Fear of spiders is one of the most common fears. Logically, this fear is difficult to explain, because few people will have a friend whom the spider would cause harm. Women fear spiders more than men. Although this applies not only to spiders. Representatives of the fair sex are generally more prone to fears .
Why do people fear spiders?
Psychologists, psychotherapists and psychiatrists put forward different theories concerning why people are afraid of spiders. Among these theories can be identified as follows:
- The social factor . Children endure hostility to spiders from childhood, watching how adults treat them. It turns out that dislike for spiders is passed down from generation to generation. But in some ancient peoples spiders were considered sacred, they were worshiped and believed for the happiness of the presence of a spider in the house. Perhaps if instead of cats people kept houses of spiders, this universal fear gradually disappeared.
- Little knowledge . Concerning spiders, there is a lot of implausible information. In fact, poisonous spiders are not so much. In addition, it's just that the spider will never bite, because he generally prefers not to contact a person.
- The appearance of the spider . There is an assumption that a man is afraid of the huge number of species of spiders and their diversity. This hypothesis has a right to exist, because in the world there are about 35 thousand species of these insects, and scientists often open new species.
What is the name of the fear of spiders?
The fear of spiders was called arachnophobia. This word comes from the Greek. words "arachne" - spider and "phobos" - fear. People who are pathologically afraid of spiders are called arachnophobes. But it is a question of strong fear, which prevents a person from living and causes him to have sharply negative emotions .
How to get rid of the fear of spiders?
Psychotherapists offer various methods of getting rid of fear. But they all boil down to meeting their fears face to face: drawing spiders, watching transmissions, going to the terrarium. If the fear is so strong that it does not allow it, then it is better to entrust this problem to a qualified psychotherapist.