Insect phobia is one of the most common and invalidating, today we will discover its origin and the most effective intervention options.
How many times have we found a fly in the kitchen?It’s certainly not a pleasant experience, but we can live with it, right?Now imagine a person paralyzed by the same situation?Feeling an increasing anxiety These people’s bodies react as if they had found a lion, rather than a small, harmless animal. This can be one of many reports that happen to people who have insect phobia.
- This situation.
- Although not so common.
- Can significantly affect the quality of life of those who suffer from it.
- So it is important to know some of the characteristics of the phobias and.
- At the same time.
- Understand their origin and pay attention.
- Interventions that have proven to be more effective.
A phobia is a disorder marked by anxiety, in which there is a strong and irrational fear motivated by elements that do not really pose a threat, many of them begin to manifest in childhood and are transported to adult life, there are different models to explain how the body reacts when a phobia occurs, here we will focus on a three-phase model that can explain the presence of phobia to insects :
On the other hand, it is important to indicate that there are physical and psychological reactions, in the case of physical reactions the main studies are:
If the person has an insect phobia, any type of insect can trigger all of these responses.
There are several classifications of phobias and one of the most accepted distinguishes them in three groups: social phobias, agoraphobia and simple, specific and focal phobias, let’s talk about the latter two, because insect phobia belongs to these groups.
Among the features to consider in insect phobia, we can find
Therefore, the person with this type of phobia can develop different beliefs about insects, which ends up adding up the difficulty that the person creates to deal with the dreaded situation.
In addition, can the person overrepresent the physical symptoms he or she presents with the stimulus?In this case, face to face with an insect.
In the case of animal-related phobias, they are often linked to specific animals, such as insects, fear tends to reach its maximum intensity when animals are moving, on the other hand, this intensity also tends to increase more quickly when the person cannot. find a way to escape or get out of the situation.
A change in brain activity has been found when the person is facing theirphobic stimulus. Among the most recent research is the one that uses structural and functional images of the brain. In them, three specific parts showed importance:
There are several approaches to dealing with a phobia. Here we will focus on the main strategies used in psychology, obtaining satisfactory results with the use of psychology, both behavioral and the regulation of brain activity.
First, we’ll talk about systematic desensitization. This is an anxiety-incompatible workout, and one example is relaxation training. The person is then gradually exposed to insects, until anxiety decreases to the lowest possible level. In insect phobia, there can be exposure through imagination, photos, virtual reality or in person, live.
Secondly, we have exhibition techniques. They consist of exposure to living insects, imagination or even virtual reality, here the person faces situations gradually: from those that produce less anxiety to those that produce more, for this the starting point is a list drawn up by the person himself, in what situations appear in order and according to the level of anxiety that generate him.
Finally, we have cognitive behavioral therapy. Your goal is to change the different ways of thinking related to insects, it focuses on identifying unrealistic thoughts, taking into account what is possible and likely.
These techniques, and in general the management of insect phobia, should be guided by professionals, here we explain them in a very simple way. However, the truth is that complications often arise during the procedure, hence the need for an experienced person who knows how to handle these situations.