Bovinophobia: definition, symptoms, causes and treatment

We know that there are many phobias, since you can have almost any stimulus in excess. Animal phobias, for example, are very typical (especially in childhood); Today we will talk about one of them: bovinephobia.

As its name can give us to intuit, bovinophobia is the phobia of cows or bovine cattle (that is, cows, bulls and oxen). Why does this phobia appear? How can it be treated? We will answer these questions throughout this article.

• Related article: "Types of Phobias: Exploring Fear Disorders"

Bovinophobia: what is it?

Bovinophobia, also called taurophobia, is the phobia of cows or cattle or cattle (which includes cows, bulls, and oxen). Specifically, it is a specific phobia, where the feared stimulus or situation can be specified (in this case, cows or cattle).

Let's remember that specific phobias are actually anxiety disorders, cataloged as such in the DSM-5 (Diagnostic Manual of Mental Disorders). The main characteristic of phobias is an intense, irrational and disproportionate fear of a specific stimulus. In addition to this main symptom, other associated symptoms appear, as we will see later.

Specific phobias, according to the DSM-5, can be of 5 different types: phobia of natural events, animal phobia, blood/injection/injury phobia, situational phobias and other types of phobia. Thus, bovinophobia corresponds to a phobia of the animal type.

Origin

Where does this term come from? “Bovinophobia” comes from the Latin “bovi”, which means “ox or cattle”, and the Greek “phobos”, which means “fear”. In the case of its equivalent term, "taurophobia", "taurus" comes from Latin, and means "bull".

cattle types

Before delving into the symptoms, causes and treatments of bovinophobia, we are going to specify well what kind of animals includes cattle (the phobic object of bovinophobia).

First of all, we must know that there are five types of cattle, depending on the species that is domesticated or bred. Livestock is that set of animals raised by humans; These are mainly mammals, which are bred to be able to obtain and market their meat and derivatives (milk, cheese, wool...).

The five types of cattle mentioned are:

• Bovine or bovine (phobic object of bovinophobia): cows, bulls and oxen.
• Sheep: sheep.
• Caprine: goats.
• Porcine: pigs.
• Equine or horse: horses and mares.

Cattle

Cattle include these three mentioned animals; cows (females), bulls (males) and oxen. They are herbivorous (meat-eating) and domesticated mammals, belonging to the genus Bos, of the family Bovidos.

Regarding their physical characteristics, they are large animals, with two horns (or hollow antlers) that they keep throughout their lives.

Symptoms

The symptoms of bovinophobia correspond to the typical symptoms of a specific phobia, applied, in this case, to the intense fear of cows, oxen, and bulls.

1. anxiety or fear

The main symptom of bovinophobia is anxiety or intense fear at the possibility of being near cows or cattle. Logically, people who live in urban environments will hardly find themselves in such a situation.

In this way, they will be people who live in rural environments who are more likely to suffer more from this anxiety symptom.

On the other hand, it is also true that this anxiety can appear when seeing cows or cattle on television, without having to see it in person.

2. Avoidance

The person who suffers from bovinophobia also manifests this other symptom, which is avoidance; thus, avoid being in places where you can see cows or cattle (such as farms, rural environments...).

Thus, you can avoid going on certain field trips for this reason. If avoidance does not appear, the situation is endured with high anxiety (for example being near the cows).

3. physical symptoms

In bovinophobia, associated with anxiety, other psychophysiological symptoms appear, which may or may not cause a panic attack (anxiety attack) in the individual. These symptoms can be choking sensations, sweating, tachycardia, dry mouth, dizziness, vomiting, nausea... and they have to do with the sympathetic nervous system.

4. Impaired quality of life

While it is true that in order to diagnose a phobia there must be interference or deterioration in the individual's life, what happens if In this case, the person lives in an urban environment (for example, a city) where it will not be very common for them to see cows, oxen and/or Bulls? That this symptom will not suffer.

The debate is, are we talking about a case of bovinophobia then? Surely yes, though due to environmental circumstances, this disorder does not cause this interference in the patient, Fortunately.

Causes

What are the causes of bovinophobia? As in any specific phobia, one of the most probable causes is having experienced a traumatic situation with cows, bulls or oxen (or even similar animals). This situation may have been a bite, a blow, an attack, etc., by these animals.

More related traumatic situations can be the fact of having seen bullfights or other types of events, where bullfighters die. This includes having seen it in person or on the news. Specifically, in Spain, since the year 1700, it is estimated that some 325 bullfighters have lost their lives during a bullfight. Listen to stressful or violent stories related to cattle it can also cause bovinophobia.

On the other hand, since these animals are of large proportions, and even have horns, all of this facilitates to be afraid of this type of mammal (especially the bull), since in itself they can cause certain I respect; however, in the case of bovinophobia, this fear is excessively intense and incapacitating.

• You may be interested in: "Types of Anxiety Disorders and their characteristics"

Treatment

Regarding the treatment of bovinophobia, as long as this disorder interferes in the patient's life and he wants to be treated, we find different options. The main ones are two: exposure therapy and cognitive therapy (they are the most effective therapies to treat specific phobias).

Through the first, the patient would be exposed to the phobic stimulus (in this case, the cow, the bull or the ox). One option is to do it first through static images (for example on paper), later through videos, to finish with a real experience, in which you are close to these animals (in between there would be more steps and items).

Ideally, the person could end up approaching them and touching them (in a safe and controlled environment). All these steps, logically, would be gradual (a previous hierarchy would be carried out).

Regarding cognitive therapy for bovinophobia, the patient will be sought to acquire coping strategies for anxiety (for example through breathing), and to eliminate negative, dysfunctional and irrational thoughts in relation to these types of animals.