The fear of cockroaches is very common, and this is understandable: these insects have an unsightly appearance and live in human dwellings. But if the indicated phenomenon turns into a pathological one, something needs to be done about it, because the emerging ones can end in a completely incomprehensible way. In medical circles, the fear of cockroaches is called blatophobia.

Etiology of the phenomenon

It happens that a person simply does not like cockroaches and this is normal, that is, we are not talking about a disease here. You can explain everything with a banal feeling of disgust, which does not require treatment. In other cases, a person panics at the sight of a mustachioed insect, this already speaks of psychological pathology, such people are called blattophobes.

The following factors can provoke the disease:

Symptomatic manifestations

It is possible to say that a person has blatophobia if the following symptoms appear:

1. Panic attacks. The person who saw the insect becomes hysterical. His brain ceases to adequately assess the situation. For example, a woman may scream loudly or jump onto a chair or other elevated surface.
2. Unpredictable actions. A person with blatophobia is well aware that at the moment of meeting with a cockroach his actions are inadequate, but he cannot do anything about it. By his actions, he can shock his surroundings if people are used to seeing a blattophobe as a reasonable person. Patients with this phobia constantly acquire various poisons to treat their apartment, even if there were no cockroaches at home.
3. Pathological feeling of fear. Appearance blattophobe betrays him when insects appear: he begins to tremble in the knees, sweats profusely, stutters, he turns pale sharply.
4. Excessive feeling of disgust. Moreover, it may not manifest itself at the sight of all unsightly insects or animals.

All the above manifestations of the fear of cockroaches, like other phobias, prevent the patient from living fully.

Principles of treatment

Blattophobia is a complex disease, characterized by the fact that it is difficult to treat. Of course, you can be afraid, but is there a way to hide it from others all your life? If a person approaches this issue with responsibility, treatment can take a very short period of time.

Treatment with drugs

Psychological problems often require medication, in the case of a fear of cockroaches, the following may be prescribed:

1. Tricyclic antidepressants. They activate neurotransmitters - substances through which an impulse is transmitted from a nerve cell through the synaptic space between neurons. These drugs include sertraline, moclobemide or fluoxetine.
2. Benzodiazepines. Such drugs are classified as weak tranquilizers, they are taken directly during panic fear - Phenazepam, Imipramine, etc.
3. Beta blockers. Usually used for the treatment of cardiac pathologies. But as you know, stress can provoke problems in this particular system of the human body, i.e. complex treatment should include these drugs.
4. Means of psycholeptic influence. Such drugs block the feeling of increased anxiety during a meeting with an insect. With blattophobia, Buspirone is usually prescribed.

Psychotherapeutic treatment

Reception medicines can't completely. Medicines can only help temporarily, directly during a panic attack. Therefore, without the help of a psychotherapist is often indispensable:

Famous people who suffer from Blattophobia

Celebrities who suffer from an uncontrollable fear of cockroaches:

1. Peter I - famous for his strong character, but he was extremely negative about cockroaches. All the places where he stopped during his travels, the courtiers checked for the presence of these insects.
2. Scarlett Johansson - a famous actress developed an acute panic dislike after she woke up feeling a cockroach on her face.
3. Woody Allen. Known not only for his numerous Oscars, but also for his phobias, he is afraid of literally everything, including cockroaches.
4. Nadine Coyle is a famous actress, she is also afraid of many animals, especially those that can bite. She hates cockroaches because of their external unattractiveness.
5. Johnny Depp - he once had to pay the cost of restoring a hotel room in the amount of 10 thousand dollars. He later explained his violent behavior by the fact that he hunted a large cockroach, which he imagined in his apartment.
6. Philip Kirkorov - does not hide and declares publicly: I am afraid of cockroaches and frogs, although he is loyal to others and reptiles.
7. Ilya Lagutenko - does not tolerate literally all insects, including cockroaches.

Blattophobia is a rather serious problem, and it must be fought. AT advanced cases the outcome is unknown - everything can end in convulsions or paralysis.

Article structure

Reasons for fear of cockroaches

As a useful mechanism for protecting ancient people from danger, the fear of insects has long been without reasonable grounds. But the fear of cockroaches is not born in a vacuum. After all, everything has its root causes. It is better to look for them in childhood or remember other stressful situations.

Manifestations of fear of cockroaches in humans

Regardless of the cause of the onset of the disease, the symptoms of all people with blatophobia are about the same. If an overreaction is observed specifically to cockroaches, but snakes, spiders or other animals do not cause panic, you can safely diagnose a phobia.

At the sight of one tiny insect, the patient experiences a sudden intense panic. The body reacts to this:

• uncontrolled tremor of the limbs;
• profuse sweating;
• dry mouth and ringing in the ears;
• suffocation and failure of the heart rhythm;
• dizziness and loss of consciousness.

With a particularly neglected and serious disorder, a person may experience fear of death when they see a picture of a cockroach, for example, on TV. He does not know how to stop being afraid of cockroaches or their image.

The danger of blatophobia

Blattophobia is far from being as harmless as it might seem at first glance. A scaled attack causes serious pressure surges, a powerful adrenaline rush. In some cases, this can lead to paralysis and death.

In everyday life, people with a fear of cockroaches behave irrationally in any situation, which brings serious inconvenience to others. Blattophobes constantly wash their hands, clean surfaces without any apparent need. An exterminator periodically appears in the sick house and conducts preventive measures where it is no longer needed. As a result, the fight against non-existent bugs takes a large number of personal time, energy and resources. They often do not eat in public places and don't visit friends. The patient believes that there are cockroaches in any territory not controlled by him.

Ways to deal with the disease

As a phobic mental disorder, the fear of cockroaches is difficult to treat. With a systematic integrated approach, you can significantly reduce the negative somatic reaction, which will save the heart from excessive stress at the time of panic. How to stop being afraid of cockroaches and help yourself?

Look fear in the eye

The nature of unreasonable fears is very simple - they instantly attack their prey, and just as quickly retreat in the absence of real danger. During the next meeting with a red cockroach or Prusak, it is necessary to take control of the situation. Deep even breaths and exhalations, a calm attitude will help you quickly cope with panic and destroy the cockroach.

Serious disorder

If you can’t cope with the problem on your own, psychotherapy will be the only reasonable way out. An experienced psychologist uses the following methods of treatment:

• hypnotherapy or programming of human consciousness. During a hypnosis session, work with the subconscious takes place, aimed at completely getting rid of fear;
• neuro-linguistic therapy. In cooperation with a specialist, the patient becomes aware of the destructiveness of his own reaction and reprograms himself for normal behavior at the sight of a cockroach;
• cognitive therapy. During the sessions, an experienced doctor exposes the patient to indirect effects of insects and teaches them to cope with fear on their own.

At the end of treatment, any of the patients can quite calmly be next to the cockroach and live full life healthy person.

Perhaps no other insects evoke such a wide range of emotions as cockroaches do. They are unpleasant from an aesthetic point of view, cause a lot of trouble for the owners of the apartment and are carriers of all kinds of bacteria. But in some cases, the situation gets out of control and a banal feeling of disgust develops into panic attacks.

Blattophobia is the same fear of cockroaches. Since ancient times, this disease has disturbed people, and today its scale has covered the entire globe. Palpitations, dizziness and severe weakness are just some of the accompanying symptoms. Along with this, some patients experience paralysis from the resulting stress. Psychotherapists unanimously affirm: the pathology must be eliminated as soon as the first signs appear.

Reasons for the development of fear

Most often, cockroaches become a phobia after experienced stress. To a greater extent, this applies to children who are overly receptive to the world around them. The child can observe the negative reaction of his parents to insects, further copying their behavior. However, other situations are common when blatophobia develops regardless of the environment:

• The influence of literary works: no matter how surprising it may be, sometimes children's fairy tales can provoke the most terrible and uncontrollable fears in children. A vivid example of this is the work of Chukovsky called "Cockroach", where the insect is presented in the form of a frightening hero. Alas, reading it can form a certain image in the baby’s head, most likely far from reality.
• Horror films, or rather, films about killer insects. As a rule, in them even the smallest and most harmless insects are exaggerated and presented in the form of huge monsters that destroy everything in their path. After that, domestic cockroaches seem to be no less dangerous creatures.
• Infections: It is known that apartment cockroaches are carriers of various infections. For some people, this is downright scary. They are afraid of getting infected with something and try in any way to avoid meeting with these insects.
• A repulsive look is the most common reason that leads to the development of a phobia. Most often, women complain about this factor, by nature they are more impressionable than men.

Symptoms of blatophobia

First of all, for a person suffering from blatophobia, a cockroach is not just an insect, but a creature that provokes panic. At one of its appearance, the heartbeat quickens, the head is spinning, the legs become wadded, and the whole body is fettered by wild fear. characteristic feature is a fine shiver throughout the body. In the most difficult cases patients experienced hysteria and suffocation, loss of consciousness, and occasionally paralysis from fear. It is not possible to fully describe the symptoms. Each person reacts individually, and none of the manifestations of fear can be controlled.

Experts note that almost all victims of this phobia understand the irrationality of their fear, but they cannot cope with emotions. Sometimes it is not even necessary for black domestic cockroaches or them to catch your eye live. It is enough to see them on TV and the experiences will again bring a lot of frustration to the blatophobe.

How to treat?

To get rid of blatophobia, you need to contact a specialist. In this case, a qualified psychotherapist will come to the rescue, who will select the most appropriate for the patient. suitable option treatment. There are four most effective methods to overcome this fear. The first is hypnotherapy. It makes it possible to program the subconscious mind, removes the fear of insects from the memory, and in the end inspires that cockroaches in the house are not a reason to panic. The catch is that few patients are willing to lose control of themselves and let someone into their subconscious.

Next comes Neuro Linguistic Programming. It is based on NLP sessions, during which a person's consciousness is switched to another mode and a new attitude to the surrounding reality is created. Sometimes experts are forced to resort to help modern technology. A virtual reality helmet is perfect for this. It is put on the patient's head and he is surrounded by cockroaches, but in complete safety. As a result, this should develop a clear association of insects with the absence of even the slightest threat.

And finally, the last technique is cognitive therapy. During its implementation, the psychotherapist starts practical exercises and models a certain kind of situation. First, the cause of the problem is clarified, and then the theoretical part passes, where they teach how to control their emotions and find a way out during frightening events.

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The fear of cockroaches or blatophobia is a rare disease, but it still occurs among the population of the Earth.

Do not confuse blatophobia with ordinary disgust - fear here arises at a subconscious level, and in order to cope with this ailment, in most cases, the help of a specialist is required.

Panic fear, covering at the sight of a cockroach, not only in reality, but also on TV and even in pictures - this is what blattophobia is. And this is by no means a disease of our time, inspired by the standards of cleanliness and hygiene requirements. It is known that even

Peter the First!
It is hard to imagine that this man, who went down in history as an innovative politician, the most educated representative of his time, over two meters tall, was afraid of insects!

Among the provocative factors for the development of blattophobia, the most common are:

• Stress. Children, known for their susceptibility to everything around them, are most susceptible to this. Accidentally frightened of a cockroach once, a child can keep the phobia for life.
• Fear education is a factor that has its origins in childhood. Adults often make the mistake of scaring children with unpleasant things. Often, cockroaches scare babies from those parents who themselves suffered a fear of these insects at an early age.
• Television and literature. There are many films where insects act as aggressors or are simply presented in an unpleasant light. And what is the famous fairy tale of Korney Chukovsky "Cockroach" worth? The child's fantasy completes the image of a terrible insect, as a result, an involuntary fear of the "bug" is formed.
• The repulsive look of cockroaches. Whiskers and jointed legs are disgusting to many. And when there are a lot of cockroaches that have a tendency to multiply quickly, fear increases many times.
• Infections. The fame of cockroaches as carriers of diseases does not give sympathy to these insects.

Today, cockroaches are considered dwellers of unscrupulous and poor people, but in the time of Peter the Great, they symbolized prosperity and were found in those houses where there was something to profit from. "Blattophobia" is a term not derived from the homonymous word "thieves". In Latin, Blattoptera is the name of a squad of cockroach-like insects, of which there are over 7,500 species!

Black beetle

The most common of these in our dwellings are black cockroaches, but even more common are red or Prussian. The latter were brought to our country in the 18th century, oddly enough, not from Prussia, but from Asia.

Although today the Prussians are becoming less and less common - hospitals, schools, catering are practically spared from them - red cockroaches still live next to a person. It’s just that their numbers have decreased somewhat, but they still haven’t managed to completely defeat the mustachioed “lodgers”. However, as well as the fear of them in a certain category of people.

How fear manifests itself

Not everyone knows what the fear of cockroaches is called, but most of the world's population is disgusted by these insects. However, ordinary hostility has nothing to do with blatophobia.
The true manifestations of the disease are panic at the sight of an insect, increased heart rate, stupor, and sometimes fainting.

Often the patient throws a tantrum, and it is possible to calm him down only with the help of doctors. It is the unconscious manifestation of fear that is real blatophobia. It is impossible to predict the reaction of a disease-prone person at the sight of a cockroach. Science knows cases when a meeting of a blattophobe person with the object of his fear ended in death as a result of a panic attack of the patient.

How to overcome blatophobia

Not everyone can cope with fears on their own. That is why psychology is so popular today. This science allows you to find the key to solving the most difficult problems of the subconscious. The fear of cockroaches is a phobia that can be dealt with under the guidance of an experienced specialist. What will help to leave fear in the past?

Preparations for panic attacks caused by a species of cockroaches exist. Patients are prescribed tranquilizers that relieve excessive anxiety. But by appointment drug treatment can only be done by a specialist!

It is important not to forget that strict adherence to the dosage is an indispensable condition! Tranquilizers can be addictive and addictive, have a number of side effects.

Less dangerous to health, but not as strong with such a diagnosis as fear of cockroaches, drugs plant origin such as valerian or motherwort. They have a mild sedative effect, are known for their “cumulative” effect, and have a minimal set of side effects and contraindications. Such drugs as Novopassit, Persen, Afobazol, etc. have a natural composition and a similar effect.

In addition to tablets, you can also take sedative herbs - infusions and decoctions based on them.

Have a sedative effect:

• chamomile;
• sweet clover;
• Melissa;
• motherwort;
• birch leaf.

Folk medicines act softer, they are more gentle on the health of blattophobes, however, in cases of severe disease, they are practically useless.

Psychotherapy

Every psychotherapist will confirm that the panic fear of cockroaches is a phobia. The name of the method that the doctor will recommend to get rid of it depends on the individual characteristics of the patient. Most often used:

• hypnosis therapy;
• cognitive therapy.

In the first case, consciousness is programmed. By introducing the patient into hypnosis, the psychotherapist "removes" from the subconscious mind the "programs" that are responsible for the emergence of fear of cockroaches. This method allows you to defeat the phobia forever or weaken its manifestation. But not every person agrees to an outsider "digging" in his mind.

In the second case, regular practical exercises are implied, which allow you to gradually get rid of blattophobia. There are many methods of cognitive therapy. But all of them are united by the ultimate goal: changing the patient's thoughts and beliefs, his dysfunctional stereotypes of distorted thinking and perception.

In this case, the belief is formed that cockroaches will not cause harm, they are harmless, and you should not be afraid of them. In the process of cognitive psychotherapy, the blattophobe learns to cope with panic attacks at the sight of an insect, and ideally, to prevent their occurrence.

Prevention of blatophobia

If a blattophobe feels that he himself is able to cope with fears, it will be useful in this matter simple ways prevention of panic attacks at the sight of a cockroach:

• breath control - slow breathing with the diaphragm allows you to remove an attack of a panic attack;
• distraction - at the sight of a cockroach or the appearance of thoughts about it, it is necessary to be distracted and switch consciousness.

Conclusion

Cockroaches are not the most pleasant "neighbors" in our house. But destroying them in an apartment is much easier than getting rid of the panic fear of them. Fortunately, not only insecticides are at our service, but also the help of specialists. Take both into service to forever leave the fear of cockroaches in the past.

• the sad experience of meeting with stinging insects (painful bites or severe allergic reaction);
• ignorance of the real danger of various insects;
• unpleasant associations with insects, if in childhood you became an unwitting witness to some nasty scene with their participation;
• inadequate behavior of parents (if the child was frightened with tales about the Cockroach in childhood or the parents themselves were afraid of insects).

If the fear of insects greatly affects your life, it would be wiser to turn to a psychologist: attempts to cope with a phobia on your own can drag on for years and lead to the opposite result. Signs of a phobia include the following:

• meeting with an insect makes you very agitated, dizzy, sweating, inadequate reactions;
• when you meet an insect, you experience panic, try to leave the room or hide;
• you wear closed clothes and treat your house with repellents “just in case”, avoid opening windows or going outside, and refuse to spend time outdoors.

If you are sure that everything is not so bad and are determined to get rid of your fear, let's do it together. Winter is the best time, you will have time to prepare for the first flies. First of all, theoretical preparation is necessary.

1. If in the past you or your family members have had cases of a very strong allergic reaction to bites, do not be too lazy to visit an allergist and find out what drugs should be in your home and country first aid kit and how they should be applied. All family members should have this information. In this case, your fear is justified, but you should not be afraid of flies if you are allergic to bees. Decide on a range of potentially dangerous contacts and learn how to properly protect yourself from them.
2. Try to remember the moment after which you began to be afraid of insects. After a good digging in my childhood, I remembered that I could watch insects for hours, catch butterflies, colored bugs and grasshoppers in a jar, free flies from the web, and squeal and run away only at the sight of cockroaches, which everyone was afraid of. But once in a children's camp, grabbing a particularly large and beautiful grasshopper, I found that he had galloped away from me, leaving only a twitching paw in his hand. Then they told me, numb with horror, that locusts (and it was her!) And grasshoppers throw off their legs, like a lizard - its tail, but nothing could calm me down: how can you run away without a leg ?! Yes, and without a tail is not necessary, what an abomination! So suddenly, on a sunny summer day, I immediately became imbued with hostility to all insects. It was very useful to remember this, already at this stage the attitude, if not to insects, then at least to my fear, became different: I realized how unreasonable it was.
3. Study the insects that you are most afraid of: find out what they eat, how they reproduce, whether they attack a person and in what cases, how dangerous these attacks are, how you can avoid them. It is likely that you will be surprised to learn how harmless the insects that you can meet in everyday life.
4. Try to find something cute and beautiful in insects. Now, reading these lines, you think that this is impossible. I thought so too, until Google threw me a tiny dancing peacock spider. Try to find an insect of at least a pleasant color for you, but you need to start somewhere! Regularly look at photos, it is desirable, of course, to start with the prettiest specimens. When they no longer cause fear, take an interest in other species. Let not immediately, but you will definitely get rid of disgust. If every day you look into the rainbow fly eyes, someday you will become at least indifferent to them.
5. Imagine the most terrible consequences of your encounter with an insect. What exactly are you afraid of? What will happen to you if your fears come true? Should we be afraid of this? Calculate all the consequences of the most undesirable option and model your actions. For example, I am afraid of spiders. Most of all I am afraid that when I drive the spider out of its place, it will jump on my hand. What's so terrible about that? He will run his paws along my arm, it will be difficult to shake him off, I will accidentally crush him and get dirty. Stop. What's so terrible about that? Well, nothing. Only 15–20 times, swearing, lather your hands under hot water- and now I'm fine. :)

The following points concern the direct encounter with the insect. Of course, it is better that these meetings always take place in the presence of a person with whom you feel confident, but we will act according to the circumstances.

Don't run from your fear

When meeting with a non-dangerous insect (it is assumed that you still bother to find out who is really dangerous for you), try to relax, breathe deeply, smile if possible. You may think that your horror will grow indefinitely, but it is not. Anxiety, rapidly growing, in the absence of real damage to the body, very quickly subsides. In just a couple of minutes, you will begin to calm down. Further actions depend on how calm and confident you are.

Set your goals ahead of time

Plan your actions when encountering insects in order from simple to most difficult. For example, you would like to be able to independently expel uninvited insects from the apartment. Your goals for the next couple of months might look like this:

• be in the same room with an insect for 2-3 minutes;
• approach him at a distance of 2-3 meters;
• observe the insect from a distance of 1 meter for a couple of minutes;
• cover the insect with a jar (here you can start with a bucket glued to a two-meter stick - the main thing is that you are relatively comfortable);
• move the insect covered by the jar onto a thick sheet of paper and throw it out the window.

Get together and do

Take action despite your fear. Just take a slipper and show who's boss in the house. Or take a jar, a newspaper and evict your enemy. Or reach out and take a spider. Thinking for a long time does not make you more confident, sometimes you just need to act. You are stronger than you think, just believe in yourself.

Think about how much better you will feel if you stop flinching at any buzz behind your back. Don't justify your fear, get rid of it!