The obsessive fear of a person who does not allow him to live normally is called a phobia. Phobias differ from the usual fears inherent in many people in that the person ceases to act reasonably, is subjected to panic attacks, his health worsens, convulsions are observed, he begins to suffocate from a lack of oxygen, and his heart palpitates.
Phobias are diseases, they can and should be treated. Consider the name of the fear of insects, what varieties exist and how to deal with them.
Definition
Representatives of arthropods are often unpleasant to people, causing one of its kind an attack of disgust. In science, the fear of insects was called insectophobia, various reasons could cause it. You can distinguish ordinary fear, hostility from a phobia by the following signs:
- Feeling fear and horror, a person tries to instinctively fence himself off from an object, which often saves his life. And insectophobia prompts its victim to act illogically.
- Seeing the object of his phobia - a cockroach, bug, fly or other insect, a person experiences not just discomfort, but a serious deterioration in well-being. He has cramps in his throat, breathing becomes difficult, an irresistible weakness is felt throughout his body, trembling in his limbs, and cramps.
- Panic fear of insects can be accompanied by tantrums, a sense of unreality of what is happening.
Signs of phobia, therefore, are somatic changes and lack of logic in actions. Obsessive fear can occur in any person. It does not depend on age, gender, occupation.
Panic attacks
So, phobia fear of insects is called insectophobia. The disease can also be called entomophobia. It is often accompanied by panic attacks that occur at the sight of a bug or ant. The duration of such conditions is no more than 15-20 minutes.
People experience an attack of extreme anxiety, fear, which is accompanied by a physical deterioration in well-being: increased sweating, feeling cold in the limbs, trembling, nausea, dizziness.
A person in this state thinks that he will soon die or go crazy, sometimes people completely lose control of themselves.
Phobia
Fear of insects and spiders (the second is called arachnophobia) can create many problems for people, interfering with normal life. So, an ordinary person, accidentally encountering a bug, will only experience disgust, but a person suffering from insectophobia will try by all means to avoid contact with the object of his fear, sometimes even putting his life in danger (he can run out onto the roadway, fleeing a fly). At this moment, his actions are irrational, he does not listen to logical arguments, commits uncontrolled acts.
Fear of insects can cause such serious physical changes in health, such as:
- dizziness;
- dilated pupils;
- heart palpitations;
- pallor of the skin;
- trembling legs and arms.
This irrational fear deprives a person of the ability to think and makes him act unreasonably.
Causes
We learned the name of the disease "fear of insects," this is insectophobia. Now consider the reasons that could cause its appearance. There are several of them:
- The psychological trauma suffered in childhood, caused by arthropods in one way or another. For example, a child at 3 years old was bitten by a wasp, he began an allergic reaction, due to swelling of the throat, he could not breathe and nearly suffocated. After that, for the rest of his life, he can maintain panic in the face of all stinging insects.
- Often a similar phobia is inherited: if a mother falls into a stupor at the sight of a cockroach, then the risk is great that her son will suffer a similar panic fear.
- Stress and depression can provoke the appearance of fear of insects.
Some researchers believe that the fear of various representatives of the arthropod world is genetically embedded in human nature itself and has come to us from distant ancestors who are completely dependent on nature and were terrified of stinging poisonous insects, from which bites a person died in agony.
Varieties
Phobia fear of insects is the most common name, in psychiatry it is customary to distinguish several of its varieties:
- Arachnophobia is the fear of spiders.
- Melissophobia (apiphobia, ssexophobia) - fear of wasps and bees.
- Knidophobia - horror of stinging arthropods.
- Blattophobia is the fear of cockroaches.
- Mirmecophobia is a paralyzing fear of ants.
This is not a complete list of forms of fear of insects, but the most common options. Next, we will get to know some of them in more detail.
Blatophobia
What is called the fear of insects and bugs, we have already learned that this is insectophobia, but within this phobia blattophobia stands out - a panicky horror for specific representatives - cockroaches. One should distinguish such uncontrolled, irrational horror from simple rejection.
A person suffering from blatophobia at the sight of even a small individual falls into panic, his hands and feet go numb, his heart begins to beat more often, his forehead is covered with cold sweat. The disease is very serious, because an unpleasant encounter can even cause a stroke.
Often people suffering from such a phobia fear that the cockroaches will penetrate their ears or crawl into their mouths and end up inside the body. The emergence of such a phobia is facilitated by stressful situations, watching in childhood horror films about giant killer cockroaches.
Lepidopterophobia
This type of insectophobia is a fear of butterflies. The cause of phobia can be chronic stress, a certain unpleasant situation associated with butterflies, which left a serious psychological trauma. Most often, children are affected by phobias, but it can pass into adulthood.
The fight against phobia is best started at a young age. At first, parents can show the child pictures of butterflies, convincing that there is nothing wrong with them, if you achieve certain successes, you can visit the museum with him and look at the exhibits nearby. If all efforts are in vain, you will have to consult a psychiatrist.
Mirmecophobia
This compound word means panic fear of ants, both dangerous for humans, having a poisonous bite, and almost harmless - black and red.
An interesting fact is that people in tropical countries, where life-threatening ants actually live, are rarely exposed to myrmecophobia, unlike Europeans living in countries where insects are much less toxic.
Treatment
Consider how to get rid of fear of insects. First of all, you should visit a psychiatrist who, after a conversation and special tests, will help to determine whether it is really about insectophobia. If diagnosed, there are several treatment options.
Hypnotherapy is often used, during the procedure, the specialist inspires the patient with the groundlessness of his fears, helps to tune in to positive, stop experiencing insurmountable horror of insects. The complexity of the method is that only a real professional can help the patient.
To alleviate the condition of a person suffering from insectophobia, various herbal preparations and decoctions can be used, for example, preparations based on mint, peony, hawthorn, lemon balm. However, they will help only in case of minor manifestations of phobia.
In the most difficult cases, the psychiatrist can prescribe medications that will help the patient overcome depression, get rid of suicidal thoughts and panic attacks. Most often, benzodiazepines are used for these purposes. It is important to remember that with their effectiveness they have a very serious similar effect - they are addictive. Also, to improve the patient's condition, the psychiatrist can prescribe antidepressants to him.
Effective Fighting Methods
Consider how to overcome the fear of insects on your own. On the advice of a psychiatrist, you can use one of the following methods:
- "Burnout reaction." If you meet the object of the phobia on an ongoing basis, the fear will become less noticeable and eventually disappear altogether. Therefore, it is possible and necessary to visit insect museums, not to try to avoid encounters with unpleasant arthropods, to try to look at your phobia “in the face”.
- To relax. It helps yoga, meditation, preferably in the fresh air. This makes it possible to tune in to positive waves and stop being terrified at every encounter with a bug or cockroach. Well-established and special breathing exercises.
- Art therapy. The specialist suggests that the patient depict the object of his fear on paper, and then destroy it.
- The treatment of humor. Funny can not be scary, so a great way to stop being afraid is to laugh. You can watch funny pictures or figures of insects, humorous programs about them.
You should not expect rapid success, work on yourself should be carried out in stages, carefully, each success should inspire. You can arrange your meetings not with living insects, but with their images, dummies, only when these "dates" will be perceived as something ordinary, go on to interact with real arthropods. It is very important not to allow hypercompensation of fear, this will aggravate phobias even more, so getting used to hated insects should be very careful and gradual.
Insectophobia is a serious disease that must be treated. In neglected cases, an accidental encounter with an insect can lead to serious consequences, up to a neurotic reaction and attempts at suicide.