…or words the world would have to do without in the absence of pests
Who would have thought that pest control also takes care of some psychological problems? There is an almost infinite number of different fears in this world, so in a way it is not a big surprise that fear of pests is no exception.
I knew the term “arachnophobia”. But what for instance is Pteronarcophobia? The ones below are my favorite pest related fears:
- Katsaridaphobia: The fear of cockroaches. The primary cause often is a negative experience, even the distaste of a family member for cockroaches can be a trigger
- Peristerophobia: The fear or pigeons. Checking various websites shows that this seems to be a more common problem
- Myrmecophobia: The fear of ants. Some people really are scared out of their wits by ants.
- Acarophobia: Fear of insects that cause itching bites, e.g. mosquitoes, bedbugs and fleas
- Arachnophobia: That one might sound familiar, spiders. It’s one of the more popular fears, made famous by the movie of the same name – “Arachnophobia”
- Pteronarcophobia: Fear of flies.
- Spheksophobia: Fear of wasps. This one is not too surprising, given that wasp stings really hurt and can cause analphylactic shock and potentially be fatal for people with severe allergies.
- Pediculophobia / Phthiriophobia: Fear of lice. True for me to a certain extent, and Mike too after the pubic lice at the office experience.
- Musophobia / Muriphobia: Fear of rodents. I guess a lot of girls have tendencies for this fear (but I have seen a number of men as well who would fit into that category).
- Chiroptophobia: Not considered a pest, but bats can be a bit of an annoyance if in your attic.
Its good to know that whilst we are working on eradicating pests, we are also working on eradicating the root of peoples deepest darkest fears. How many of the fears above had you heard of before I mentioned them?
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Very interesting – I have only just heard of one of these fears – arachnophobia! An infinite number of fears it seems – great post!
did you know that there is also phobophobia – the fear of … phobias
)))
Phobias are irrational fears right?
So if I don’t like big spiders principally because of the alien-kinda way they move (not to mention the speed!), is that still a phobia? I can explain my fear.
PS. I’m using my Nokia N96 at the moment and the blog still looks good and is really usable!
Leyton,
I guess most people can explain why they are scared of spiders, snakes, or whatever pest/animal is there. I guess Irrational means that the object of fear is actually not dangerous (or not as dangerous as the reaction of the fearing person suggests). Hence I guess all fears can be explained with (at least for the person suffering them)”rational” reasons. However, take Bibliophobia, the fear of books as opposed to the real fear of an accident. There had to be an incident which started that fear for both, but while one fear seems reasonable, the other is rather irrational.
To make a long story short, I guess even though you can explain why you are scared of spiders, you still suffer from arachnophobia.
I was also damn scared of spiders, but decided that it is quite irrational and baught a baby tarantula, which I grew quite fond of. Why, when you get them they are tiny. they grow very slow, giving you time to adjust to them. I also noticed that they hardly ever move and usually run for their life when I scared them. Which somehow convinced me that spiders are ok. I had it for 7 or 8 years and now is with a relative, who tries to “de-fear” his girlfriend
I am definitely bookmarking this page and sharing it with my friends.
Mine are spiders, I hate them.
We posted an article, ” 100 Weird Phobias That Really Exist”, and I thought that you or your readers might find it appealing.
Thanks for your time!
Carol Brown
I…I have a fear, not a phobia (not irrational, but several bad experiences…and nightamres) that I like to call exterminophobia, the intense irrational fear of exerminators, or the intense irrational fear of being exterminated by humans. Though, in my case, it would be a bit irrational, as I broke out into a sweat and freaked out when I saw this page, that and I fear, if an exterminator comes to our house and sparys for ants or puts out some sort of poison that it will linger in the air or will somehow get into our food and I will slowly die, and fully aware of it too, a horrific and painful death.
Yeah, I guess it is a bit irrational…I once had a breakdown because someone was coming to our house to spray for ants…it was horrible for me to leave the park and come home, to make matters worse, I found some ants that were still alive, and it scared me even more…to make matters even worse than that, I was 16 at the time! Even at 21 years of age, if I hear about someone exterminating, or even considering about exterminating even the most vile of pests, it is enough to get my heart racing and jump to my feet, prepared to flee if it gets any more invasive.
Hi,
Well that sounds bad. Sorry for the bad experiences you had. Extermination is quite a tough word, what we do is more of dealing with wildlife in the wrong places. Ants are actually some kind of exterminator themselves in nature, killing a lot of otherwise harmful insects (Of course harmful from our perspective, such as caterpillars feeding on our vegetables). However in the house they will cause some issues, such as spoiling your food and disturbing you.
Your fears regarding harmful chemicals are understandable, but then again, all chemicals that are used as domestic insecticides are safe. You should not be present when they are sprayed, but as soon as they dried, there will be no effect on humans. If at all you do not want any chemical spray in your house, there are alternate methods, such as gel baiting for cockroaches, which would be ultra-safe.
In case of doubts or questions, it is always good to talk to some experts and get the doubts cleared. This blog is such a place, where you can post your questions and I am very sure somebody will be able to answer them.
Well, actually we haven’t had much of an issue here in Idaho.
However, I did find out why I was so fearful. I was low in healthy “feel good” neurotranmitters, so i was too worried. Now I’m doing much better.
In regards to your other post on your past fear of spiders, you probably shouldn’t have him try to “cure her fear” of spiders too much. A person who is on a chronic ‘fight or flight’ mode can evetually develop a disease, as chronic stress can cause the body to break down and even attack itself.
I would know from personal experience. I would break out in horrbly itchy and painful rashes if I was too stressed for too long.
Just a heads-up.
To add Benjamin, those chemicals may not be as safe as some deem them to be. I still do understand your point though. The scent of those chemicals also gives me headaches.
Another factor is I hate to see them still alive and possibly suffering. THAT was what my mightmares were about. Being a human, or some other animal and slowly dying, suffering. THAT is what gets me the most, how will they die? Quickly, or slowly?
Okay…one more thing. The reasons why we say a fear is a “phobia” is for two reasons.
1. We’ve lost the actual meaning of the word ‘phobia”. We have generalized this word to mean just a basic or severe fear without looking into detail about the possibility of an event occuring (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder induced fears are NOT phobias, but we call them that for lack of a better term, and misuse of a word).
2. Sensory memory. A sensory memory is where something bad happens (say a baby was scared by a spider in their crib) so they have Post traumatic Stress Disorder. However, they cannot CONCIOUSLY remember the incident, but the fear of said object is still there. If the person is incapable of remembering the evnet, it can be easy to write it off and call it an “irrational” fear when there is an actual reason for it, a rational reason.
One of the main reasons for true irrational fears that come up for “no reason” is also caused by a deficiency in endorphins, serotonin and dopamine. If these chemcials in the brain are too low, a person will not feel as positive, since dopamine is a type of euphoric, and serotonin isa mood regulator, the adrneal glands have to force themselves to pump out stimulant chemcials in replace of the decreased euphoric, causing panic over something, then that sensory/PTSD kicks in surrounding said stimuli.
I’ve done a lot of research on this since my first post…
Wendi,
Sorry I didn’t reply earlier; just saw your posts now.
My fear of spiders did not really make sense, as I had no issues with any other creepy crawlers. In fact, I was breeding and keeping a lot of insects and scorpions out of interest. Hence, my reasoning was that if I would be able to understand spiders and somewhat predict their behaviour, I would not be scared. In that way it worked quite well with me.
In terms of negative experiences triggering a phobia, or fears, well I have overcome my fear of almost anything, but I once got bitten by a centipede. So now, I am really scared having them around.
I do however agree with you that you should not push it. I have a friend who is scared of lizards and when he was a kid his teacher wanted to “cure” him and made lizards walk over his hands, which actually deepened the fear. Chronic cases or phobias should be treated by psychologists as exposure would not help.
Regarding the chemicals, as I said if applied properly there would be no problem. However if you are very sensitive, I would advice you to either stay out of the treated area for an extended period and air it well, or to go for baiting and trapping options. My perception is that the insecticide sprays usually work very fast. However, in your case maybe exclusion and very good sanitation would do the job and keep ants out of your home.
Thanks for your last post (24th October 2010), it was quite insightful. So does that mean that a “true” phobia is rather caused by a general chemical imbalance and triggered by anything? What would be the reason that some people get an Arachnophobia, whereas other people get a Myrmecophobia or something else?
This is quite a fascinating topic and thank you for all your efforts and explanations.
Looking forward to hear from you!
ben
Sorry I’ve been gone.
To answer some of your questions.
1. A true phobia (an intense irrational fear that has no traumatic experience that triggered the fear) is due to unstabe brain chemistry, also blood sugar plays a role in this too, as low blood sugar causes the brain to misfire in a negative session (and releases massive amounts of our most potent stress hormone, cortisol), thus something you see, hear, feel, taste or smell that happens when the brain chemistry and blood sugar become altered will more than likely cause an irrational fear.
2. The real fears from traumatic events ar NOT phobias. They have a trigger from a specific incident that makes the brain flip into survival mode, (fight or flight) and thus makes one fearful of the stimulus as a mode of survival.
3. The reasons why people use the term “phobia” to describe a fear that was caused by a specific traumatic event is due to our misuse (perhaps abuse) of terms, definitions and words.
Thanks for the comment – we’ve got our tech guys taking a look!
Alicia
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