Arachnophobia is a phobia of Spiders or any arachnids. Arachnids are species that have 8 legs, these species are different from insects because an insect typically has 6 legs. Also, arachnids do not have antennae or wings which further distinguish arachnids with insects.
Some examples of arachnids are scorpions, mites, ticks, spiders, etc. These species have 8 legs and are found everywhere on earth. Some people are afraid of these arachnids and the fear of these arachnids is called Arachnophobia.
It is one of the common phobia’s and it can be treated, however, it takes time for a person to overcome this fear as it would have been instilled in a person for a long period of time.People with Arachnophobia tend to feel uneasy at the moment of noticing any spiders or any presence of these arachnids.
They do not tend to explore if they notice ticks, mites, spider webs, etc and if they may enter, they might suffer from a panic attack. Some people might run, scream, cry or have any other type of emotional outbursts which can be noted by witnessing the person having excessive sweating, increased heart rates or they may even faint.
Scientists say the phobia might be due to evolutionary reason which is due to the fact of having venomous spiders during prehistoric times.However, a phobia is called due to excessive fear of spiders as most of the people fear spiders in general.
This fear, in general, will help the arachnophobia person to have a clear surrounding without being a risk of being bitten by a spider. This gives them an upper hand in survival than a non-arachnophobia person.
Research also says that arachnophobia affects around 3.1-6% of the global population and it can be treated like all the other phobias. The first line of treatment is exposure therapy where the patient is kept in a calm state and using the latest techniques of Augmented Reality, the fear of spiders can be treated.
