Very few people like spiders. Turning and seeing a Daddy Long Leg in your garage can create responses ranging from immediately wanting to kill it to sprinting out of the house and not looking back. Spiders are adverse looking creatures that make many people uncomfortable, but the actual phobia of spiders is much more irrational and can invade the lives of many people around the world.
Arachnophobia is an intense fear of spiders or other animals in the arachnid family, such as scorpions.
It is actually the oldest phobia in Western culture. The root cause of arachnophobia is much more obvious than phobias I have talked about previously. Venomous spiders have long been a danger and have been linked to illnesses and infections. This fear is learned through the general knowledge that many species of spiders are poisonous and can bite victims, through scientific evidence, television and media, or even a direct experience. Therefore, the evolutionary response to being adverse to all spiders, regardless of whether they are poisonous or not, makes sense in regard to human’s innate desire to avoid dangerous and potentially fatal situations.
If you have arachnophobia, you will likely take action, either consciously or subconsciously to avoid situations and environments where spiders may be present. Unfortunately, spiders are in abundance in most places of our world. They are especially necessary in their abilities to “eat about the equivalent of the weight of the entire human population in insects each day”. Imagine a world without spiders! Though they may incite fear in many, the benefits they provide are invaluable to the earth and its ecosystems as we know them. Therefore, it is important that a person with arachnophobia is able to contain their fear symptoms or work to overcome the phobia as a whole in order to enjoy many of the everyday aspects of life. The positives truly do outweigh the negatives for spiders, despite the small and rare percentage of fatal incidents that are caused by spider venom. In some instances, victims of arachnophobia will choose to miss out on particular travel destinations due to the fear of the known spiders in the area.
Some symptoms of Arachnophobia include increased heart rate, dizziness, hot flashes, sweating, nausea, or even hysteria. In some arachnophobic people, these symptoms can be a result of other things that are associated with spiders. For example, the sight of a cob web can trigger similar fear-induced responses that would be experienced with the sight of an actual spider.
There are treatment options for people that face arachnophobia, just like there are options for other phobias as well. The most common types are exposure therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). An example of CBT treatment would be a therapist attempting to replace the scary thoughts associated with spiders with more rational thoughts about the way in which spiders live. Additionally, there are relaxation methods and even medications that can help ease the anxiety associated with the sight of spiders and other arachnids.
In most cases, spiders will not bother you unless you bother them. Avoid a possibly scary situation by letting them be! They will rarely hurt you if you do not instigate any type of contact with them.
Information from:
https://www.psycom.net/arachnophobia-fear-of-spiders
https://www.phobiaguru.com/fear-of-spiders-arachnophobia.html
https://www.verywellmind.com/spider-fears-or-arachnophobia-2671679
Photo from:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/fear-of-spiders-became-part-of-our-dna-during-evolution-say-scientists-10156573.html
Arachnophobia seems to be very common! Personally spiders don’t bother me (within reason), but I can definitely see why they would bother someone. Very interesting topic! Great post!
I had no idea that arachnophobia is the oldest phobia in Western culture! Also, the fact that spiders eat the “equivalent of the weight of the entire human population in insects each day” was simply shocking! Although this fact certainly demonstrated spiders’ importance, it is somewhat off-putting to imagine this! I also enjoyed reading about the ways in which physiologists may address this issue.
Although I myself am scared of spiders, I don’t think I would mind it if I knew the spider was safe. For example, if I was at a fair or some kind of exhibit and was told to hold a spider, I would definitely do it in a heart beat. Although a different story would be if a spider randomly would appear in my room. I think the difference if having the control over the spider. I always hear exposure therapy to be something that helps most, I wonder how effective it is in the long run.
Even though I understand how important spiders’ function is, the fact that spiders eat about the weight of the human population in insects daily might be one of the worst things I have ever heard. I thought that I had grown out of my (mild) arachnophobia but that mental image has shaken me to my core.
It’s really interesting how a fear built on a survival mechanism can have such a broad spectrum of how much it affects people, and I never would have thought that just the sight of a cobweb could be so debilitating for some people.