins to be immersed in situations of getting used to frightening images and the fear recedes. At first, the patient can come into contact with a toy in the form of a frightening animal, then with its images (photos and videos), and then with the animal itself, if possible (a shark cannot be delivered to a psychotherapist's office, like a whale, like a bear, but a kitten, a mouse or a cockroach is quite real).

The therapy takes several months and you need to be patient, cooperate with the doctor, and follow his recommendations. It is noteworthy that many former zoophobes who successfully managed to cope with their fear, then give birth to exactly the animal that scared so much - a cat, a dog, a spider in a home terrarium, a frog or white mice.When asked why they made such a decision, many say that they did it after realizing that for so many years they had feared an essentially harmless and sweet creature, and now it reminds them every day that fears and troubles are surmountable.