Arachnophobia: causes of extreme fear of spiders

Spiders often come into contact with us and with our homes. Because they are so small, they can enter our rooms, and stay there feeding for a while on other insects. Some species can be dangerous (although they tend to live in specific territories), but for the most part they do not suppose for humans more than a relative nuisance or an unwanted host.

However, some people have an excruciating and excessive panic about some of these beings. These people present severe difficulties and extreme reactions to the visualization or even the evocation in the imagination of these creatures. It is about people who suffer from arachnophobia.

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

Arachnophobia: a specific phobia

Arachnophobia is the extreme phobia and / or repulsion towards all arachnids and especially spiders. This disorder is classified as a specific phobia generated by animals. It can generate a high level of discomfort or a certain deterioration of the subject's functionality.

Within the specific phobias it is one of the most common, and generally tends to be more prevalent in the female sex. As a phobia, it is about an intense fear disproportionate to the level of threat which may involve the feared stimulus in question, a disproportion that is recognized as irrational by the person who suffers it. The presence of this causes high levels of anxiety (the fear suffered can lead to an anxiety crisis), with what at the behavioral level tends to avoid or flee from the stimulus (this is the specific case of arachnophobia, spiders).

Symptoms of arachnophobia include nausea, anxiety, sweating, rapid heartbeat, escape behaviors, and avoidance or paralysis, anxiety attacks or crying attacks among others at the sight or evocation of a arachnid. In very extreme cases, there may even be perceptual alterations. Fear can also appear early in situations where the animal in question is likely to appear or towards the products of its performance, such as cobwebs.

• You may be interested: "The 15 weirdest phobias that exist"

Causes

The causes of spider phobia have often been discussed by the various professionals who have treated its etiology.

One of the most plausible hypotheses is related to Seligman preparation theory, which proposes that certain stimuli are linked to specific responses due to the genetic transmission of behavioral tendencies that may be protective for humans. By relating this theory to the specific case of arachnophobia, the human species would have learned throughout its evolution that Arachnids were dangerous and life-threatening animals, so modern humans would have inherited a natural tendency to avoid them.

Another theory is based on the idea of that arachnophobia originates from learning, being an acquired response that has been enhanced by a process of conditioning. The experience of a negative event related to spiders (for example being bitten or meeting someone who died from the bite of a poisonous species), especially during the period of childhood, causes the association of arachnids with anxiety and fear, which in turn generates avoidance as an escape mechanism, which in turn reinforces said fear.

From a biological perspective, the influence of different hormones such as norepinephrine and serotonin at the regular time the level of felt fear, which could cause a socially learned or phylogenetically inherited response that most people do not cause problems causing extreme reactions.

Arachnophobia treatment

The first choice treatment to combat arachnophobia is usually exposure therapy, in which the subject must gradually expose himself to a hierarchy of stimuli linked to contact with spiders. You can start with simple stimuli such as photos or videos, to later progress towards viewing of real cobwebs and finally to the presentation of a real arachnid at different distances (being able to reach touch him).

Generally it is usually more effective to do this exhibition live, although it is also can be done in imagination if the level of anxiety it is very high or even introductory to a live exhibition.

The use of new technologies also allows new modes of exposure, both in the case of arachnophobia and in other cases. phobias, such as exposure through virtual reality or augmented reality which allows a more tolerable and sure that the one performed live (after all, the image to be displayed can be controlled and the subject knows that he is not facing a spider real).

It is usually useful to carry out relaxation techniques before the phobic stimulus or in preparation for it, such as breathing or progressive muscle relaxation, in order to reduce the level of anxiety that you are going to feel. In this sense, on some occasions they can be prescribed benzodiazepines to control the level of anxiety or panic in people in situations of frequent contact with these beings or who are immersed in exposure therapies.

Bibliographic references:

• American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Fifth edition. DSM-V. Masson, Barcelona.

• Santos, J.L.; García, L.I.; Calderón, M.A.; Sanz, L.J.; de los Ríos, P.; Izquierdo, S.; Roman, P.; Hernangómez, L.; Navas, E.; Ladrón, A and Álvarez-Cienfuegos, L. (2012). Clinical psychology. CEDE PIR Preparation Manual, 02. CEDE. Madrid.