Fear of cockroaches (blatophobia): causes and symptoms
There are many insects or animals that produce disgust, and in some cases fear. Some of the most frequent can be spiders, snakes and cockroaches. The latter are usually associated with dirt, and although in some countries they are considered a delicacy, many people fear them.
The truth is that there are few insects that produce more rejection for humans than cockroaches. These little animals, which have existed for millions of years (they lived with the dinosaurs), produce irrational reactions in many people.
In this article we will talk about blatophobia, the irrational fear of cockroaches.
- Related article: "Types of Phobias: Exploring Fear Disorders"
What is blatophobia?
Blatophobia is a phobic disorder and therefore belongs to the group of anxiety disorders. Phobias can be divided into two groups. The specific ones, as is the case aerophobia (fear of flying) or the coulrophobia (fear of clowns) and blatophobia; or in complex phobias, within which social phobia and agoraphobia are included.
Cockroaches are one of the most feared insects since they disgust and fear are two universal negative emotions. For many, they are disgusting animals, and despite being harmless, some individuals cannot have cockroaches around.
Jeffrey Lockwood, Professor of Ecology at the University of Wyoming and author of the book The Infested Mind: Why Humans Fear, Loathe, and Love Insects, explains that "despite the fact that the most dangerous mosquitoes can be deadly, they have nothing to do with the reaction that some people have against cockroaches."
Phobias are disorders that cause great anxiety and discomfort., and to avoid this unpleasant feeling, many individuals tend to avoid the feared stimulus. If they can't do that, they go into a state of panic when they see the object of their fear. In the following audiovisual content you can see a totally irrational reaction of a girl towards a harmless cockroach
Causes of irrational fear of cockroaches
Phobias usually have their origin in a traumatic experience from the past, and are learned by a process called classical conditioning, which is a type of associative learning. You can delve into this type of learning in this article: “Classical conditioning and its most important experiments”
Although one of the first researchers to discover this type of learning was Ivan Pavlov, was john b. Watson who made the term popular in the United States and the first to experiment with humans.
In his experiments, he made a little boy named Albert learned an irrational fear of a white rat which at first I adored. Despite its interesting findings and being one of the most important experiments in the history of psychology, today it could not be carried out since it would not be considered ethical.
You can see a video of this controversial study below:
Other causes of phobias
Other experts also affirm that phobias such as blatophobia may be due to other reasons. One of them is vicarious learningthat is, by observation. For example, watching a scary movie in which cockroaches appeared. Phobias can also be due to our biological predisposition, as we are prepared to be afraid of certain stimuli.
Fear is an adaptive emotion that throughout history has allowed the survival of the human species, and that is the reason by which phobias are constituted by primitive and non-cognitive associations, which are not easily modifiable by arguments logical.
- Related article: "Vicarious learning: observing others to educate ourselves"
Cockroach Phobia Symptoms
Regardless of whether they are specific or complex phobias, the symptomatology is similar in all phobic disorderss. They are known as anxiety disorders because they are characterized by strong anxiety and discomfort caused by the fear or irrational fear when facing the phobic stimulus, anticipating the encounter with it and even imagine it. Mainly, the symptoms of blatophobia can be classified into three groups:
- cognitive symptoms: great fear and irrational fear, anguish, catastrophic thoughts...
- behavioral symptoms: avoidance of the stimulus that causes fear
- physical symptoms: choking sensation, dry mouth, dizziness, stomach ache and nausea, headache, hyperventilation, rapid heartbeat, tremors, chills...
Treatment
Phobias cause great discomfort, but they are curable (at least to the point of making your symptoms much less). In fact, psychological treatment is very effective in this type of disorder.
Generally, psychotherapy sessions focus on cognitive behavioral therapy, which is a type of therapy that aims to modify those internal events (emotions, thoughts and beliefs) and behaviors that cause discomfort. This form of therapy uses different techniques from behavior therapy and cognitive therapy, but for the treatment of phobias. relaxation techniques and exposure techniques are really useful. Within the latter, systematic desensitization stands out, in which the patient is exposed to the stimulus feared gradually and at the same time he is learning different coping strategies that improve his welfare.
In addition to cognitive behavioral therapy, which belongs to what is known as second generation therapies, other therapeutic models belonging to the third generation: the Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and the Acceptance and commitment therapy. This type of therapy do not focus on changing internal events and behaviors, but in the acceptance of the experience and therefore the reduction of the symptoms.
On the other hand, in extreme cases pharmacological treatment can be used, but always in combination with psychological therapy.
New technologies and the treatment of phobias
In recent years, with the advancement of new technologies, psychologists have begun to use new tools that help expose the patient to phobic stimuli without the need for them to be present. Virtual reality and augmented reality are some examples.
In addition, with the use of smartphones, patients can also have different apps that help overcome phobias. You will find more details in the article “8 apps to treat phobias and fears from your smartphone”.