why am I scared of spiders?

Question

I'm not afraid of any other insect or animals. I dont mind rats or snakes and I've even swam with sharks on holiday.Arachnaphobia is really common but why? Is it an instictual thing developed through evolution or is it nurtured from seeing frightened adults?It is a unique fear that I have.Nothing or nobody gives me this feeling so I want to get to the root of it

Answer 1

It's probably been nurtured by seeing others reactions or a traumatic event as a child. I have many spiders and 5 tarantulas that I keep in cages or around my home. I feed and handle them regularly. Spider bites can be a bit like ant bites very few a little worse, but they are rarely lethal unless you are severely allergic to that specific venom. I've been bitten 17 times and 12 were from the tarantulas. The worse thing that ever happened was a scar from one I popped. You should have respect for spiders but not fear them. Without spiders the insects would over run the world. They are clean and don't carry disease. Most can't bite through our skin. In fact the most poisonous spider is the daddy long legs which many have played with as children. It can't bite us though; our skin is too thick even as a child. I would suggest slowly exposing yourself to spiders. Go you the zoo exhibit, then to an exotic pet shop several times, then come to my house and I'll let you hold one...hehe you know take baby steps...

Answer 2

In some ways it seems to be almost a part of evolution.

"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 peoples fear of spiders occurs irregularly, while many African peoples 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."

Often this fear is caused by an incident earlier in life which was frightening. People sometimes have the misconception that such a frightening event would have to be a long-lasting or memorable ordeal. Many people don't even remember the events which led to their phobia. The mind can create a phobia based on an instant of panic.

Just so you know .... the second link has an animated spider which is a bit realistic.

I hope this helps.

Answer 3

Arachnophobia is like all phobias; it's irrational. There is no concrete reason why you are scared of spiders.

Phobia researchers have sometimes found that phobias are what happens when free-floating anxiety gets linked to some concrete thing or creature - some people are scared of feathers, for example, which are even more harmless than spiders. If you're scared of spiders it's because your natural background fear of death or harm has become attached to spiders in particular, and in the process, magnified. In other words, deep down you're not really scared of spiders as such, but of death; it's just that for you, spiders have come to stand for death, if you see what I mean. Originally, of course, we developed fear responses during evolution; animals who were more fearful tended to get eaten less, and so survived, while animals who didn't feel fear failed to run away from predators, and so got eaten. Result: evolution favours creature with well-developed fear responses.

Well, that's one theory.

Answer 4

Arachnophobia is fairly common, and the basis for it might be in the movies we see. Almost any fright movie has sets draped with spider webs, and for a scary effect, a gigantic, huge, killer spider runs across them. It's nonsense, of course, because the vast majority of spiders are harmless.
People have been cured of this particular phobia by deliberately exposing themselves to spiders and learning as much as possible about them. I used to be terrified of snakes as a kid, and when I was 16 decided that I was being silly. But it didn't matter how much I talked to myself or reasoned with myself, I was still terrified. So I caught one, killed it, skinned it and mounted it. Hardest thing I ever did, but I wasn't afraid of snakes after that. Not sure how you would skin and mount a spider, but if you could find a sympathetic naturalist, perhaps you could help with the care and feeding of some spiders and get to know them for the harmless creatures they are.

Answer 5

Imagine when we lived in the forests with mud everywhere, poor hygiene and open sewers - your ancestor sees a spider and jumps, cutting his leg in the process. The leg gets infected but with no clean bandages and no antibiotics, they eventually die. Then this is described as dying caused by a spider - the legend gets passed from generation to generation - 'your great-great uncle was killed by a spider so stay away from them' - this becomes ingrained via urban myth and this becomes a major phobia or irrational fear. Remember there is not a spider alive which can survive an encounter with a pair of doc martins!

Answer 6

i'm no longer terrified of spiders, in reality, i love spiders (pass ahead, call me a creep). i imagine human beings are terrified of spiders because they don't ignore that they could chew. If a spider is sufficiently small, then you do not understand the position it really is. One time even as i change into camping out, I awakened one morning and realized I were bitten interior the face. A spider had crawled into my blouse even as it change into staggering on the clothesline and when I positioned it on, it change into nonetheless there yet i did not are attentive to it. i did not sense it chew me both. i imagine that once human beings the following about stuff like this, it really is even as they get quite freaked out.

Answer 7

It is just your phobia. My mother has a fear of small spaces. I have a massive horrible fear of clowns. Why do I hate clowns? No clue. But if I see a clown I become a scared little child hiding in a small corner. I am 6'6", 220, with tons of tattoos and body piercings, and I become a small child.

Also, it could be something happened to you as a child concerning spiders. My mother told me I was scared by a clown at my 3rd birthday party or something and to this day, I can not tolerate clowns. Ask your parents if it was anything like that.

Answer 8

I don't know why - but I have arachnophobia as well -

I'm female and one morning I was putting on makeup and one of those little bugers crawled across the mirror - I FREAKED, and hurt myself instead of the spider - self induced, I started having them crawl on a piece of cardboard and put them outside. I then educated myself about how they eat other insects - since then I had one live in the corner of my shower for quite a while - I just convinced myself that they are here to do a job, and they weren't my enemy.
I still hate them - but I'm not as freaked as I used to be.
I think it might have to do with the fact that they move so fast, and have eight eyes.

Hope this helps! Your not alone!

Answer 9

I can grab a spider in my hand and squish it. But when I run into a spider web accidentally, I go crazy. I think its the feeling that they are slightly undetectable, sometimes dangerous, and the fact that we can't sqish them without standing 20 feet away from it for an hour before we get brave enough to grab a magazine and swat it.

Answer 10

It's their long, crawly legs and their shinny or hairy bodies and ability to move quickly and jump that naturally scares ANYONE. I hate spiders. The worst is when you are in the shower and there is a spider crawling up the tile.....oooohhhh gggodd..... just thinking about that gives me the heebie jebbies. I do not think that it is unnatural to feel that way, I think that everyone is afraid of spiders, maybe just at different levels though.