What is the fear of spiders called and how to stop being afraid of them?

Fear of spiders, as they call it, general information

Many people are afraid of spiders, but few people know what this phobia is called. The teaching calls this problem arachnophobia, which the world's leading researchers are studying and eliminating.

Let's take a closer look at what is meant by the term arachnophobia. The disease mainly affects women. Only 10% of those who are afraid of spiders are men. Fear prevents people from going out into nature and entering dilapidated buildings. Those who are afraid of spiders are called arachnophobes.

Arachnophobia is the fear of more than just living insects. People panic when they see images of spiders and their webs. The main reason for the development of the disease is the fear of a fatal insect bite. However, there are other reasons for the development of a phobia.

What is arachnophobia?

Arachnophobia is the fear of spiders, as well as other similar insects. Psychotherapists call arachnophobia one of the varieties of insectophobia (fear of insects) or zoophobia (fear of animals). Like any phobia, the fear of spiders is irrational, that is, it has no logical origin.

Spiders are not natural enemies of humans and do not pose a particular threat. Unlike large predators, snakes, and cute fluffy rodents that can infect rabies, spiders are practically incapable of harming human life and health. A few poisonous species live in places inaccessible to humans and do not attack without special reason. However, this does not stop people from considering them dangerous.

Speaking about arachnophobia, one cannot help but talk about who an arachnophobe is. An arachnophobe is a person who suffers from an obsessive, manic fear of spiders. This human phobia cannot be taken lightly. Most often, arachnophobes are not just afraid of spiders. They experience horror at the thought of being in the same room with this insect. For this reason, they are extremely careful and demanding of cleanliness.

For the most part, arachnophobes try to avoid places where they might encounter spiders. If this unpleasant encounter did occur, the stress they experienced was comparable to a car accident or an encounter with a wild predator.

For what reasons can a phobia appear?

Research has shown that those individuals who experience fear of arthropods do not know the mechanism for the development of arachnophobia. Let's look at the main reasons why people are afraid of spiders.

Personal experience

Fear of arthropods is often associated with an unpleasant personal experience when meeting a spider for the first time. Parents try to limit the child’s contact with insects, as a result of which the baby develops a dislike for these individuals.

Gradually, the feeling of hostility develops into a fear of spiders and even into a phobia . A negative attitude towards spiders also appears among those people who have suffered from a bite in the past.

Genetics

Psychological disorders are transmitted from parents to children. If one of the adults suffers from arachnophobia, then there is a high probability that the disease with genes will be passed on to the child.

Such fear will control the baby throughout his life, causing him to show a violent reaction to spiders. This fact is confirmed by the fact that arachnophobia is a problem common in certain regions of the world.

Congenital feature of the nervous system

Individuals with psychological disorders have several phobias. Activation of panic attacks occurs when an arthropod suddenly appears before a person’s eyes. Very often, people with a disturbed nervous system perceive the animal’s movements as attacking actions.

Miseducation in childhood

Common reasons for the development of arachnophobia in children include: watching horror films and reading books in which spiders were the main characters. Teachers' stories about ancient species of arthropods, distinguished by their gigantic size and deadly bite, can serve as an impetus for the emergence of fears.

Modern biologists have proven that in the process of evolution, arachnids have not become more dangerous. There is no scientific evidence confirming that giant spiders remain on earth.

Suddenness

The sudden appearance of spiders can cause a panic attack in a person. Because of this, his pulse increases or his blood pressure increases. Persons who did not notice the approaching insect experience severe fear.

Anxiety is caused by the structural features of the spider's body .
A small body combined with long and numerous legs causes arachnophobes to panic.

The Modern Background of Fear

There are modern legends associated with spiders. One of them is due to the fear of a fatal bite. In fact, for residents of Russia, the danger is posed by one type of arachnid living in the steppes or desert, which gives up to 6% mortality and is called Karakurt. A small number of spiders, especially aquatic ones, leave a bee-like sting. All other representatives of the arachnid class are harmless to humans.

The fear of spiders arises due to their ugliness and absolute dissimilarity to the human image. Many arachnophobes are frightened and disgusted by other insects: caterpillars, water striders, praying mantises, cockroaches.

The Other Side of Fear

The opposite of arachnophobia is arachnophilia - the love of spiders. Many people around the world choose spiders as pets. The reasons are obvious:

• These creatures are clean, do not have a specific odor, and do not scatter food debris or droppings;
• Keeping a spider costs little, care comes down to simple rules;
• With all their positive qualities, these are interesting creatures that you can watch for a long time.

A popular inhabitant of apartments is the tarantula spider. It is not difficult to tame an animal if it came into the house when it was still small. He quickly gets used to the feeding regime and the feeling of the human palm. At a young age, the tarantula spider feeds once a week. Adult pets need 2 meals a day. The diet consists of small insects. Arachnophilic allergy sufferers should be wary of hairy spiders. When creating favorable conditions for tarantula spiders, it is necessary to take into account some features:

1. Arthropods are prohibited from being exposed to direct sunlight.
2. Maintain a certain humidity regime, but without getting water on the spider.

Those who have discovered a love for spiders buy entire collections consisting of rare species.

How to stop being afraid on your own

There are psychological trainings that teach how to get rid of arachnophobia yourself. The most effective behavioral technique is to approach a person with an object of fear.

Habituation begins with small individuals and ends with large-sized exotic animals. Those individuals who can overcome their fear will forever get rid of arachnophobia.

Keeping a spider in your home and caring for it will help a person cope with the problem on his own. In this case, the body turns on the mechanics of overcompensation, which completely frees the subject from the negative feelings he had towards insects.

Another good way to independently suppress a phobia is computer games that simulate the behavior of fearful people in virtual reality. Scientists have proven that the effectiveness of computer games will increase by 2 times when a person touches the monitor with his hand.

Symptoms of phobias and their diagnosis

Symptoms directly depend on the type of disease. If a person is afraid of snakes, then when he gets into the same space with the “aggressor factor,” panic may begin. The same goes for other types of phobias. There are also common symptoms that unite all types of pathology. These include:

• Difficulty swallowing and a feeling of a “lump” in the throat.
• Dry mouth.
• Frequent urge to urinate.
• Diarrhea.
• Cardiopalmus.
• Breathing problems, shortness of breath
• Pain in the chest area.
• Dizziness, nausea.
• Noise in ears.
• Deterioration of vision.
• Trembling in limbs.
• Impaired concentration.
• Memory impairment.
• Increased sensitivity to noise.
• Excessive worry.
• Cramps.
• Pre-fainting state.
• A sharp increase in blood pressure.

Often the disease is accompanied by depression, depression and an obsession that something will happen soon.

Training

The training includes exercises aimed at combating arachnophobia. They can be performed under the supervision of specialists or at home. Let's take a closer look at how to get rid of arachnophobia yourself.

Exercise to distance yourself from fear

To suppress fear, you need to master relaxation techniques. The exercises involve complete detachment from the object of the phobia and denial of its significance for the individual. To do this, it is necessary to take into account the characteristics of the human psyche.

People suffering from a phobia of spiders are more afraid of spiders in their own apartment . Fear is often associated with embellishing reality for various reasons. A person can cope with arachnophobia by mentally shrinking an insect to a small point.

Exercise getting rid of your spider

A popular method of treating arachnophobia is a graphic image of an insect. A person who is afraid of spiders is asked to draw a large specimen on paper and destroy the drawing with his own hands.

After this, the individual needs to draw small individuals. Training therapy continues until the person gets rid of his fears.

Treatment of insectophobia

Patients suffering from an irrational fear of certain insects do not often seek help from a doctor. Some believe that this is not necessary - it is enough to simply not meet the object of your fear. Others are ashamed to admit that they experience panic in front of a harmless ant.

By and large, treatment is necessary for those patients whose behavior becomes dangerous for themselves. However, where is the line between a strong fear of a spider with a desire to hide from it and the decision to rub a poisonous agent into the skin, if only this “monster” would even think of approaching you? Insectophobia can and should be treated. Modern methods allow you to successfully get rid of the fear of insects - psychologists at the Best Clinic multidisciplinary medical center have effective methods of working with patients suffering from insectophobia of any severity.

How to get rid of a phobia

Before dealing with arachnophobia, it is necessary to determine whether the person really has the disease. Many people dislike insects, but this is not a phobia. A psychologist or psychiatrist will be able to make the correct diagnosis after talking with the patient and collecting an anamnesis.

Medications

The main purpose of taking medications is to relieve the symptoms of a panic attack.

Medicines to reduce anxiety are divided into 3 groups:

1. Antidepressants - normalize the general psychological state of a person and normalize the functioning of the central nervous system.
2. Beta blockers are used to relieve the symptoms of arachnophobia, manifested by rapid heartbeat, body tremors and fainting. Drugs in this group have a relaxing effect on the human body.
3. Tranquilizers - used in severe cases when previous medications do not give the desired result in the fight against arachnophobia. Treatment with tranquilizers is carried out under the supervision of a doctor, as they are addictive with prolonged use.

It is not recommended to independently select remedies to get rid of arachnophobia. Illiterate therapy has a negative impact on the human psyche and can cause the development of an even greater fear of spiders.

Types of phobias

The disease is of two types - primary or secondary. The first category includes fears associated with one object or a specific situation. Secondary pathology is characterized by the addition of other disorders. For example, if a person is only afraid of spiders, this is a primary species. If, over time, a second, third and subsequent phobias appear, we can already talk about a secondary pathology.

In total, there are about 40 thousand phobias in the world, so it is impossible to consider everything within the scope of this article. The table shows the main types of violations that occur most often.

How to overcome fear - recommendations from psychologists at our clinic

It is worth noting that when various kinds of fears arise that are episodic in nature and do not “enslave” a person’s will, it is possible to try to cope with them on your own. Knowing how to overcome fear, it is quite possible to overcome it.

• Get together and do it. No matter how difficult life situations are, act without paying attention to the approaching fear. Anything you haven't done before or anything new can create uncertainty and fear. How you feel fear, weak or strong, is influenced by the strength of belief, which must be changed by action. Only by doing something will you drive away fear, but procrastination increases it. Accept that you are scared, accept the fear, but do it as you intended. Remember, long thoughts will not answer how to overcome fear; you just have to act! Believe in luck.
• What could be worse when it couldn't be worse? When you need to do something, but it’s scary, imagine the most negative turn of possible events. Believe me, this is much better than the unknown, which is called “the most devastating weapon of fear.” Only by understanding and finding the source of fear can you see that it is not scary. But fear is also a defensive reaction. Therefore, if, after calculating all the consequences of the most undesirable option in which events will develop, fear remains, then it is worth thinking about the need for these actions. Assess your own fear - if it is not groundless, then hear it by making the right decision.
• The decision has been made - carry it out. Get serious about doing something, giving yourself the determination not to deviate from what you have planned - there will be no fear, it will go away. Fear feeds on our doubts and insecurities. He “whispers” to the mind that everything will be bad, negative. When considering your actions and making a decision, always hope for a good ending. Do not allow negative thoughts, drive them away. Remember? The eyes are scared, but the hands continue to act. Without a doubt, make a decision by telling yourself that there is no turning back. Be decisive, and the task of how to overcome fear will no longer be unanswerable.
• Analysis of fear. Don’t ask the question of how to overcome fear, but analyze it. Fear refers to emotions that are stronger than logic. Even understanding the meaninglessness of fear, you can continue to be afraid. “Scroll” the entire course of events in your mind, overcome this feeling in your imagination, this technique will help you cope with it in reality - the model of events is fixed on the subconscious level. A technique based on self-hypnosis - visualization - is very effective.
• We train courage. Identify your own “core” fear. Then break it down into smaller fears that you can begin to overcome. Does not work? Again, break down any fear you have into small ones. Then, step by step, overcome them. Heroes know how to overcome fear. Be brave and you can become that hero.
• Increasing your own self-esteem is a good answer to the question of how to overcome fear. Think only well of yourself, even if your own self-esteem is overestimated. It has been noticed that people with high self-esteem, although somewhat biased, achieve more than those who evaluate themselves adequately.
• Belief in a higher power and a guarding angel. Fear goes away if you have faith that someone, very strong, cares and protects you.
• Feeling of love. There is no fear that love cannot overcome.
• Always smile. Only positive emotions can overcome fear, and negative ones make it stronger.

Knowing how to overcome fear will give you the strength to cope with it. But remember that a phobia requires the mandatory help of a psychotherapist. She is cunning and not to be trifled with.

Phobia Treatment Clinic “Solution”

Treatment should be carried out by experienced specialists with extensive experience. With improper therapy, the patient's condition rapidly deteriorates. Doctors at the Reshenie clinic have been treating complex diseases, including phobias, for 18 years. Methods are selected individually after making an accurate diagnosis. Effective proprietary methods and a competent approach to the problem allow you to quickly eliminate pathologies and save patients from painful attacks. If you need treatment for depression and phobias, trust your health only to certified doctors.

How we work with patients

Treatment at the Reshenie clinic is based on eliminating symptoms and the disorder itself. Main stages of therapy:

1. Introductory sessions with the patient, where doctors provide complete information about the disease and answer all questions.
2. If, in addition to phobias, the patient has symptoms similar to other pathologies, a consultation with highly specialized specialists is prescribed.
3. Work to correct the patient's behavior. At this stage, doctors tell you how to cope with fear and control emotions.
4. Other techniques, depending on the person’s condition, are hypnosis, physiotherapy, psychotherapy.

It is worth noting that the result depends both on the correctness of the selected technique and on the patient himself. If a person does not interact with specialists, treatment may be delayed. To quickly get rid of the disease, it is important to follow all the doctor’s recommendations and not miss sessions.