OVERCOME SPIDER PHOBIA

By Gary G. Nicely

HOW TO OVERCOME SPIDER PHOBIA NO MORE ARACHNOPHOBIA STOP BEING AFRAID OF CREEPY CRAWLIES

OUTSIDE THE BOX ebook publishing

eISBN 978-3-943686-17-3

INTRODUCTION

Hollywood made a pretty bad movie about it – “Arachnophobia”, but for some the movie was excruciating – if they even went to see it. The cast certainly was amazing: John Goodman (“Roseanne”), Kathy Kinney (“The Drew Carey Show”), and Jeff Daniels (“Dumb and Dumber”).

But it doesn’t take a movie to frighten people who suffer from arachnophobia. Spiders can be anywhere and everywhere. That fact alone strikes terror into the hearts of those who hold this phobia in their minds.

This author has never really had a problem with spiders. When I see them, I find the closest shoe and send them on to spider heaven. I don’t want them crawling all over me, but if I see one, I don’t get freaked out. Now show me a snake and it’s a different story. So I understand!

God did not make spiders cute and cuddly. He did not make them fun or even interesting – well, to most people. After all, they just kind of crawl around and lurk in dark spaces occasionally spinning a web for you to get all over your face if you walk through it. Around Halloween, this can be great – handmade decorations! But at other times, it’s just a nuisance.

Then you have to consider those spiders that are poisonous. Media outlets have made all of us increasingly aware of the dangers of brown recluse spiders and the physical damage they can wreak on the human body. Then you have to consider the deadly Tarantulas, and other poisonous spiders that can be lurking just underneath your house.

Perhaps this is why people are afraid of spiders – because they can be everywhere. Arachnophobia is a very real fear for many people. Almost half of all women suffer from a fear of spiders and about 10 percent of men share that fear.

Fear of spiders, just like other phobias, is a very real condition for many people. It is one that they often wish they could get over just for the sense of normalcy. Instead of shrieking in fright at the sight of a spider, they wish they do like I do and just grab a shoe sending that spider into the great unknown. But they’re not able to do that: at least not yet.

There are ways to overcome the fear of spiders. Let’s take a good look at why people are afraid of spiders, how phobias develop, and ways to overcome that fear and lead a satisfying life right alongside those 8 legged creatures.

WHAT IS A PHOBIA?

Phobia comes from the Greek word for “fear”. It is a strong, persistent fear of situations, objects, activities, or persons. The main symptom of this disorder is the excessive, unreasonable desire to avoid the feared subject. When the fear is beyond one’s control or if the fear is interfering with daily life then a diagnosis under one of the anxiety disorders can be made.

So, in essence, phobias are a type of anxiety disorder much along the lines of panic and fear. An American study by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) found that between 8.7% and 18.1% of Americans suffer from phobias.

Broken down by age and gender, the study found that phobias were the most common mental illness among women in all age groups and the second most common illness among men older than 25.

Phobias affect people of all ages, from all walks of life, and in every part of the country. The American Psychiatric Institute for Research and Education (APIRE) has reported that in any given year, 7.8% of American adults have phobias. They are the most common psychiatric illness among women of all ages and are the second most common illness among men older than 25.

Phobias are among several anxiety disorders, which also include panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder. Such unrealistic or excessive fear of objects or situations is a psychological disorder that can makes life miserable for years.

Phobias should not be confused with fear. Fear is much less dramatic than a phobia. According to the dictionary, the word "fear" denotes a painful feeling of impending danger, evil; trouble etc… the feeling or condition of being afraid. While fear is a consequence of a phobia, it is not the definition of it. It is simply a symptom.

Phobia is also used in a non-medical sense for aversions of all sorts. These terms are usually constructed with suffix –phobia. A number of these terms describe negative attitudes or prejudices toward the named subject.

Some examples include homophobia (fear or dislike of homosexuals), xenophobia (fear or dislike of strangers), and even Christianophobia (fear or dislike of Christians).

It is possible for an individual to develop a phobia over virtually anything. The name of a phobia generally contains a Greek word for what the patient fears plus the suffix –phobia as we have said. Creating these terms can become a type of word game, however, few of these terms are found in medical literature.

Still, many people wear their phobic badges around their family and friends. They may be claustrophobic (afraid of closed in spaces), agoraphobic (afraid of wide open spaces or crowds), hydrophobic (afraid of water), or genophobic (afraid of sex). The list goes on and on.

It is not exaggerated to say that majority of people have an irrational fear of certain things or situations, without necessarily fulfilling the diagnostic criteria for a phobia (irrational fear may grow into a phobia when it starts interfering with the person's usual activities).

The most common simple (specific) phobias are those of the insects (arachnophobia in your case), mice, reptiles and other animals. These phobias usually begin in childhood and often disappear without treatment.

While technically we can call anything a phobia, the actual definition – you will remember – involves having an irrational fear of something that can cause no physical harm or trauma. For example, to have a fear of cotton balls (yes, some people do) would technically be classified as a true phobia since cotton balls cannot cause harm.

However, fearing lions or a hurricane does not classically qualify as a phobia because encounters with either do carry a possibility of harm or death. So what about the fear of spiders?

Technically called arachnophobia, the fear of spiders is real, but is it irrational? Perhaps. After all, we, as humans are slightly bigger than our arachnid neighbors, so can they cause us harm? Yes, but only if we are unaware of their presence.

At any rate, even though some spiders are poisonous, we still should not have fear of them. We can exterminate them and be on with our lives. For the arachnophobe, yes, that is easier said than done, but it is truth.

So, yes, fear of spiders does really qualify as a phobia.

When encountered with the phobic stimuli, people are overcome with a strong and immediate anxiety reaction (sweating, palpitations, paleness, breathing difficulty). Gradually, mere anticipation or imagery of the phobic stimulus comes to provoke anxiety symptoms and can lead to avoidance behavior and/or significant modification of one's lifestyle.

It is at this point when the phobia becomes problematic and treatment should be explored.

It can be confusing to try and figure out why some people fear certain things.