Overcoming a fear of spiders Part Two
Written by admin on Announcement – 12:45 pm -
A demonstration of a self help track for overcoming a fear of spiders
Tags: fear, Overcoming, Part, Spiders
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Arachnophobia – the Fear of Spiders
Written by admin on February 27, 2010 – 6:06 pm -
Arachnophobia is the scientific name for the fear of spiders. Is is the most common example of an animal phobia in the world and although to many people it is just a mild annoyance, to some it has very intense effects. Different people suffer to different degrees and to those who do not suffer them phobias seem irrational, the afflicted person reacts intensely to the merest sign of the animal causing the phobia. It is often difficult if not impossible for those of us not suffering to make any sense of what they are experiencing. Phobias can be stimulated by many animals but spiders are the most common source. Phobias do not infer a cowardly or otherwise weak mind, Bowers of the Antarctic, an intrepid explorer of the most inhospitable places on earth was apparently terrified of spiders. People who suffer badly can not even enter a room without having someone else check it for spiders first.
Fear of spiders has a long history, around the time of Christ’s birth parts of Abyssinia were abandoned by the whole population as a result of a ‘plague of spiders’. Amongst primitive people fear of spiders occurs irregularly, while many African people exhibit a general far of large spiders most Amazonian Indians don’t. In fact the Piaroa Indians actually eat the larger spiders and consider them a delicacy.
They are not the only ones to do so, throughout European history there are scattered records of individual people who loved, and thus ate, and even delighted in eating spiders. The French author Reaumur reports a certain young lady who ate all the spiders she could find. There is also written records suggesting that one Maria Schurrman was very fond of them, claiming her birth in the sun sign of Scorpio as justification for her habit. In addition to this the astronomer Lalande is also known to have enjoyed them. However it is mostly women who are recorded as having such epicurean tastes and W. S. Bristowe, author of The World of Spiders reports that although he had already tried eating cooked tarantulas he was surprised by a lady called Miss Jennifer Walker who assured him common British spiders were delicious eaten raw. She ate one after he had turned down the suggestion and he then followed suit. His report continues to tell us that during the after noon they sampled 5 different species.
Arachnophobia and the irrational fears seem to propagate from an early age and it is widely thought that young people are more likely to accept spiders as just another fascinating animal if given the chance. Part of the source of arachnophobia is a result of our adult alienation from the beauty of the world, and it is a fact that most serious sufferers are middle aged and older. It is also a fact that 9 out of ten recorded sufferers are female. This of course may well reflect our social gender expectations in that men find it much harder to admit to being frightened of anything.
Paul Hillyard reports that when 18,000 children were questioned in the 1950s about the animal they liked least the spider came second with 10% of the vote (snakes won). In 1988 the Spider was still second but now the Rat had slipped into first place. In the USA in the 1980s the Cockroach was a clear winner and spiders were way down the list. Theodore Savory analysed the reasons why female school students in England disliked spiders and the 3 most important reasons were:
1) spider size
2) the black colouration
3)the length of the spiders’ legs.
In the UK nearly 50% of woman and 10% of men admitted to some degree of arachnophobia when questioned. About 3% of people claimed an extreme fear, and the most people claimed some apprehension. Scientists agree that there are 3 components to a phobia:
1) the experience of fear
2) physiological responses (sweating, heart-rate etc.)
3) motor responses (immobilisation or flight)
However they is very little agreement as to where the phobias come from. Many people seem to inherit at least a predisposition to arachnophobia and that otherwise it can be conditioned into people, but otherwise there are a large number of unproven theories as to the causes. The most accepted form of treatment is aversion or behaviour treatment. These tend to involve a mixture of education and experience, most arachnophobes (in fact most people) have little real knowledge of spiders. Learning allows the sufferer to use their own mind to counteract the rising emotions. Familiarisation or experience has a similar effect, giving people the opportunity to gain perceptual evidence of spiders as being basically harmless, to desensitise them. Although the details of all treatments depend on the therapist as well as on the age and experience of the sufferer a large degree of moral support is essential.
Nikki Fox, like over 50% of the worlds population suffers from arachnophobia.
She has been researching spiders and fear of spiders for many years and has improved her life immensely through this knowledge.
For useful advice on how to prevent spiders entering and living in your home or place of work, as well as a very successful and proven cure for arachnophobia, please visit her website www.spiderpanic.com.
Tags: Arachnophobia, fear, Spiders
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10 Master Your Fear of Spiders
Written by admin on February 24, 2010 – 1:34 pm -
10 Master Your Fear of Spiders
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The Fear of Spiders
Written by admin on February 24, 2010 – 12:40 pm -
As amusing as it may sound to many people, Arachnophobia–the fear of spiders, is a traumatizing reality for millions of Americans and people worldwide.
If you or someone you know personally has this phobia, then it should be brewing in your mind to find the answers that bring freedom from this evil web of fear.
Even though to the phobic it may seem impossible at first, the fear of spiders, like most fears, can most certainly be overcome.
There are a variety of treatments, exercises, and therapies that can help and the World Wide Web…oops…sorry…offers a vast array of resources and material that can be of assistance.
Most phobias are established to have developed from a traumatizing childhood experience that grew with the phobic so that it eventually becomes a part of him. At times when traumatizing childhood experiences cannot be established, psychologists were known to venture into the realm of reincarnation and past life regression.
Phobia is not the same as “fear”. A “fear” is a sense of impending danger or evil established by inherent logics and reasoning or by gut instinct. A “phobia” on the other hand is an inflated and disproportionate perception of reality.
Some researchers theorized that spiders were once a threat to the human race somewhere in evolutionary history and that panic attacks resulting from phobias were a defense mechanism that could save the life of persons. Such theories, however, have no solid foundations.
Is the fear of spiders rational? Almost everyone would agree that the answer to that question is a resounding “no”. It is in fact, somewhat “mystical”. An arachnophobe would be dreadfully afraid of a spider that is really harmless, and poisonous spiders are not really a threat if seen.
Experts agree that knowing more about your phobia helps you overcome it since most phobias grow out of fear of the unknown. Following are some “fun” facts about spiders.
The fear of spiders actually has its roots deep in Greek mythology. “Arachnophobia” comes from the Greek words, “arachne”, meaning “spider”, and “phobos”, meaning “a fear”. Arachne was a beautiful Greek maiden. She studied weaving under Athena, and had extraordinary skill. When her skills were later recognized, she denied any training given by Athena. Athena turned herself into a bitter, old lady. She approached Arachne, and tricked her into a weaving contest. Arachne wove portraits of the gods performing evil deeds. Athena and Arachne finished their weaving in an extremely short amount of time, but Arachne’s work was much finer than Athena’s. Athena was furious that a mere mortal had beaten her in a weaving contest and had portrayed the gods in a disrespectful way. Overcome with rage, she beat Arachne to the ground. Arachne was so upset, she hanged herself. Athena realized what she had done, regretted her actions, and sprinkled a magic liquid onto Arachne, turning her into a spider, so she could keep her weaving skills.
The feared tarantula isn’t poisonous. A tarantula’s bite can be painful, but it isn’t any more dangerous than a bee sting.
Under a spider’s abdomen, near the rear, are tiny stubs called spinnerets. The spider uses its legs to pull liquid silk made in its abdomen from the spinnerets. The silk hardens as it stretches. Since silk is made out of protein, a spider eats the used silk of an old web before spinning a new one.
On an American one-dollar bill, there is an owl in the upper left-hand corner of the “1″ encased in the “shield” and a spider hidden in the front upper right-hand corner.
Most spiders belong to the orb weaver spider family, Family Aranidae. This is pronounced “A Rainy Day.”
In the 1960s, animal behavior researchers studied the effects of various substances on spiders. When spiders were fed flies that had been injected with caffeine, they spun very “nervous” webs. When spiders ate flies injected with LSD, they spun webs with wild, abstract patterns. Spiders that were given sedatives fell asleep before completing their webs.
Horseshoe crabs and spiders are actually close relatives. The horseshoe crab belongs to the large group of invertebrates (animals without backbones) called Arthropods. This group also includes lobsters, crabs, insects, spiders, and scorpions. Even though it looks crab-like, with a hard shell and claws, the horseshoe crab is more closely related to scorpions and spiders than to crabs.
Many cultures believe that spiders bring good luck. The spider was popular with the Romans, who had a favorite mascot in the shape of a precious stone upon which a spider was engraved. Also they were fond of carrying little spiders of gold or silver, or any of the fortunate metals, to bring good luck in anything to do with trade.
Spider silk can stretch up to 50 percent of its original length. A strand of spider silk the width of a pencil could stop a Boeing 747 in flight.
On average, people fear spiders more than they fear dying. However, statistically, you are more likely to be killed by a champagne cork than by the bite of a poisonous spider.
We’d probably all be dead without spiders. Their sheer number makes spiders vital in maintaining the balance of nature. Because they structure insect communities wherever they occur, spiders play a vital role in the terrestrial food chain. Without all those hungry spiders, insect populations would explode, food crops would be decimated, and ecological balances ravaged. Humans would probably starve within a matter of months–if they hadn’t already succumbed to various insect-borne diseases. No spider, incidentally, has been found to transmit disease.
Spider venom can be used to treat certain neurological and mental disorders. A research group in Utah has isolated components from the venom of many species of North American spiders, which may help reduce brain damage following strokes.
Patrick Carpen is the designer, owner, and writer of the website http://fearofspiders.infobay.ws/ . He is an internet entrepreneur who helps the average user better understand the workings of the internet in addition to providing high quality content on selected topics. This website was created to help phobics overcome their fear of spiders.
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