5 strategies to overcome the phobia of dogs

Phobias are irrational and psychopathological fears that some people develop in certain situations. very diverse: fear of the dark, fear of flying, fear of closed spaces, fear of needles, insects, etc. What all these experiences have in common is that there is no element that poses an objective danger to the person who has developed the phobia.

The phobia of dogs is one of the most frequent phobias of animals in our society, but luckily today we have a set of very useful therapeutic strategies to overcome it successfully and not let it affect us and condition our daily routines.

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What is the phobia of dogs?

The phobia of dogs or cynophobia (from the Greek "kynós", that is, "dog") is an anxiety disorder corresponding to the category of specific phobias that consists in an irrational fear experienced towards this animal in any situation in which the person is in front of these canids, or even when thinking about they.

It is one of the most common phobias associated with animals.

in our society and one of the most problematic, since the dog is one of the two companion animals most common in all human societies and it is difficult not to come across one on the street in any country.

This type of specific phobia may have as its main cause a negative or traumatic experience in childhood. related to a dog attack, but there is not always a very definite triggering event in the past of the attack. person; sometimes, this disorder simply arises without it being possible to establish a specific situation that has given rise to it. It can also facilitate the appearance of a phobia the fact of having had excessively protective parents during childhood who have warned in excess about the dangers posed by one of these pets, generating an intense and unjustified fear that the person internalizes from their first years of life. life.

Like any other phobia, the phobia of dogs decisively affects the life of the person who suffers from it, even reaching condition their way of life, their mental health and their way of relating to the people around them, especially if they own dog's. Specifically, it is worth highlighting a pattern of behavior based on the avoidance of situations in which the person believes that they may encounter these animals.

For example, you can try to take very long detours so as not to go through streets where houses with gardens predominate, simply so as not to meet one that barks at you or even tries to jump. the fence (something that these animals very rarely do, although the mentality adopted by the person with a phobia has a clear pessimistic bias that exaggerates the chances of something bad happening).

this disorder generates in the person a series of symptoms of discomfort both physically and emotionally, all of them always triggered by the sight of any type of dog or by the simple fact of anticipating that one might approach.

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Symptoms

The symptomatology that we find in the phobia of dogs is similar to that of most specific phobias triggered by any other animal and its symptoms appear both on the physical plane, as well as cognitive and behavioral.

Among the physical changes we can highlight: excessive sweating, difficulty breathing, heart palpitations, excessive agitation, dry mouth, chest tightness, and tremors.

Some of the symptoms associated with cognitive changes are: intense fear, anxiety, panic, a feeling of helplessness, nervousness or stress.

Finally, among the main behavioral symptoms we find evasive behavior, the desire to flee from the source that generates the fear or the desire to cry.

• Related article: "What is anxiety: how to recognize it and what to do"

Main strategies that we can follow to overcome the phobia of dogs

Of course, the most effective and safe way to overcome a phobia is to go to psychotherapy, and in fact in most cases this should be the priority of the person with a phobia. But beyond the therapeutic context, there are certain strategies that can be taken into account by the person as general advice. Let's see what they are.

1. Write an emotion journal

One of the many therapeutic habits that we can put into practice in our day to day life, in addition to going to the consultation of a qualified professional, is that of write a diary in which we write down everything we feel during the day, in relation to the phobia of dogs.

The emotions diary is one of the most useful tools that exist to know ourselves and it helps us to work in detail on any problem of a psychological nature that we want to overcome. This is because through what is known as “emotional labelling”, it is known that putting into words our fears and concerns allows us to relativize their importance and delimit the objective and real effects that these forms of discomfort have on us.

Thus, daily writing down the emotions and experiences that we have lived will help us to better understand what we feel in every moment and will allow us to distinguish experiences such as anxiety from certain similar feelings that we can to experience; plus, they will get us out of that loop of fear of thinking about the phobia seeing it as a problem, which is a first step to overcome it.

• You may be interested: "How to make a diary of emotions, step by step and with examples"

2. Setting short-term goals when facing fear

The establishment of short-term goals is another of the strategies that we can follow to gradually overcome our fears, and it consists of facing our fears whenever possible, abandoning avoidance strategies.

This means, for example, committing to not taking the longest route to work just to avoid walking past a house where there is a dog that barks at us every day. Of course, it is important not to consider very difficult challenges as first goals; we must follow an ascending difficulty curve adjusted to our level of fear in each part of this process.

3. Sleep well

Maintain a consistent sleep schedule in our day to day that allows us to sleep enough hours to rest. Going to bed and waking up at more or less the same time will also help us improve our mental health and feel better with ourselves, while not getting enough sleep makes us much more vulnerable to stress and anxiety.

Resting the necessary hours during the night will also help us to have the strength to overcome any daily challenge and will make us less vulnerable to the anxiety and stress that our phobia. In this way, we will be in the best possible conditions to face the fear of dogs and not get discouraged from the beginning.

4. share our feelings

Another good way to overcome the fear of dogs can be to share our feelings with someone you trust, something that is always of great help when someone has a hard time.

Talking frequently with close friends and family is very helpful therapeutically (once again, related to emotional labeling) and in many cases we will be able to obtain valuable advice on how to overcome our issue. In addition, this predisposes other people to be interested in our progress by overcoming fear, which It will provide more sources of motivation by having regular reminders that we have set out to overcome the phobia.

5. It is important that you know when to seek professional help

If after a couple of weeks trying to overcome the phobia of dogs you do not notice any progress, it is important that you do not delay and go to psychotherapy. The sooner you provide solutions to your problem, the more time of good quality of life you will enjoy.

Are you looking for psychotherapeutic support services?

If you want to attend psychological therapy to learn to face and overcome your most irrational fears, I invite you to contact me.

Am Ignatius Garcia, Clinical Psychologist with practice in Almería, and I work from cognitive-behavioral therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to help adults, adolescents and families in person or on-line.