[Animls] Are you afraid of sweet kittens? Maybe you have ailurophobia or a phobia of cats

[UltimaTexCS]

False beliefs and superstitions contribute to cat phobia.Marko Blazevic / Pexels
Having pets, especially if it is dogs or cats, perfectly adapted to the way of life of humans, can bring us many benefits, especially on a psychological and emotional level. However, there are people who cannot have them for various reasons, such as allergies or even phobias. And there are people who suffer from what is known as cynophobia - irrational fear of dogs - or ailurophobia - cats. Today we focus on the latter, its possible causes and how we can get rid of it.

What is ailurophobia and how does it manifest?

Being afraid of some animals can be normal, because we may think that they are going to scratch us, bite us, we are afraid if they jump, etc., but when this fear paralyzes us, it is irrational, it prevents us from leading a normal life and causes symptoms such as anxiety or panic, it is then a phobia. If this occurs when we are near a cat -or just thinking about the presence of it-, we would be talking about ailurophobia, an exaggerated and irrational fear of these felines. To distinguish a phobia from a fear, we must look at the following symptoms or reactions:

Cinophobia usually appears in childhood and is generalized to any type of dog.
Dog phobia or cynophobia: why it appears and how to overcome it
• Fight or flight response. As soon as he sees a cat, he tries, either to flee or to confront, he animates, since he considers it a threat.

• Hypervigilance (if the cat is present you cannot think of anything else), extreme nervousness, anxiety ... sometimes just hearing a meow. In the most extreme cases, even panic attacks can occur.

• In the presence of the animal (or even imagining its presence), the person with ailurophobia may even have physiological reactions such as tachycardia, dizziness, sweating, chest pain, a feeling of suffocation, stomach pain, nausea ...

• Avoidance behaviors. For example, avoid going to visit a family member or friend just because you have a cat at home.

Although they are much more dangerous and being afraid of them would be more rational, people with ailurophobia do not usually experience the same fear towards other cats such as tigers or lions.

What causes ailurophobia
The most common is that the phobia of cats is present from childhood and the causes, as with other phobias, can be several. The most commons are:

• Having suffered a traumatic event in the past. This traumatic event or negative experience can be, for example, having been attacked by a cat as children, having seen a fight between cats that has marked us, etc. If at that moment this fact caused us fear, anxie

ning. This would be a ‘learned phobia’ or by observation, that is, if someone in our close environment - parents, siblings, grandparents ... - overreacts if they see a fato or tell us to move away, scratch, etc. our brain will learn to be afraid of cats. If this fear does not disappear and we have avoidance behaviors, it can turn into a phobia.

Is there life after death? That is the big question, but for those who stay in this world. In the short term, it is clear that it will be different. Many will initially suffer from a phobia of going outside. Insomnia, anxiety, depression. Tendency to seek scapegoats.

20 rare but real phobias
•Predisposition. There are people who are more predisposed than others to suffer from certain phobias. People with a tendency to suffer from anxiety are also more predisposed to suffer from phobias.

• Po[CENSORED]r beliefs. Although, luckily, this is disappearing, traditionally cats, especially black ones, have been associated with superstitions, bad luck, witchcraft ... These false beliefs can make some people suggest themselves and end up developing a phobia.

How is ailurophobia treated

The best way to overcome this and any other phobia is to expose yourself to the cause that causes it. If the person who suffers from it is able to do it by himself or with the support of someone close, great, but the most common thing is that, to overcome a phobia, especially those that prevent us from leading a normal life, we need professional help. To treat ailurophobia, the psychologist can resort to various therapies, often a combination of these three.

ty… our brain performs what is known as ‘associative learning’ and repeats that pattern of fear, anxiety… every time it sees a cat.• Vicarious conditio