What is Arachnophobia? Arachnophobia can be defined as the fear of spiders. It is a kind of fear that is associated with people who are scared of seeing or coming in close contact with spiders. People suffering from Arachnophobia might shout, scream or run when they come in contact with a spider and these can go a long way in affecting their day to day activities.
Technical Definition of Arachnophobia
The word Arachnophobia is a combination of two words Arachn and Phobia. Arachn is a Greek word which means Spider and Phobia is a word which mean the fear of. So Adding the two words together, Arachnophobia can simply be defined as the Fear of Spider
Statistics of Arachnophobia
If you are one of those who is afraid of spider, then you don’t have to panic because you are not alone. A study recently conducted show that %32 of females and 18% of Males are scared of Spiders, whether real or Image
Causes Of Arachnophobia
Just like every other type of phobia, scientist have tried to bring out possible causes of the fear of spiders- Arachnophobia, and they have proposed about three reasons that might be responsible for the fear some people experience when they see a Spider, so here are the possible reasons:
Hereditary : Certain Phobia including Arachnophobia can be hereditary. That is they occur due to the fact that the trait for that certain type of phobia is passed from parent to offspring. To know if your fear of spiders is hereditary, there is probability that someone from your family whether your brother or cousin or even any one of your parent is also suffering from it.
Arachnophobia that is hereditary might be hard to cure due to the fact that the brain was wired naturally by your gene to create a reaction once you see a Spider.
Learned Response : Most people are afraid of Arachnophobia because they see that other people are also afraid of it
Past Experience : Experience they say is the best teacher, the fear of Spider might also result as a result of a bad
experience one might have had with a spider, so each time you see a spider, the experiences flashes back to the brain and a fear impulse will be generated
Symptoms of Arachnophobia
It is very easy to know someone who is Arachnophobic, while some of them may react by mere seeing the Image of spider such as the one below, some other people are only afraid when they see a Live Spider, but in summary here are some symptoms that one who is Arachnophobic might experience when they see a Spider.
- Rapid heart rate
- Dizziness
- Hot or cold flashes
- Feeling of going crazy and losing control
- Chest pain
- Feeling of choking
- Inability to distinguish between reality and unreality
- Trembling sweating
- Thoughts of death
- Nausea or other gastrointestinal distress
Treatment of Arachnophobia
A lot of people have been searching for ways by which they can overcome the fear of spiders, but luckily for them, the most effective cure for the fear of spider is through therapy. cognitive-behavioral techniques is mostly
used in treating people with Arachnophobia.
Apart from CBT, you can also get rid of Arachnophobia by using Anti-depressant drugs. One of the more modern methods of treating Arachnophobia includes systematic desensitization. This is a method that has been used for
treating many different phobias. The goal of gradual desensitization is to slowly eliminate one’s Arachnophobia and help the individual cope with fear.