Did you know?

Did you know?

4% to 9 % of Individuals have an animal phobia.

Wait! What is animal phobia?

An animal phobia is a feeling of anxiety and fear triggered by the sight or experience of animals. For many people, symptoms can begin in childhood and endure to adulthood.

So, what does animal phobia look like?

Animal characteristics such as noises, appearances and movements are all elements that cause high anxiety for individuals with animal phobia. High anxiety due to these characteristics leads to avoidant behaviours, negatively influencing interpersonal relationships, work, and home life.

Understanding Anxiety and Fear in Animal Phobias

To help us understand anxiety and feelings of fear in humans caused by animal phobias, we can look at the predatory imminence theory. The theory portrays that anxiety, fear and panic exist on various levels, and feelings become stronger as the predator approaches.

The theory consists of the following feelings:

Anxiety: Predicting potential danger from threat.

Fear: The threat is close, although it is not attacking

Panic: An attack is now happening

By delving into these reactions, we understand the behavioural features contributing to human phobic responses to animals.

How Animal Phobia Affects the Mind and Body

Fear and anxiety of animal phobia affect the human mind and body through thoughts of distress (evaluative judgments), avoidant behaviours such as avoiding a dog when crossing the road and physical reactions such as racing heart.

But what do these factors mean?

When humans begin to feel threatened, we experience feelings of anxiety and fear, high-risk awareness, and absentmindedness. The human body reacts to these feelings through increased heart rate, elevated blood pressure, restlessness, and changes in facial expressions. When faced with anxiety and fear, we indulge in a wide range of avoidance behaviours, from escaping and fighting to freezing. Our mental processes, physiological responses and avoidance behaviours range from strong to fragile.

Science behind anxiety and fear from animal phobia

Anxiety and fear are processed by two different systems in our brains. One system is responsible for our subconscious responses, and the other is for our conscious emotions. Reactions, thoughts, and predicting threats are all characteristics our brain is responsible for. The main differencesbetween fear and anxiety are dependent on the level of mental processing required by our minds.

Not only fear and anxiety but disgust, too.

Feelings of disgust may also be present in animal phobias as they lead to anxiety and avoidance behaviours.

Disgust can be caused by :

Animal features (e.g. slimy, wet or furry)

Particular animal behaviours such as eating habits.

Associations with disease or negative information from culture, parents of society.

Studies have indicated there is a connection between symptoms of animal phobia and increased sensitivity to disgust, suggesting that disgust plays a part in developing and maintaining animal phobias.

So, how are animal phobias developed?

Research has shown that environmental influences can lead to animal phobias as our brains link these influences with danger. Some environmental influences include:

Direct contact with the animal (associative learning)

Observing someone else's fear reactions to the animal (vicarious learning)

Being told the animal is dangerous (negative information transfer).

Stressful life events or overprotective parenting.

Research suggests that animal phobias can also be influenced by genetics, stating that 10-15% of children who tend to have strong reactions to new situations are more prone to developing anxiety disorders and phobias.

What Keeps Phobias Going Strong?

Once a phobia becomes evident, it has the potential to be strengthened through the following factors:

Avoidance behaviours: Choosing to stay away from the feared animal offers an instantaneous feeling of relief, strengthening the tendency to avoid the animal.

Cognitive biases: By selectively developing potential threats, exaggerating the level of danger, and engaging in catastrophic thinking, the process of unlearning fear becomes restricted.

Essentially, phobias continue to exist because avoiding the trigger develops as a habit. At the same time, cognitive distortions maintain an exaggerated sense of danger.

So How Can we Treat Animal Phobia ?The gold standard treatment for treating animal phobia is Exposure Therapy

What is exposure therapy?

Exposure therapy is a treatment that focuses on exposing individuals to the cause of their anxiety by facing their phobias and triggers in an environment that is secure and controlled. Exposure therapy intends to remove the connections between their fears and the negative thoughts that accompany those fears.

Why exposure therapy?

Studies have found that phobias are learned conditions that can be overcome through exposure to the source that causes individuals anxiety and fear.

The Evolution of Exposure Therapy

Early exposure therapy relied on progressively imagining exposure to anxieties (systematic desensitisation). Research then discovered that relaxing might make imagined exposures feel more natural, reducing the efficacy of early exposure therapy. As a result, flooding therapy became more popular. Anxieties and phobias were better treated with flooding therapy, which entails extended, intensive exposure to significant concerns in real life until anxiety decreases.

Why is flooding therapy effective?

Flooding therapy empowers individuals to conquer their fears in two significant ways:

1. Familiarising oneself with the fear: Over time, and in a safe environment, a person can face their fear and eventually become less fearful.

2: Unlearning the fear: By repeatedly confronting their fear without negative experiences, the connection between the fear and anxious emotions gradually diminishes.