Hello, dear readers of the site! Lepidopterophobia is a rather rare form of phobia, which consists in the fact that a person is terribly afraid of butterflies.
And today we will look at the main reasons why it occurs, as well as ways to deal with this disorder.
What is it like?
Lepidopterophobia, or mottephobia, as it is also called, most often occurs in women who, in principle, are prone to fear of insects.
Although it often happens that a person simply does not know about the presence of this disorder in himself. Until, for example, he comes to the exhibition with moths and instead of surprise with admiration, he does not experience horror and disgust.
Fear is irrational. That is, the fob is unable to do anything with himself, he can understand that they are actually harmless, but still, at each meeting with him, he begins to panic and run without looking back in search of a safe shelter.
He is not even able to pronounce the word «butterfly» itself, replacing it with «monster», «monster», «creature» and so on.
He does not walk in the park, avoids trips out of town, and in general, in case of severe illness, he does not leave the house. Thinking that there will definitely be a meeting with these terrible creatures outside the door.
The condition worsens if acquaintances and friends, not realizing that this is a mental disorder, try to play a trick on lepidopterophobes.
For example, they give him dried moths, drop photos with insects, and so on.
Symptoms
The manifestation of a panic attack is accompanied by such somatic symptoms as:
- Shortness of breath, tachycardia. Blood pressure rises, sweating, a person throws a fever, despite the temperature in the room where he is. That is, even in the cold, he will become stuffy from excitement and anxiety;
- The heartbeat increases, and there are pains in the chest area. It seems to a person that he had a heart attack from fear, which makes him panic even more;
- «Twists» the stomach, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea appear. But this is in cases where the fob has previously had problems with the stomach;
- dizziness, loss of consciousness;
- Feeling of suffocation. Due to the fact that at the moment of panic a person takes shallow and frequent breaths, the level of oxygen in the blood becomes critically high. This just leads to the opposite effect — asphyxia. It is necessary to breathe into the palms, then it will become easier and dizziness will pass;
- Loud crying, tantrums and attempts to run away to where it is safe. Lepidopterophobic loses control over his behavior and is unable to think critically and adequately perceive the surrounding reality.
Causes
Basically, lepidopterophobia begins in childhood, although adults can also find themselves afraid of moths in adulthood.
Children are afraid of any surprises. Because the nervous system is not yet able to cope with various stimuli, from which any sharp sound or movement terrifies them.
So if a butterfly suddenly sits on a baby during a walk or flies too close to his face, he will most likely burst into tears. And if there were already traumatic events on that day, the psyche may well not withstand the stress.
And if the appearance of an insect aroused his interest, then an anxious, overprotective mother or other relative could frighten him with her reaction when she saw that this creature was approaching the baby.
Only in the future, directly, moths will already be associated with something unpleasant, unsafe and disgusting.
And it happens that an impressionable, vulnerable and overly emotional person visited an exhibition or visited an entomologist collector. And he experienced such a strong horror at the sight of dead butterflies that in the future this became the cause of the development of mottephobia.
Treatment
At the first sign of an irrational fear of moths, you should seek the advice of a psychotherapist or a psychiatrist. They will be able to make the correct diagnosis and prescribe the necessary treatment, therapy.
After all, a phobia is a mental disorder that requires the supervision of a qualified doctor, a specialist.
In the course of therapy, the fob will be able to explore what exactly provoked the development of mottephobia. This will determine the zones of proximal development, as well as ways that will help in his case.
For example, if the condition worsened due to childhood trauma, he will have the opportunity to throw out the accumulated feelings that the psyche could not cope with at that moment. He is aware of some nuances about himself, his life, which will speed up the healing process.
The most effective in the fight against phobic disorders are cognitive and gestalt therapy, as well as hypnosis.
A psychiatrist’s consultation is needed so that he prescribes medications to improve well-being.
For example, if a person does not have time to recover due to insomnia, he is tormented by nightmares, then this may well cause the development of other concomitant disorders.
Therefore, taking sleeping pills will help eliminate this problem. With obsessive states, increased anxiety and the inability to relax even for a minute, sedatives and tranquilizers will be useful.
When, due to the fear of butterflies, a person is isolated from the surrounding reality, he lives in total loneliness, so cases of depression are not uncommon. From which it is not so easy to recover.
Fob gets so tired of being afraid that he prefers to die than to endure it any longer, so he tries to commit suicide.
With the help of antidepressants, it becomes possible to even out the condition, to experience other emotions, in addition to sadness, pain, anxiety and horror.
Completion
And that’s all for today, dear readers! There are a lot of phobias, if you are interested to know what other irrational fears exist, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with the “Phobias and Fears” section.
For example, did you know that there are people who are afraid of balloons or indoor flowers?
Or are they so worried about whether they look stupid and give others a reason to laugh at them that they prefer to stay at home, completely limiting contact with the outside world?
In general, follow the links, subscribe to site updates and be healthy!
The material was prepared by a psychologist, Gestalt therapist, Zhuravina Alina
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