ZOOPHOBIA

The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear. ~H.P Lovecraft.

Hi guys, welcome to What's around us; I was just thinking what to share this week and the very moment I saw a brown coloured, red spotted house gecko crawling on the wall. Seeing that my breathing became rapid, heart started palpitating and I was shivering even after it went out of my sight. Yes. your guess is right, I am afraid of geckos. I am afraid of lizards from the age of 3 as my mother used to tell me. In medical terms the fear of reptiles/ lizards is called herpetophobia.

Everyone of us has some or the other weaknesses. My weakness is fear of lizards, likewise many are afraid of certain animals.

 

 Some are afraid of spiders which is termed as arachnophobia.

Worm snake

Some are afraid of worms is called as vermiphobia. Fear of bees is called as aphidophobia,

most of the girls are afraid of cockroaches. The pattern is that if people are afraid of spiders, then they wont be afraid of lizards, those who are afraid of lizards they wont be afraid of spiders or insects, some people are afraid of limbless creatures like earthworms, snakes etc. Some of them are afraid of all these creatures, the fear of animals collectively called as zoophobia 

What causes zoophobia?

According to my knowledge, this fear is due to the varied morphology of the animals. Some feel spiders scary as it has 3 pairs of legs and exists in different colours, patters, size and web pattern. The spider builds its web where there are less human interactions like old buildings, store houses etc. I am afraid of almost all the geckos, but not garden lizards and skinks. Juveniles of all lizards are almost similar in their appearance until it grows into an adult. Fear of snake is obvious for all of us since most of them are poisonous with their bites. And one more reason could be their absence of limbs and locomotory adaptations. The fear may be also due to psychological reasons, like early trauma, incidents, and others. 

How to overcome zoophobia?

Most importantly the zoophobia is a psychological factor. If the fear is created, or happened due to any accidental instances then proper counselling can help them to get rid of the fear. There is an advanced therapy to get rid of fear which is termed as cognitive behavioural therapy. The term cognitive refers to thinking, this therapy helps in managing our thoughts, imaginations, perceptions and behaviour.

 If we control our thinking then we can become the strongest among all, no obstacles like fear can hinder us. So I wish everyone to inculcate strong will power which can control all our emotions and thoughts and lead us in right way. And that's it for the day, see you next week for yet another interesting article. Do suggest any other ways to get rid of zoophobia in the comment box. Thank you. 

Photography by Rakshith Raj (student)