Musophobia: the extreme fear of mice and rodents in general.

A mouse, no matter how small, can lead some people to a state of great anxiety.

The universe of specific phobias is almost endless.. Let us say that we could describe as many specific phobias as there are people in the world, as a result of individual variability, that is why only the most frequent ones appear in the nosological manuals.

For example, we can find people who are afraid of humans (anthropophobia), of beards (pogonophobia), of stairs (batmophobia), of flowers (anthropophobia), of dust and dirt (amatophobia) and many more, being these phobias uncommon.

In this article we are going to talk about a relatively common type of specific phobia, which can be categorized within animal phobias: musophobia.

What is musophobia?

The DSM-IV-TR and the DSM-5 distinguish between different types of specific phobias (APA, 2000, 2013):

• AnimalThe fear is caused by one or more types of animals. The most feared animals are usually snakes, spiders, insects, cats, rats, mice and birds (Antony and Barlow, 1997).
• Natural environment: storms, wind, water, darkness.
• Blood/injections/body injury (SID).
• Situational: riding public transport, tunnels, bridges, elevators, flying in an airplane...
• Other type: situations that can lead to choking or vomiting, fear of people in costume...

Thus, musophobia would consist of the intense and persistent fear or anxiety that is is triggered by the presence of mice or rodents in general and/or their and/or the anticipation of them. According to the DSM-5, the anxiety must be disproportionate to the danger or threat involved in the situation and to the sociocultural context. In addition, the phobia must last at least 6 months.

Symptoms of this phobia.

People with musophobia especially fear the movements of mice, especially if they are sudden; They may also fear their physical appearance, the sounds they make, and their tactile properties..

One of the defining psychological elements of musophobia in people who suffer from it is that there is both a disproportionate fear reaction to mice and a disproportionate fear of mice. a disproportionate fear reaction (by focusing on the perceived danger) and a sense of disgust or revulsion.

Although studies provide conflicting data, the fear reaction seems to predominate over the disgust reaction. Moreover, both reactions are reduced with Live Exposure, as we will see in the Treatment section.

To protect themselves from unexpected encounters, people with musophobia may employ a variety of defensive behaviors: excessively checking places to make sure there are no mice nearby. or ask others to do so, wear overprotective clothing when walking in the countryside, be accompanied by a trusted person and stay away from a mouse that is spotted.

Age of onset and prevalence

In epidemiological studies with adults, the average age of onset is 8-9 years for animal phobia.. No epidemiological data are available for musophobia.

Considering the various types of EF, the lifetime prevalence data obtained in the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (Stinson et al., 2007) were: natural environment (5.9%), situational (5.2%), animal (4.7%) and SID (4.0%).

Causes (genesis and maintenance)

How does a person come to develop musophobia? Why do some children develop this fear? These questions can be answered following Barlow (2002), who differentiates three types of determining factors for developing a specific phobia such as musophobia:

1. Biological vulnerability.

This consists of a genetically determined neurobiological hypersensitivity to stress and includes temperamental traits that have a strong genetic component. Among the main ones are neuroticism, introversion, negative affectivity (a stable and heritable tendency to experience a wide range of negative feelings), and behavioral inhibition in the face of the unknown.

2. Generalized psychological vulnerability

It is the perception, based on early experiences, that stressful situations and/or reactions to them are unpredictable and/or uncontrollable. Early experiences include an overprotective (hypercontrolling) educational style, parental rejection, insecure attachment bonds, occurrence of traumatic events coexisting with ineffective coping strategies.occurrence of traumatic events in coexistence with ineffective coping strategies to cope with stress.

Specific psychological vulnerability

It is based on the person's learning experiences. Anxiety resulting from generalized biological and psychological vulnerability is focused on certain situations or events (e.g., mice), which come to be seen as threatening or even dangerous. For example, a direct negative experience with a mouse in childhood may generate a learning experience can generate a learning experience that the animal is threatening and dangerous.

• You may be interested in "What is trauma and how does it influence our lives?"

Psychological treatment of musophobia

Although it had been claimed that phobic fears can remit without treatment in childhood and adolescence, the general trend does not seem to be this.

The most effective and well-known treatment is the cognitive-behavioral treatment with in vivo exposure (VE). Before starting the VE, it is advisable to provide information about the mice and to correct possible erroneous beliefs about them.

An exposure hierarchy should also be made, taking into account the person's subjective levels of anxiety. Some ideas to work on the feared and/or avoided situations are: talking about the animal, seeing photos or videos of mice, going to pet stores where there are mice, touching and petting the mice and feeding them... Another option is to using exposure through virtual reality..

Participant modeling to treat musophobia

VE can be used alone or combined with modeling, which is known as participant modeling; this combination has been really useful in treating animal phobias.

At each step of the hierarchy the therapist or other model(s) repeatedly or prolongedly exemplifies the relevant activity, explains, if necessary, how to perform the activity, and gives information about the feared objects or situations (in our case, about mice).

After modeling a task, the therapist asks the client to perform it and provides social reinforcement for the client's progress. provides social reinforcement for progress and corrective feedback..

If the person has difficulties or is hesitant to perform the task, various aids are provided. For example, in the case of musophobia these could include: joint action with the therapist, limitation of mouse movements, means of protection (gloves), reduction of the time required to perform the task. (gloves), reducing the time required for the task, increasing the distance to the feared object, re-modeling the threatening activity, use of multiple models, company of loved ones or pets.

These aids are withdrawn until the client is able to perform the task relatively calmly and on his own (self-directed practice); therefore the therapist should not be present. Self-directed practice should be carried out in a variety of contexts to encourage generalization.