Animal phobia

[Jenny]

There are some people who love animals so much and there are some who fear them which is called as animal phobia. Animal phobias are fears caused by an animal or insect. Examples include fear of snakes, fear of spiders, fear of rodents, and fear of dogs. What is the reason behind this?

[admin]

It happens usually without any reason. May be environment and family situations might play a role.

[vandy07]

I do fear of animals like dog,snake.I also accept that i have this phobia.Well it is natural to fear from the animals.Some fear a lot while some are brave to even catch the living snake and walk around by wearing it on their neck.It may also be dependent on the environment in which we live as they only develop our feelings.I fear from dogs the most.

[LoveLife]

I mostly have a fear of rodents. Critters really irk me.

[khassa]

Well I am also amongst them..I have fear of snakes as well as bulls...But how can I overcome this type of fear??Is there any way to come out of this fear as it has made me so coward

[leesa_lk]

1) Bad past experiences with the animal can cause a phobia. For example: A person is afraid of a dog because they were bit by one as a child.

2) The children of people who have certain phobias may also have the same phobia because that is what they have heard their entire life.

[niki]

i think that sometimes there is a deeper meaning of reason behind this animal phobia. it might be that they have been attacked by it and survived. or something really bad happens between humans and animal for the humans to have a phobia with animals.

Its not true for most of the cases. Some people are afraid of cockroaches. They will not attack.

Nearly half the population studied reported being fearful of at least one animal or insect. Multiple animal / insect fear was present in 20% and 46% had other fears besides fear of animals e.g. fear of heights, closed places etc. fears and phobias appears to be commonly occurring phenomena. Hence the question - Are they normal or abnormal? The abnormality lies in the fact that although fear has survival values, what purpose does fear of a small or harmless creature serve?

[Ecoleman24]

I fear dogs and bears for whatever reason.

Obviously I don't encounter bears on a regular basis so I don't have to deal with that one as much, but my fear of dogs has been crippling at times. It has taken many years for me to get to the point that I can convince myself that every dog roaming around doesn't want to maul me.

[michal31]

Hi

Are the fears of an animal conditioned or is it just in their nature to be afraid of things?

Yes, an animal can have a phobia. “A phobia is an abnormal, persistent fear of situations, objects, activities, of persons. The main symptom of this disorder is the excessive, unreasonable desire to avoid the feared subject.” If an animal, shows the main symptom of a phobia, we could say that the animal has developed or has a phobia.

Are these fears due to conditioning? Depending on the feared object. If the main symptom of a phobia is present in an animal since its birth, it’s an instinctive behavior but if the behavior appears later on in life, it’s a learned fear. Using the terminology created by Ivan Pavlov, an instinctive behavior is: an unconditional reflex and the behavior result from a learning process is a conditional reflex.

Most human fears are conditional reflexes, we learn to be afraid of things and, the same process happens with animals. Example: I clap my hands (neutral stimuli) next to my dog and immediately after I scream loudly,(this will scare my dog.) After a few times, my dog will be afraid of the sound of the clapping hands, my dog is showing a phobic behaviour. Why? Because she associates the unconditional response with a neutral stimuli.

Thanks

[gaty09]

Phobias about animals are very common, there are a lot of people who have fears even to domesticated animals like dogs and cats. Fortunately, specific phobias are among the most responsive of anxiety disorders to behavior therapy.

[doma]

Animal Phobia is an intense fear of something that poses no actual danger. While adults with Animal Phobia realize that these fears are irrational, they often find that facing, or even thinking about facing, the feared situation brings on a panic attack or severe anxiety.