Musophobia: the extreme fear of mice and rodents in general
The universe of specific phobias is almost endless. Let's say we could describe as many specific phobias as there are people in the world, the result of individual variability, that is why in the nosological manuals only the most frequent.
For example, we can find people who are afraid of humans (anthropophobia), of beards (pogonophobia), of stairs (batmophobia), flowers (anthrophobia), dust and dirt (amatophobia) and many more, these phobias being little common.
In this article we are going to talk about a relatively common type of specific phobia, which can be categorized within animal phobias: musophobia.
- Related article: "Types of Phobias: Exploring Fear Disorders"
What is musophobia?
The DSM-IV-TR and DSM-5 distinguish different types of specific phobias (APA, 2000, 2013):
- Animal: fear is caused by one or more types of animals. The most feared animals are usually snakes, spiders, insects, cats, rats, mice, and birds (Antony and Barlow, 1997).
- Natural environment: storms, wind, water, darkness.
- Blood/injections/bodily injury (SID).
- situational: go by public transport, tunnels, bridges, elevators, fly by plane...
- Another type: situations that can lead to choking or vomiting, fear of people in disguise...
Thus, musophobia would consist of intense and persistent fear or anxiety that is triggered by the presence of mice or rodents in general and/or their anticipation. According to the DSM-5, anxiety must be out of proportion to the danger or threat posed by the situation and to the sociocultural context. Also, the phobia must last for at least 6 months.
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Symptoms of this phobia
People with musophobia are especially afraid of mouse movements, especially if they are sudden; they may also fear their physical appearance, the sounds they make, and their tactile properties.
One of the defining psychological elements of musophobia in people who suffer from it is that it appears both a disproportionate reaction of fear (by focusing on the perceived danger) and a feeling of disgust or disgust.
Although the studies provide conflicting data, the fear reaction seems to predominate over the disgust reaction. Furthermore, both reactions are reduced by Live Exposure, as we will see in the Treatment section.
To protect themselves from unexpected encounters, people with musophobia may employ various defensive behaviors: over-checking sites to make sure there are no mice nearby or ask other people to do it, wear overprotective clothing when walking in the countryside, be accompanied by a trusted person and stay away from a mouse that is spotted.
- Related article: "Intervention in phobias: the exposure technique"
Age of onset and prevalence
In epidemiological studies with adults, the mean age of onset is 8-9 years for animal phobia. There is no evidence of epidemiological data in relation to musophobia.
Considering the various types of EF, the lifetime-prevalence data obtained from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (Stinson et al., 2007) were: natural environment (5.9%), situational (5.2%), animal (4.7%) and SID (4.0%).
Causes (genesis and maintenance)
How does a person come to develop musophobia? Why do some children develop this fear? These questions can be answered by following Barlow (2002), who differentiates three types of determining factors in order to develop a specific phobia such as musophobia:
1. Biological vulnerability
It consists of a genetically determined neurobiological hypersensitivity to stress and includes temperamental traits that have a strong genetic component. Among the main ones are neuroticism, introversion, negative affectivity (stable and heritable tendency to experience a wide range of negative feelings) and behavioral inhibition in the face of the unknown.
2. Pervasive psychological vulnerability
It is the perception, based on early experiences, that stressful situations and/or reactions to them are unpredictable and/or uncontrollable. Among the early experiences are the overprotective educational style (hypercontroller), rejection by parents, insecure bonds of attachment, occurrence of traumatic events in coexistence with ineffective strategies to deal with stress.
3. Specific psychological vulnerability
It is based on the person's learning experiences. Anxiety resulting from generalized biological and psychological vulnerability is focused on certain situations or events (p. g., mice), which come to be considered as a threat or even dangerous. For example, a direct negative experience with a mouse in childhood it can generate a learning experience that the animal is threatening and dangerous.
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Psychological treatment of musophobia
Although it has been stated that phobic fears can subside without treatment in childhood and adolescence, the general trend does not seem to be this.
The most effective and well-known treatment is cognitive-behavioral with in vivo exposure. (EV). Before starting the VE, it is convenient to give information about the mice and correct possible erroneous beliefs about them.
An exposure hierarchy should also be made, taking into account the person's subjective levels of anxiety. Some ideas for working on feared and/or avoided situations are: talking about the animal, looking at photos or videos of mice, go to pet shops where there are mice, touch and caress the mice and feed them… Another option is use exposure through virtual reality.
Participatory modeling to treat musophobia
The EV can be used alone or combined with modeling, thus having the procedure known as participatory modeling; this combination has been really useful for treating animal-type phobias.
At each step in the hierarchy the therapist or other model(s) repeatedly or prolongedly model the relevant activity, explain, if necessary, how to carry out the activity and give information about the feared objects or situations (in our case, about the mice).
After modeling a task, the therapist asks the client to perform it and provides you with social reinforcement for your progress and corrective feedback.
If the person has difficulties or does not dare to carry out the task, various aids are provided. For example, in the case of musophobia, the following could be cited: joint action with the therapist, limitation of mouse movements, means of protection (gloves), reduced time required on task, increased distance to feared object, return to modeling threatening activity, use of multiple models, company of loved ones or animals domestic.
These aids are withdrawn until the client is able to carry out the task with relative calm and by himself (self-directed practice); therefore the therapist should not be present. Self-directed practice should be done in a variety of contexts to promote generalization.