Fear of insects: what is it called and how to treat it?

Fear is a natural and functionally important human emotion that arises in response to external or internal factors associated with danger. But an aggravated uncontrollable fear of insects or insectophobia (Latin insectum - insect + Greek phobos - fear) is an excessive emotion, and such an involuntary feeling of fear of bees, cockroaches, ants, etc. Is considered disproportionate to the danger that actually comes from them.[1]

What is the name of the fear of insects and beetles (coleopteran insects) right? Persistent irrational (unfounded) fear of insects is defined by most experts as entomophobia: from the Greek. The words entomon (insect) and phobos (fear). Since insect or entomophobia is associated with strictly defined objects, it belongs to the so-called specific phobia.

There are such types as apiphobia (fear of bees); sphexophobia (fear of wasps); dipterophobia or muskaphobia (fear of flies); katsaridaphobia (fear caused by cockroaches); myrmecophobia (fear of ants); lepidopterophobia (fear of butterflies and moths). This also included arachnophobia (fear of spiders) and acarophobia (fear of ticks), since they, like insects, belong to the class of arthropods.

By the way, Hollywood actor Johnny Depp, actress Halle Berry and singer Justin Timberlake suffer from arachnophobia; Scarlett Johansson has katsaridaphobia and Nicole Kidman has lepidopterophobia.

Also read -  Phobias: a list

Epidemiology

According to the WHO, the prevalence of phobias among the population of different countries varies in the range of 2.6-12.5%. [2],  [3],  [4]Fear of insects or Entomophobia - a fairly common phenomenon in the US, according to official statistics, this phobia suffers almost 6% of the people. The real numbers may be higher, as many do not seek help. 

Arachnophobia is especially common: about 55% of women and at least 18% of men. 

More than 75% of people experience their first symptoms of phobia during childhood or adolescence. [5]

Causes of the fear of insects

Human perception of insects can range from well-founded fears of being bitten when confronted with them - through subclinical and clinical forms of entomophobia - to psychotic disorders with thoughts of insect infestation and  panic attacks .

In most cases, specific phobias, including insectophobia, develop in childhood, but can also occur in adults. Experts see the main reasons for the increased fear of insects in the events of childhood traumatizing the psyche (perhaps someone in childhood was stung by a wasp, bitten by bedbugs or scared by the sight of a spider); in a later acquired negative experience associated with insects; in the factors of the family environment (the child can learn the behavioral features of parents and close relatives who are averse to insects or fear of them), as well as long-term stressful conditions. [6]

Often, a specific phobia precedes the onset of depression, anxiety, neurasthenia, or an eating disorder.

At one time, the frequency of entomophobia in his patients surprised Sigmund Freud, and he tried to explain this either by a coincidence between an encounter with insects and a traumatic event in human life, or by the ability of the brain to induce a deeper kind of memory that does not depend on the individual experience of a person.

Regardless of whether the insect is a threat or completely harmless, the reaction of fear of a phobic nature is irrational, that is, it does not lend itself to a complete logical explanation. [7]

Also see the publication -  Phobias and Fears

Risk factors

Risk factors for the development of a specific phobia are genetics and temperament, including the level of  emotional lability , negative affectivity (a tendency to experience negative emotions) or problems with behavioral inhibition - executive neuropsychological functions that depend on the degree of self-regulation of affect-motivation-arousal and determine the potential for the development of anxiety...

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Pathogenesis

The exact pathogenesis of specific phobias is still being investigated, and two theories or models of their development are being put forward: classical (respondent) conditioning and operant conditioning. In the first model, conditioned reflex reactions are formed with a combination of stimuli - unconditioned and neutral.

According to the second model, a phobia is formed under the influence not of the event itself (fact, case), but of its consequences. Also, the mechanism may be in the associative modeling of the reactions of other people.

The researchers found that phobias are often associated with the amygdala (corpus amygdaloideum), a compact mass of almond-shaped gray matter deep in the white matter of the temporal lobe of each hemisphere of the brain. As part of the  limbic system in the brain , the amygdala plays a major role in memory processing, decision making, and emotional responses; is associated with the experience of emotions and mediates innate emotional behavior. The central nuclei of the amygdala are involved in the development of protective behavior, reactions of the autonomic nervous system (changes in blood pressure and heart rate), as well as neuroendocrine reactions: the release of adrenaline in the blood and the stress hormone cortisol (which increases the degree of general arousal and the negative impact of negative emotions increases)...

 

Symptoms of the fear of insects

The fear response is almost automatic and impossible to control. With entomophobia, the first signs are manifested in an increase in anxiety, a sharp deterioration in health and an irresistible desire to leave the scene as soon as possible. [8]

Symptoms such as weakness and heart palpitations, shortness of breath, dizziness, pain or tightness in the chest, nausea, increased sweating, dry mouth and oropharynx, feeling of "cotton feet", trembling in the body are observed.

Diagnostics of the fear of insects

Diagnosis of phobias is carried out by a psychiatrist  and includes the collection of anamnesis (medical and psychiatric), the recording of patient complaints during a clinical interview and the  study of the neuropsychic sphere .

Differential diagnosis

It is important to establish the origins of the phobia and differentiate it from obsessive-compulsive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, or delusional disorder.

Treatment of the fear of insects

Treatment for entomophobia aims to break the stimulus-response relationship and overcome fear by teaching the patient to manage their responses to insects. [9]

The main methods are exposure and cognitive-behavioral therapy. In the course of exposure psychotherapy, the patient is taught to the object of the phobia through deliberate interaction with him - imaginary or real, gradually reducing the level of sensitization. [10]

In cognitive behavioral therapy, the emphasis is on replacing false beliefs and negative thoughts associated with a fearsome insect with more rational thoughts. With the help of cognitive reframing (changing the point of view), the patient can change his attitude towards insects, activate the ability to think logically and control emotions and behavior, that is, change the physical reaction. [11]

Prevention

The prevention of this phobia can be considered the limitation of any contact with the insect world.

Forecast

For increased fear of insects, the prognosis is good if you can convince patients that their beliefs are false. Otherwise, the development of obsessive-compulsive disorder or such a mental disorder as delusional parasitosis is possible.

In conclusion, some arguments should be made regarding the unreasonableness of the increased fear of insects. As you know,  a bee sting , as well as  wasp stings,  can lead to an allergic reaction with the development of anaphylactic shock.

Spider bites  can be accompanied by the ingress of their venom into the bloodstream and cause general intoxication of the body with pulmonary edema and coma. Even with an  ant bite  (especially in children), quite serious consequences are possible. And, of course, it is worth bearing in mind the risk of vector-borne infection with tick-borne viral encephalitis or Lyme disease (tick-borne borreliosis) - through  tick bites in humans . So there is every reason to be afraid of insects, but you should not be afraid of them in panic.