Agrizoophobia (fear of wild animals): symptoms, causes and treatment

This specific phobia may arise from a bad childhood memory.

Phobias are irrational and persistent fears that can considerably affect the quality of life of a person.that can considerably affect a person's quality of life. Many of them have an animal or group of animals as phobic stimulus, as is the case of agrizoophobia, that is, phobia of wild animals.

In this article we will know what is meant by wild animal, examples of them, as well as the symptoms, causes and treatments of agrizoophobia.

• We recommend you to read: "Types of phobias: exploring fear disorders".

Agrizoophobia: what is it?

Agrizoophobia is a phobia of wild animals.. Like all phobias, it results in an unjustified, irrational and intense fear of the phobic stimulus. It is a specific phobia, classified as such in the DSM-5 (Diagnostic Manual of Mental Disorders). Let us remember that phobias are anxiety disorders, and that they are the most prevalent anxiety disorders in the general population.

Specifically, we can place agrizoophobia within animal phobias, one of the 5 groups of phobias proposed by the DSM-5, together with: phobia of natural environments, situational phobia, phobia of injections/blood/water and other phobias.

But what exactly are wild animals and what are some of them? Let's explain it to understand this type of phobia in more detail:

Wild animals

Wild animals are animals that live in the wild and that have not been domesticated by humans.. They can live in the water, in the air or on land; that is to say, there are different types of them. Examples of wild animals are: the lion, the tiger, the shark, the elephant, the giraffe, the leopard, the wolf, the crocodile, etc. As we can see, each one has a specific natural habitat and a surface where it is accustomed to live.

It is difficult for a wild animal to become domestic, although there have been cases of people who have "domesticated" them or live with them: for example, a woman living in Florida has a tiger as a "pet". However, this is far from being the norm, since these animals usually need a wild and open-air life, with no human control.

Dangerousness is often associated with wild animals. This is because some of them are, especially when attacked, disturbed or interfered with in their natural habitat. However, In agrizoophobia, the danger is not real, or not high enough to explain the symptoms triggered by the phobia itself..

Symptoms

The symptoms of agrizoophobia consist of an intense and disproportionate fear of wild animals, coupled with other associated psychophysiological symptoms: e.g. dizziness, nausea, vomiting, overexcitement, nervousness, agitation, sweating, feeling short of breath, loss of control, anxiety.…

Normally, however, these last symptoms do not appear unless the patient with agrizoophobia manifests a panic attack associated with the presence (or imagination) of this type of animal. Let us specify a little more the symptoms of this phobia.

1. Disproportionate fear

The intense fear of animals involved in agrizoophobia is, moreover, disproportionate; this means that, although by logic one might think that a wild animal can cause fear (because it can cause harm), in agrizoophobia the fear appears even when the animal cannot cause harm (in a zoo, for example) or when it is not present (in the imagination).

2. Irrational fear

That is to say, in agrizoophobia, the real danger does not exist (or is not serious enough to justify the symptoms). Thus, it is an irrational fear (as in any specific phobia). This irrationality can be contemplated by the patient himself (i.e. he himself can realize that the fear is irrational); however, he is unable to cope with the phobia.

3. Avoidance/resistance to the phobic stimulus

Other symptoms of agrizoophobia include: avoidance of the phobic stimulus (in this case, wild animals); avoidance is also extrapolated to situations or environments where a wild animal can be seen (e.g. zoos, natural parks, etc.).

If, on the other hand, the phobic stimulus is confronted, a symptom that may appear is resistance to it; that is, the patient with agrizoophobia faces the animal (sees it, approaches it, touches it...) but with extreme anxiety.

4. Global affectation

Finally, another characteristic symptom of agrizoophobia is an impairment of the overall daily functioning of the person, who loses quality of life and may even stop doing things that he/she would normally do, due to his/her phobia.

In addition, the person feels clinically significant discomfort.

Causes

The causes of agrizoophobia are related to an ancestral and evolutionary response of the organism.to protect themselves from danger. That is to say, evolutionarily, animals and people "learned" to protect themselves from certain stimuli, such as wild animals. It is logical to think that a wild animal can cause us physical harm, because this can happen; for example, let us think of lions, tigers, wolves, crocodiles...

These mechanisms that we were talking about as a possible cause of agrizoophobia were useful for the survival of the species; however, currently, in agrizoophobia the mechanisms are dysfunctional and maladaptive, since they do not respond to a "real" or sufficiently serious danger.

On the other hand, these mechanisms are related to other types of related phobias, e.g. snake phobia, scorpion phobia, spider phobia, etc. Thus, as a cause of agrizoophobia we find a response of the organism as a protective measure against noxious or unknown agents (in this case, wild animals). This response may be unconscious.

Other causes of agrizoophobia are related to traumatic experiences lived with animals (whether wild or not, although especially with wild animals); for example, a dog bite, an attack by an animal, etc.

After living something like that, the person can perfectly develop such a phobia, as a protection mechanism. We also find among its causes having witnessed the attack of a wild animal on another person (vicarious conditioning), having heard related stories from others, etc.

Treatment

Agrizoophobia can be treated with psychological therapy, mainly through two types of techniques: exposure techniques and cognitive techniques.. With exposure (the therapy of choice for specific phobias), the subject will be exposed to these animals, gradually.

Exposure can be of different types: symbolic (through images, videos, in imagination...), through virtual reality, live (through going to a zoo, for example), simulated (through behavioral tests), etc. The choice will depend on the characteristics, needs and preferences of the patient with agrizoophobia.

On the other hand, cognitive therapy will be used to modify the irrational and/or dysfunctional thoughts associated with wild animals; the goal is for the patient to "understand" that he/she does not have to be in danger, and that his/her fear is disproportionate. Through this type of therapy, the patient will also be encouraged to develop effective coping strategies to deal with the phobic stimulus.