Cat phobia (ailurophobia): causes, symptoms and treatment

These animals are often well-liked and loved, but some people panic about them.

Cats are among humans' favorite pets; however, while some individuals love these little creatures, others have an intense fear of them, others have an intense fear of them..

It seems hard to believe that there are people who feel terrified in the presence of these animals, more so considering that many scientific researches have shown that these small felines bring many benefits to humans. For example, they help prevent allergies in children, improve self-esteem and mood or prevent respiratory infections. However, the world of phobias is the world of phobias is diverse and to some extent independent of rationality.

Cat phobia: what it is

While cats tend to have a reputation for being somewhat selfish and self-interested, especially when food is involved, a scientific study has found that they love humans more than we used to think (you can learn more about this study by clicking here). But regardless of whether we like cats more or less, some people experience an irrational fear of cats. experience an irrational fear of these animals, a fear that causes them a greata fear that causes them great anxiety and makes them try to avoid their presence at all costs.

This disorder is known as aliurophobia or cat phobia..

A phobia is an extreme, irrational and persistent fear of a specific object, activity or situation. It belongs to the group of anxiety disorders, in which exposure to the feared stimulus can cause different symptoms such as nervousness, anxiety, sweating, trembling, Heart palpitations, shortness of breath, etc. Cat phobia is totally irrational, and even if a cat does not represent a real danger to these people, its mere presence can trigger this strong involuntary reaction.

What causes this phobia

Experts affirm that phobias have different causes, although the most frequent one is the occurrence of a traumatic event in the past..

For example, when a child is bitten by a cat, he may generalize and see all animals of this species as potential attackers, regardless of whether they are aggressive or tame. This occurs because of a type of associative learning called classical conditioningwhich was originally discovered by Ivan Pavlov and later popularized by John Watson.

Classical conditioning is also called stimulus-response or E-R learning. If you want to learn more about how this learning occurs. you can read this article: "Classical conditioning and its most important experiments".

False beliefs can also cause this phobia.because cats are often associated with black magic, witchcraft, sadism and evil, especially black cats, thanks to Halloween legends, superstitions and countless literary works.

In addition, some researchers believe that the genetic origin may or may not favor the appearance of phobias, that is, that some people are more prone to suffer from this type of fear than others. Other experts believe that personality plays an important role in phobias, since people with anxious personality traits are more likely to suffer from this irrational fear.

What are the characteristics of this pathology?

Phobias are different from the fear that a person may feel towards a cat that perhaps shows an aggressive attitude. And it is that normally cats do not usually threaten humans, but are very comfortable in their presence, especially domestic cats.They are very comfortable in their presence, especially domestic cats. Some of them, in fact, seek constant affection when surrounded by people.

For fear of cats to be considered a phobia, it must be irrational and not associated with coherent thoughts, provoke a great discomfort in the presence of any cat, be persistent, be uncontrollable and therefore cause avoidance of the phobic stimulus, in this case, cats.

Symptoms of ailurophobia

The most frequent symptoms of ailurophobia in people are:

• Extreme, irrational fear (can also be triggered by a thought or image of a cat).
• Fight or flight response in the presence of a cat, idea or thought of this one, that is to say, to try to avoid the situation that the person considers threatening.
• Also avoid places where cats are or may be found. For example, do not accept an invitation to a friend's house because the friend has a feline.
• A great discomfort and anxiety at the presence of a cat, thought or idea.
• Realizing that the fear is irrational but not being able to control it.
• Hypervigilance and extreme nervousness at the thought of encountering a cat.
• Panic attacks with signs such as agitation, shortness of breath, sweating and clammy hands, rapid pulse, etc.
• Dizziness, nausea and intestinal discomfort.

Treatment

The treatment of this phobia is not different from that of other phobias and, since it is usually caused by classical conditioning, cognitive behavioral therapy is usually one of the preferred treatments due to its great effectiveness.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) focuses on modifying a person's thoughts and behavior that is considered maladaptive and is the cause of the distress. The therapist, at the outset, usually helps the patient to understand why he or she has developed a phobia, and often provide him/her with a series of tools to help him/her overcome the phobia..

The idea is that the subject replaces the negative and irrational thoughts he/she has towards cats with more realistic and adaptive ones. The therapy sessions also help to release the stress and tension that one has been having due to the phobia.

Techniques used

Some of the most commonly used techniques in cognitive behavioral therapy for the treatment of phobias are expository techniques and relaxation techniques. Therefore, the therapist guides the person through regular exposures that include the presence of cats.

This is usually done gradually, and usually starts, for example, with photographs of cats, videos, stuffed animals and, finally, real cats. In addition, the aim of one of these expository techniques, called systematic desensitizationis to foster more useful coping skills when the patient is exposed to the phobic stimulus.

Different forms of relaxation are also taught in psychotherapy sessions including breathing control and mental visualizationsOther therapeutic methods such as Mindfulness or clinical hypnosis may be used.

Medications, usually anxiolytics (but also antidepressants), can be used in more severe cases, those in which the patient has panic attacks.

New technologies applied to the treatment of phobias

New technologies are also beginning to be used for the treatment of these pathologies, as they have proven to be very useful. Virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality augmented reality improve the patient's therapeutic experience..

Likewise, there are different mobile apps that can be used to treat phobias and are useful for this purpose.