Motephobia (moth phobia): symptoms, causes and treatment

For many, butterflies are one of the most beautiful insects that we can find, however, there are not a few who produce a unpleasant feeling, a fear so excessive and intense that it makes it impossible for them to lead a normal life if they see one of these approaching insects

Butterflies cause as many phobias as phobias, especially moths. Of all the fears of bugs that exist, motephobia is one of the most common, despite the fact that what causes it may seem like a very beautiful animal to most.

This fear of moths and everything else, including butterflies and sphinxes, is the that we are going to talk about today, a specific phobia that is extremely curious as well as limiting for suffers.

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What is motephobia?

Motephobia, from the German "motte" (moth) and from the Greek "phobia" (fear) is the irrational, persistent and unjustified fear of moths, although it also applies to diurnal butterflies.

Its flight, erratic and unpredictable, together with its size, the colors of its wings and the fur that some species have are some of the reasons why people who suffer from this phobia have a pathological aversion to moths. The fear of moths is a specific type of phobia, specifically of the animal type (zoophobia).

It should not be thought that motephobia is a simple disgust for these animals. It is common to feel repulsion towards some species of insects, the case of moths being justified taking into account that they can lay their eggs in our food and damage our clothes.

Motephobia goes one step further, causing real fear, anxiety and great discomfort to the person who suffers from it. The daily actions of patients suffering from motephobia are greatly affected by the presence of moths, making them unable to face their fear without help from others.

Motephobia is a specific type of phobia, based on extreme repulsion and pathological fear of moths. Although disgust towards moths is relatively common, motephobia implies a high fear, not justified and that can greatly limit the person who suffers it.. Many people who are afraid of moths are also afraid of similar insects, such as butterflies, sphinxes or peacocks, which is why some prefer to use the term lepidopterophobia, which would be the fear of insects of the order of Lepidoptera in which we find precisely moths and Similar.

Symptoms

As with the rest of specific phobias, both for animals and for other phobic situations and objects, people with motephobia experience one type of symptoms or another depending on the severity of their condition. Among the most notable symptoms we find:

• Panic attacks
• Increased heart rate
• Nausea and dizziness
• Tingling sensation
• Feeling of choking and shortness of breath
• Difficulty speaking and thinking clearly
• Sweating
• Shaking chills
• Numbness
• Chest pain
• Feeling of loss of control
• Instant and temporary paralysis
• High fear
• Anxiety and stress
• Dry mouth
• Tremors
• Running away, crying, or screaming hysterically

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Causes

The causes behind the appearance of motephobia are very varied, as it will depend on the vital history of each patient. The reasons that have led a person to feel true panic at the appearance of a moth are very varied. Specific phobias can arise without a specific apparent cause, although they usually appear during a specific moment of life and because of the experience of a highly stressful and even traumatic situation.

In many cases, motephobia originates in childhood. Normally, young children are not afraid of insects and can even play with them without any qualms. However, it may happen that having overprotective parents, worried that their offspring will play with a poisonous bug, tell them to stop playing with those little animals and the little one associates the idea that any insect or small animal can harm him, including moths.

It may also be the case that the little one was playing in the field and, suddenly, a moth appeared that with its erratic and unpredictable flight scared him. As sometimes these insects fly towards us and do not want to leave us alone, the child lived the experience as an attack and due to his little knowledge of the world and not knowing if that animal was dangerous or not, he associated the figure of the moth with that of that very dangerous animal, which will go for it at the slightest chance it encounters one of they.

Some species of moths can cause allergic reactions, something that if lived will remain as a bad memory without a doubt. The person who experienced this reaction, whether she was small or an adult, may begin to develop a pathological fear of these insects., a fear that really has its reason because truly the presence of that insect supposes a health problem and For this reason, he must flee from the moths, protect himself from them, to avoid suffering the unpleasant effects of friction with the animal.

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Treatment

The treatment of motephobia is the same that we can find to treat other types of specific phobias related to animals. Among the most common techniques that we find in the treatment of animal phobias we have:

1. Cognitive behavioral therapy

The basis of cognitive-behavioral therapy applied in phobic disorders is restructuring negative thinking about what you are afraid of, in this case, moths and other lepidopterans.

It will try to modify the thoughts, emotions and behaviors towards these animals through tolerance to anxiety provoking and the acquisition of relaxation techniques for when the patient encounters a moth in his life everyday.

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2. Exposure therapy

Exposure therapy is a classic in the treatment of specific phobias. This technique consists of exposing the patient to their phobic object, in this case the moths, doing it gradually and making sure that each phase that passes the individual gets used to the stimulus that is presented to you. The goal of therapy is for the patient to tolerate the presence of the moths, and become familiar with them.

It is a long process, which requires a lot of perseverance, and it is also considered somewhat invasive because at some point in the therapy the presence of real moths will be required for the However, if this is achieved, the patient will have acquired a real experience to control her fears, an experience that she can apply in the world real.

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3. Medicines

Finally, we have drugs as a therapeutic option. This is a rarely used alternative for this particular option, as it focuses more on the symptoms than on the root of the problem. It is only recommended in the most extreme cases, where the patient suffers so much anxiety that he cannot lead a normal life at all, has severe reactions, or suffers from very intense panic attacks.

Among the medications used to treat motephobia and other animal phobias we have the use of antidepressants, anxiolytics or anticonvulsants to calm the patient's feeling of danger, although, like all drugs, these can have effects annoying side effects.

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Curiosities about this phobia

Apparently, motephobia is a fairly common specific phobia, so much so that there are not a few blogs that deal with cases of this fear. In fact there is a community in cyberspace called "I hate Butterflies", which brings together people who fear, hate or are disturbed by both moths and Lepidoptera in general. In this community, its users share their unfortunate stories with these insects, the trauma they have caused and the discomfort caused by seeing a moth.

Nicole Kidman, the famous Australian actress who participated in films like "Batman Forever" (1995), "Moulin rouge!" (2001) or "Australia" (2008) suffers from motephobia. She herself has stated in the occasional interview that the fear caused by this type of insects conditions her so much that, seeing one outside her house, makes it impossible for her to leave it.

The fear of moths is just one of the many fears of bugs that exist. There are many phobias in which the protagonist are these little animals, usually belonging to the phylum of arthropods (insects, arachnids, myriapods and crustaceans). The fear of moths competes with other common phobias such as the fear of spiders and scorpions (arachnophobia) or cockroaches (catsaridaphobia). The fear of insects in general, although it also applies to arachnids and myriapods, is called entomophobia.