Phobia - fear, fear of spiders, cockroaches, ants, bees, wasps, worms and other insects: name, causes, treatment

Insectophobia is the fear of insects. Find out why it arises, how it manifests, how to treat it. Separate types of insectophobia.

There is not a single person on earth who would not be afraid of anything. Fear is a natural, protective reaction of the body that helps us to survive in this world. But it is unnecessary to confuse fear with a phobia, a pathological, neurotic state that does not help to survive, but, on the contrary, significantly reduces the quality of life. Phobias are different, psychology has hundreds of them. Some are very rare and even curious, for example, eichophobia( obsessive fear of speaking and hearing good wishes) or aulophobia( obsessive fear of the flute), while others are common in psychiatric practice quite often. One of these is the fear of insects. So how do you live with insectophobia? Can it be cured?

What is the name of phobia, disease of fear and fear of spiders of cockroaches, ants, bees, wasps, worms, insects?

On Earth with man there are from 2 to 6 million species of insects, the exact number of scientists could not be established, every year they open tens of thousands of new species. Most of us hardly pay attention to wasps, bees, worms, cockroaches and spiders. They can only arouse dislike, and we try, that at least in dwellings we do not have them.
But there are people for whom these insects are a real disaster. At their appearance these insects embrace animal fear with such manifestations as panic attacks and somatic changes.

IMPORTANT: In psychiatry, fear of insects is called insectophobia or entomophobia.

Insectophobia affects people regardless of gender and age. In children, due to the instability of the psyche, it can manifest itself with more intense symptoms.
When seeing insects that do not carry a real threat in general or in a specific situation, in a healthy person causing only disgust, the patient with insectophobia experiences an irrational fear that manifests itself in:

• an irresistible desire to avoid contact with the insect
• inability to hear and accept the arguments about the irrationality of fear
• changes in the somatic nature( tension of the muscles of the back and face, dilated pupils, blanching or, on the contrary, redness of the skin, profuse sweating, nervous excitement, other)
• inadequate, uncontrolled actions and actions( the person tries to run, wags his arms, etc.)

Insectophobia is an irrational fear of insects, in which a person can stop behaving inadequately.

IMPORTANT: Perhaps you waved such a person on TV, or you have a friend who constantly conducts disinsection at home, even if there are no insects there, sprinkles himself with poisons, wears off bracelets, or does not leave the house at all in order to avoid meeting with "reptiles are volatile or creeping. "This person is mentally ill, he has extreme manifestations of entomophobia.

By the way, insectophobia is a fear of insects in general. She has special cases:

• apifobia - fear of bees
• arahophobia - fear of spiders
• blatto phobia - fear of cockroaches
• cognophagia - fear of insects capable of stinging
• mymecophobia - fear of ants
• scotchyphobia - fear of worms, others

Phobia - fear of spiders, cockroaches, ants, bees, wasps, worms and other insects: the causes of

Where does the fear of insects come from? Is it possible to call it groundless?

IMPORTANT: Some scientists call insectophobia an instinctive, subconscious fear that a person has when he was living in the bosom of nature and had to beware of insects so that they did not bite him, did not get into the ear or nose, and so on.

1. Most often, insectophobia originates in childhood in response to a strong experience caused by contact with an insect. For example, a child was stung by a wasp, as a result of which he experienced fear and pain, or a violent allergic reaction.
2. A phobia can also occur as a result of the fright of a child from a terrible, in his opinion, type or behavior of an insect.
3. Think about allowing a child to watch on TV.The cause of insectophobia can be movies and cartoons about giant, warlike, lethal spiders, bees, flies and ants trying to grab land. Adult, this "trash" is more likely to mock, the child can seriously frighten, causing a mental trauma.
4. To the development of insectophobia in a child may result in an inadequate reaction of an adult to an insect. If the mother at the sight of a cockroach jumps to a chair with a shout or, waving and waving arms, runs away from a peacefully passing wasp, the child may think that these insects represent a very real and very serious threat. Well, or just start imitating adults.

Fantastic movies about giant insect killers - one of the causes of insectophobia.

How to get rid of arachnophobia - fear of spiders: treatment

Arachnophobia is an irrational fear of spiders.

IMPORTANT: It would seem that Europeans should not be afraid of spiders, because there are no species near them that present a real threat. But the inhabitants of the Tropics, for example, like our distant ancestors, have something to fear: they live to the shoulder with the arthropod poisonous, the bite of which can become deadly to humans. Surprisingly, they have almost no arachnophobia. This is due to the fact that they simply can not afford because of fear of behaving irrationally, panic can cost them their lives. Wherever poisonous spiders live, they are cautious, respected or deified. But among residents of large cities, the fear of spiders is a frequent occurrence.

Symptoms of arachnophobia can be expressed with different intensity:

• there is a feeling of discomfort or disgust at the sight of a spider alive or on a picture
• there is a desire to escape from a spider
• there is a desire to kill an insect
• at the sight of a spider a man has a panic attack during which he ceases to control himself- starts screaming, waving his arms, runs away or, conversely, falls into a stupor, the rest( in this state a person can harm himself or others)
• arises obsessive desiree protect themselves from contact with the spiders in the future( he is looking for spiders at home, trying to poison them, trying not to appear where they can live arthropods)

When meeting with arachnophobia spider can end panic attacks.

The only effective method of treating arachnophobia is to work with a psychiatrist, during which the patient is taught to take precedence over his own fear. The task is to help the patient to convince himself that the object of his fear is not a source of danger. During psycho-training, the patient gradually comes into contact with:

• objects reminiscent of a spider or related
• images and dummies of
• spiders in living arthropods

IMPORTANT: In panic attacks, patients may be prescribed sedatives or antidepressants.

VIDEO: Treatment of phobias - arachnophobia

How to get rid of blatto phobia - fear of cockroaches: treatment of

Cockroaches in the house are unhygienic and disgusting. But it's not deadly, especially since they can be successfully combated. If you know this problem, read the article "How to get rid of cockroaches in the apartment once and for all: drugs and folk remedies for cockroaches. How to buy poison, devices scarers, traps and effective means from cockroaches in the online store Aliexpress: price, catalog », it can be useful to you.

Blattophobia: a fastidious attitude to cockroaches turns into a wild fear.

But people who suffer from blatto phobia, when seeing the ordinary domestic cockatoo, its bags - ootheki or even feces, feel terrible fear, panic or hysterical, change the frequency of their pulse, their legs grow numb, even a stroke may occur.
With irrational fear of cockroaches it is necessary to fight by methods of psychotherapy:

• by hypnosis
• by cognitive therapy
• by the reception of pharmacological preparations

How to get rid of myrmecophobia - fear of ants: treatment

IMPORTANT: Myrmexophobia is a word of Greek origin: mymex - ant, phobos - fear.

The fear of ants is justified by the fact that some of their species are dangerous to humans( the bite of a fiery ant can cause choking and death, and red ants bite very painfully) and its property( black ants can destroy buildings from wood).Fear is fueled by numerous stories and films about deadly ants. To lead to the development of phobia in children can bite the ants on the street.
A person with myrmecophobia is afraid of the kind of ants, it seems to him that the small insects live in his house, crawl over his things and products.

A fiery ant, its bite for a person can be fatal.

Having diagnosed the patient with fear of ants, the psychiatrist will advise him to desensitize his fear in the same way as in arachnophobia.

How to get rid of apyphobia( melissophobia) - fear of bees, wasps: treatment of

Bees are useful for humans insects, beekeeping products have curative and gastronomic value. But their bite can lead to allergies with a fatal outcome. In addition, the bite is painful, especially for a child. There is something to fear, but not panic.
The first manifestations of apifobia are the desire for a bee to escape from it or kill an insect. With aggravation of fear, a person can avoid spending time outdoors, drinking and eating on the street so that the bee or wasp is not stung. Then there is a sense of anxiety and panic attacks.

Apophobia - fear of bees and wasps.

To heal a patient from the fear of bees, the psychiatrist will try to slowly and gradually bring him closer to the object of fear, and if necessary, prescribe medication.

VIDEO: Apifobia( melissophobia, sphexophobia) - fear of bees, wasps

How to get rid of scolecifobia - fear of worms: treatment of

Worms are ugly and nasty. They, like huge dungeon dwellers, became heroes of ancient myths. Not everyone will dare to take a worm. But those who are frightened of them to the horror, they say that they suffer skolecifobia.

In the treatment of sclesciphobia, art therapy is used.

In addition to the desensitization of fear, a psychiatrist, within the framework of the treatment of fear of worms, can recommend a patient to art therapy - draw a worm by the scarecrow that the patient imagines himself, and then destroy the pattern.

How to get rid of phobia of insects - insectophobia?

If insectophobia prevents living, it must be treated. Do not be afraid to turn to a specialist with your fear. It will help reduce the intensity of fear, will help to see the danger only where it really is, using methods of cognitive-behavioral therapy.

In the treatment of insectophobia, cognitive-behavioral therapy is most effective.

VIDEO: Funny statistics. Ethnophobia