They say that fear is free, but in reality most of the time it is an anxiety disorder. We are talking about phobias, that irrational and excessive fear that can condition your life and cause you more problems than it might seem at first. And the world of phobias is so wide that fear can arise from any stimulus, even from an animal. Are you afraid of lizards? Then maybe you suffer from herpetophobia, the phobia of reptiles and amphibians. We tell you what exactly it consists of, what are its symptoms, its causes and its treatment.
What is herpertophobia?
Herpetophobia is the fear of lizards, snakes and other reptiles, as well as some amphibians. It is one of the most common zoophobias and is sometimes used as a synonym for ophidiophobia or fear of snakes. However, the stimulus for ophidiophobia is only this type of reptile, the snake.
There are a large number of animals that fall within the fears of herpetophobia. Lizards are the most common, but there are also snakes, crocodiles, salamanders, frogs and toads, which already belong to the world of amphibians. And maybe you are not too surprised to have this phobia, since they are animals that in general do not arouse much sympathy.
It is true that there are some animals that arouse general rejection, although rejection does not always imply fear. Along with arachnophobia, herpetophobia is one of the most common phobic disorders linked to animals. And we find a quite logical basis because it is an adaptive fear. After all, meeting a snake or a crocodile does imply a certain danger.
Symptoms of herpetophobia
But, at what point does this well-founded fear become an unfounded fear or phobia? We may be biologically designed to be afraid of reptiles, but we don’t usually encounter them, do we? The and conditions your life, that is, you avoid some situations because they scare you. Is it your case with lizards or other reptiles?
Phobias are also evidenced by a series of physical symptoms such as tremors, sweating, difficulty breathing, dizziness, tachycardia, tingling in the extremities and, ultimately, all those reactions that we know so well when our alarms go off. And we are about to have an anxiety attack or even a panic attack.
Actually, it is an over activation of the nervous system and it can appear not only when you are in front of a lizard, a snake or a crocodile, but also when you see it on television, in a photograph or when you are walking through the forest and hear the sound of dry leaves on the ground. Is a snake passing by? Your mind and your fear believe so.
Avoid herpetophobia
And although it may seem incredible, people who suffer from herpetophobia to a very high degree can also get very nervous when they see accessories made with the skin of these animals.
The symptoms of herpetophobia lead to avoidance. Nobody wants to suffer an anxiety attack and it is normal to avoid those situations that put you in danger. The danger here is no longer about how poisonous a snake can be or the fatal injuries that a crocodile can inflict on you, but rather the symptoms themselves.
It may seem like this fear of lizards isn’t that important because we don’t come across snakes, lizards, frogs, or crocodiles every day. But if even a bag or shoes that imitate crocodile skin give you tachycardia, it is evident that your whole life is already conditioned by the phobia. It is time to seek treatment because your usual functions are reduced due to the phobic disorder.
Causes of herpetophobia
Surely, before seeking treatment you want to look for other answers or explanations. Because? Why are you different from others? Why can’t you even imagine a lizard? Why are you always on the verge of panic? Why do you continually perceive danger? We can give you some answers, but don’t forget that overcoming a phobia requires psychological treatment and that the professional will give you better explanations.
Most phobias find their origin in a traumatic experience, but it is not very likely that you have had to face a crocodile. Perhaps it was a moment of fear with a lizard or a snake without the matter posing a danger to your health, but that’s how you perceived it and it stuck in your mind. Although it can also happen that the phobia appears without any specific motivation related to the animal, but rather the result of an anxiety disorder.
However, this phobia of lizards and other reptiles also has an evolutionary origin. The fear of these animals in its day had an adaptive function, although today it is of little use to us, since we do not have to live with them. It may even have a cultural cause because traditionally these animals produce fear as well as rejection.
Treatment of herpetophobia
But once you are suffering from a phobia, the most important thing is to find the most appropriate treatment and for this you have to go to a psychologist, it is not something you can do by yourself or with a self-help book. The most successful treatment to overcome phobias is Cognitive, which works both on the thought that triggers the fear, and on the avoidant behavior that must be stopped.
And a widely used technique in the case of zoophobia is exposure therapy. You can perfectly imagine what it consists of, which is gradually approaching the stimulus that generates anxiety and verifying that nothing is happening, that there is no danger. But as we say, it is not something you can do on your own, never play with your mental health and put yourself in the hands of the best professionals.
Relaxation plays a very important role in the treatment of phobias. Relaxation, breathing exercises, meditation or the famous mindfulness considerably reduces the degree of anxiety that all phobias present. And they can be accompanied by the practice of yoga to achieve that balance between bodies and mind that is so needed in cases of emotional disorders.
Other animal-related phobias
Do not think that herpetophobia is the only case of fear of animals. In fact, zoophobia is one of the most frequent phobic disorders and the stimulus that triggers fear can be any animal. If we already know and are not even surprised by arachnophobia or fear of spiders, we may be more surprised by, for example, which is the fear of cats.
We find many other phobias linked to animals, such as entomophobia for insects, ornithophobia for birds, ichthyophobia for fish, apiphobia for bees, or gynophobia for dogs. Some more surprising than others, some more complicated than others, but all of them can be overcome with professional help.