Ophiophobia is the panicked and uncontrollable fear of snakes. Like any phobia, it is the trigger for psychological and anxiety disorders that can be disabling on a daily basis. Excessive anxiety and most often misunderstood by those around him.

Also called ophidophobia, ophiophobia comes from the ancient Greek “ophis” which means “snake” and from “phobia” which means “fear”. We notice that the phobia of snakes is often associated with herpetophobia, that is to say the panic fear of reptiles. It is characterized by an insurmountable and often irrational fear of snakes. The feeling of anguish can also be triggered at the mere sight of a photograph, a movie or reading a word.

Ophiophobia is one of the most common phobias and it is classified under the category of zoophobias, the fear of an animal. Some historians hypothesize that the phobia of snakes could be inscribed in the traumatic memory of humans since prehistoric times. This is particularly the case of the anthropologist Lynne A. Isbell in her book The fruit, the Tree and the Serpent (Harvard University Press editions). In fact, humans have an innate survival reaction to the animal and visual acuity allowing it to be identified very quickly. An ability inherited from the hunting instinct of our ancestors, and which some primates are also endowed with. 

The fears of biting and choking associated with this animal can be explained by a traumatic event experienced by the patient in his childhood or adult life. 

But the snake also suffers a lot from the predatory image attributed to it. An irresistible tempter of evil to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, the serpent is regularly depicted negatively in literary and cinematographic works, capable of killing by strangulation, biting and swallowing in a single mouthful , as in Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Reasons that can explain the alert of our survival instinct in the face of this crawling and hissing animal.

Some psychoanalysts draw a parallel between the fear of castration and the phobia of snakes. The animal can represent a penis detached from the body in psychoanalysis.

Several factors distinguish the simple fear of snakes from the real phobia such as: 

• The inability to go to a place where it is possible to encounter snakes, such as zoos;
• The inability to watch photos or movies with snakes;
• A simple reading mentioning the animal can trigger an anxiety disorder;
• The often delusional fear – especially if the person lives in the West – of being faced with a snake and of being subjected to a fatal attack;
• Recurring nightmares in which the snake is present;
• The fear of dying.

At the sight of a snake, symptoms revealing the phobia of snakes kick in. It is the beginning of an uncontrolled anxiety which can manifest itself by:

• Disgust and nausea;
• Palpitations ;
• Tremors;
• Crisis of tears;
• Sweats; 
• Fear of dying; 
• Dizziness and fainting.

To relieve ophiophobia, it is most often towards psychoanalysis or behavioral and cognitive therapy that patients turn to. 

Behavioral therapy will work on exposure to the phobia or on the contrary the distancing from it thanks to techniques of relaxation, breathing or positive projection. CBTs are most often short therapies that can last from 8 to 12 weeks depending on the patient and the disorder.

Psychoanalysis is more part of a process of understanding in order to identify the exact cause of the disorder. When the phobia is too debilitating, anxiolytics can be prescribed by the doctor to relieve symptoms and anxiety attacks.