When To See A Professional
Arachnophobia doesnt generally require a formal diagnosis from a doctor. This is due to the fact that phobias are most often self-diagnosable.
However, you may consider seeing a professional to help you work through your spider phobia if you find that its significantly impacting your life. You might ask yourself if arachnophobia impacts you in the following ways:
- makes it difficult to go outdoors
- gets in the way of work
- impacts your social life
- prevents you from spending time with your loved ones
- keeps you awake at night
- consumes your thoughts on a regular basis
If youve answered yes to any of the above, you may consider seeing a psychotherapist to help you address spider phobias. One-on-one talk therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and group therapy are all possible counseling options for phobias.
A therapist will help you address the fear head-on so that you can have fewer fearful encounters with spiders in the future, should they arise. This approach is known as desensitization, or exposure therapy. As with other phobias, complete avoidance isnt recommended because it will only intensify your fears.
The sooner you seek therapy, the greater the chances that your phobia can be treated. Delaying professional help can make therapy that much more difficult.
What To Do If You Have A Spider Phobia
If a spider phobia or another phobia is affecting your life you can create a plan to tackle your problem.
Heres an exercise that you can use to deal with your spider phobia:
- List of the things that scare you about the spiders.For example:
- looking at a spider, sitting on a bench, touching a spider web.
- Rank them in terms of the fear they cause you.
- Take one step until your anxiety goes down.
Then continue with the next step on your list:
- Face your fears! As you expose yourself to your fears, one by one, these will start to fade. It sounds hard to believe but you have to live it to believe it.The video below is showing people with arachnophobia being exposed to spiders. In the beginning, the participants say how scared they are of spiders. Then, they are exposed to their worst fear and have the spider walk on their bodies. After this, they feel that their fear of spiders is lower than before. Only after spending a few moments in contact with a spider, their fear goes down significantly.
Spider phobia and other phobias limit the quality of life for the sufferers. The treatment is not complicated, it only requires the motivation to follow the guidelines. Those that are able to expose themselves to their fear, notice how it disappears as they practice. There are different ways to practice exposure, either all at once or in a gradual fashion, from less fearful activities to more fearful. People can choose what they prefer.
Written By: Dr. Silvina Galperin PhD, C. Psych.
How I Conquered My Lifelong Fear Of Spiders In Just One Hour
18:18 EDT, 12 August 2012 | Updated:
The moment I knew my spider phobia was out of control was when I turned down a friends invitation to Australia purely because I was terrified about coming into contact with huge arachnids.
Ive always loathed creepy-crawlies as a child I tried to sleep under the bed to avoid spiders dropping on me from the ceiling.
I cant even comfortably look at a photo of one. In fact, even writing the word spider gives me goose pimples.
Cured: Lydia Slater poses with a tarantula after overcoming her fear of spiders
And I am not alone. Its estimated that in Western societies, as many as 55 per cent of women and 18 per cent of men feel some degree of arachnophobia. In the UK its the most common phobia.
Scientists think it may have an evolutionary basis avoiding potentially venomous spiders would have been a useful instinct for our ancestors.
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Arachnophobia App: Augmented Reality May Help Overcome Fear Of Spiders
BASEL, Switzerland Fear of spiders is incredibly common and it isnt hard to figure out the cause. Despite our eight-legged friends actually doing a world of good for the ecosystem and doing away with other pesky bugs, a spiders less-than-attractive appearance leaves many humans shrieking in terror. Now, however, researchers have developed an augmented reality app that may finally put those fears to rest.
A team from Basel University created the app with the intention of helping people get over their fear of spiders. Its already showing promise in a clinical trial. Participants reported feeling less afraid of spiders after just a few at-home training rounds with the app.
The Only Thing I Hate More Than Spiders Is The Fact That I Hate Spiders So Much
Hating spiders is stupid, irrational, and a total waste of time. Most spiders are harmless, and all of them are way more scared of you than you are of them. They play an important role in the ecosystem, they protect you from other annoying insects by eating them, and they are antisocial arachnids that just want to be left alone. Yet still, I am immobilised by my fear of them.
If youre wondering what level of anxiety Im currently working with, this morning I threw a spoon across the room because I mistook my reflection in it for a spider on the move. Living in Australia with a moderate case of Arachnophobia is akin to living in Iceland with a fear of ice, and with summer coming up , Im ready to nip this thing in the bud before I quite literally scare myself to death. According to the experts , heres how to overcome a spider phobia for good.
Imagine being a spider
First of all, ew. But honestly, once you get past the hairiness, you may actually learn a really important lesson about empathy here. Imagine if at 8pm on a Monday night, you were just casually crawling across the living room wall when BAM!, a rogue Nike Free takes out your fourth leg. Youd be fuming! Also, is this giant serious? They are a least 60,000 times bigger than me and yet theyre acting like Im the threat. All I wanted to do was see what the joint looked like from the inside. Please tell my 350 children that I love them.
Teach yourself about spiders
Expose yourself to a spider
Touch a spider
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Be At One With Nature
We really need to get out more, especially into the fields, woods and riversides that are teeming with our eight-legged friends. Previous generations would bump into spiders in all these places plus gardens and parks and get used to their presence in the process.
But thanks to our modern dependence on computers, TV, and our busy lives, were increasingly stuck indoors.
This problem even has its own name: Nature Deficit Disorder. It should be avoided at all costs.
Do You Have A Spider Phobia
Spider phobia is also called Arachnophobia and it implies a severe fear of these animals that trigger physical, emotional and behavioural reactions.
Does your stomach crunch when you think about spiders?
Do you panic when you see a spider?
Do you avoid places or activities for fear of spiders?
How does it feel to have Arachnophobia?
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Spiders: Fight Your Phobia
At RZSS, we obviously love spiders. But we recognise that not everyone does! Spiders are amazing creatures with incredible adaptations. They are an essential part of the ecosystem and those found in the UK are completely harmless and would rather avoid us humans.
We understand how a fear of spiders can really begin to impact on peoples everyday lives. Our course is designed to help you to overcome your fear of spiders in a friendly, relaxed and supportive atmosphere.
The spider phobia workshops consist of one afternoon where you will hear from our clinical hypnotherapist Morag Torrance on phobias how they develop, what they are and how they make us react. You will have a chance to discuss your phobia to better understand its impact on you. Then our expert keepers will tell you a bit more about spiders, showing how fascinating they can be and that there is nothing to be afraid of. We will then go into a group hypnosis session with Morag to help you to remove negative subconscious associations with spiders and reinforce positive associations.
We will not show you any spiders or images of spiders during the theory part of the course.
After the group hypnosis session, you will have the choice of whether youd like to go with our keepers to a different room to meet some friendly spiders. At this point, you can meet some spiders in closed transparent containers and you will also have the option to practice calmly catching a British house spider.
Taking Exposure Therapy Into The Virtual World
Arachnophobia may not seem like all that big a deal to some, but it can seriously hamper life quality in extreme cases. For example, many who are afraid of spiders actively avoid outdoor events, basements, or anywhere else spiders typically live. Others cant help but excessively check every corner of a room for spiders before becoming comfortable. One treatment method for arachnophobia, and any number of additional phobias for that matter, that have been effective in the past is exposure therapy. In a nutshell, exposure therapy consists of slowly exposing patients to the stimuli they fear within a controlled, safe environment.
When it comes to arachnophobia, though, many sufferers are very hesitant to try exposure therapy because it means being, well, exposed to spiders. The research team at Basel developed their app as a way to expose users to spiders without actually exposing them. The app called Phobys displays a realistic 3D spider model on users hands through the phone screen.
Its easier for people with a fear of spiders to face a virtual spider than a real one, explains Anja Zimmer, lead author of the study, in a university release.
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Should I Kill The Spiders In My House
This is completely up to you. You can kill them or leave them alone if you want. Most house spiders are poison-free. Therefore, your life is never threatened.
But if they bite you, you may have some allergic reaction. So you can decide to kill them to avoid it. But my personal opinion is that you should not kill any creature that does not cause you great harm.
Using The Desensitizing Technique
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Do Spiders Usually Bite Humans Even If They Are Not Attacked
Spiders are not aggressive creatures. But in some cases, it may bite you, without you hurting it. This mainly happens when you are asleep. But this rarely happens.
Other than that, it will never attack you unless you attack it. So if you are afraid of being attacked by a spider, do not attack it. Its that simple.
Fear Of Spiders Here’s How To Overcome Your Arachnophobia
A fear of spiders can cause people a lot of stress. Here are a few techniques to help you overcome the issue.
Whether it is their speed as they scuttle across the floor, their furry legs or just the thought of being crawled over, spiders can strike fear into our hearts like few other things.
But dont lose hope.
There are lots of things you can do to ensure your eight-legged housemates dont send you screaming from your home. Here are 10 tips to prevent, manage and maybe even cure a fear of spiders…
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How Do I Stop Being Scared Of Spiders
Fear of spiders is normal some of them are dangerous, so its part of our survival instinct. We tend to generalise things so, even in countries where spiders are just regular creepy crawly things, the fear is common.
But how do you stop being scared of spiders?
You could try being rational about it but youve almost certainly gone down that route and found that your conscious mind has difficulty overcoming the reaction of your unconscious mind.
If theres a specific instance that you can remember where you started to be afraid of spiders, theres a technique you can use called the NLP rewind technique.
Thats it in a nutshell and this link guides you through the complete process so you can concentrate on it without having to remember what to do next.
If you cant remember exactly where your arachnophobia started, you can still go through that process but you have to imagine the start and end events some people find that easy to do, others dont.
Another option is to imagine the spider doing daft things.
Let your imagination go wild when I did this process on a friend, the spider was wearing neon striped wellington boots and trying to tap dance whilst a local hooligan was spray painting graffiti on it.
If you can get that kind of imagary in your mind every time you meet a spider, youre well on your way to reducing or eliminating the fear.
Another option that I really like is hypnosis.
And it works.
Fear Of The Figure Of A Spider
Some people are very afraid of spiders but, they will never have a bad experience with spiders. What they fear is the look of it. They are afraid of spiders very long legs. Creatures with many legs are generally feared by many. Millipedes is another of them.
- Brown recluse spider
- Widow spiders
- Armed spiders
The above are the spiders that can poison you. Brown recluse spiders are most common in the Central Midwest, Black widow spiders common in all continents except Antarctica.
If you are poisoned by the types of spiders mentioned above, you may even die. But death occurs in very few people. But it can lead to a very serious illness.
Therefore, if you notice that a brown recluse spider has bitten you, immediately wash the affected area thoroughly with soap and water. It is also a good idea to consult a physician.
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Bookings For The Friendly Spider Programme Are Currently Closed We Will Update This Page When Bookings Reopen
Do you have a spider phobia? Then it’s time you joined our Friendly Spider Programme where we will help you to overcome your fears.
There is no good reason to have a spider phobia – they’re harmless and extremely beneficial invertebrates whose survival depends on avoiding such large, lumbering threats as ourselves. However, millions of perfectly rational people are terrified of spiders. No matter how much they try to calm themselves, the response remains the same: sweating, nausea, panic, rapid heartbeat and worse.
- An afternoon course designed to ease or eliminate the condition of arachnophobia
- The course is a combination of cognitive behavioural therapy and hypnotherapy
- Opportunity to speak to our spider expert and an expert hypnotherapist
Smartphone App Helps Tackle Fear Of Spiders Using Augmented Reality
With the app Phobys, people with arachnophobia can practice to encounter a virtual spider. Credit: University of Basel, MCN
Researchers from the University of Basel have developed an augmented reality app for smartphones in order to help people reduce their fear of spiders. The app has already shown itself to be effective in a clinical trial, with subjects experiencing less fear of real spiders after completing just a few training units with the app at home.
Fear of spiders is one of the most common phobias and leads to a variety of limitations in everyday life, as those affected seek to avoid situations involving spiders. For example, sufferers are known to avoid social occasions outdoors, visits to the zoo or certain travel destinations or to excessively check rooms for spiders or avoid certain rooms, such as basements or lofts, altogether. One effective treatment for a fear of spiders is exposure therapy, in which patients are guided through therapeutic exposure to the situations they fear in order to gradually break down their phobia. This treatment is rarely used, however, because those affected are reluctant to expose themselves to real spiders.
Phobys is based on exposure therapy and uses a realistic 3D spider model that is projected into the real world. Its easier for people with a fear of spiders to face a virtual spider than a real one, explains Anja Zimmer, lead author of the study.
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