Aylurophobia: what is it and how to get rid of it?

Funny cats and cute kittens delight the eyes of most people. And it’s even hard to imagine that there are individuals who are panicky afraid of these animals. Their fear is called aylurophobia, and this is one of the rarest human phobias. According to some reports, about 0.2% of the population suffers from it to one degree or another.

Fear of cats has several names, which in relation to each other are synonyms - galeophobia, hatophobia. But most often this mental disorder is called ailorophobia - from the Greek “α? λουρος "is a cat. The second part of the word is represented by the word "phobia" - this is a pathological fear.

Cats, cats and kittens cause genuine terror in aylurofob, which a person cannot control. It is not ruled out the onset of a panic attack, in which the patient can harm himself, lose consciousness, balance. The name of this phobia is included in psychiatric reference books as one of the varieties of zoophobia (fear of animals). This is a mental disorder in the framework of which inappropriate avoiding behavior is formed, as well as somatic reactions, disproportionate degrees of danger.

At the sight of a cat (not necessarily a black one), the true galeophobe loses control over his actions. At the same time, he retains self-criticism and an understanding of reality, and therefore does not burn with a desire to become an object of public discussion because of his "weakness", he is worried that only intensifies panic manifestations.

Ailurophobia has long been known. There is no doubt the historical fact that Napoleon Bonaparte suffered from a panic fear of cats.His contemporaries left memories in their memoirs and letters, which claimed that "Napoleon was able to defeat the lion, if necessary, but he would never defeat the cat." The commander had a fear of them since childhood, at the most tender age a cat simply jumped onto him, which seemed to the baby a huge creature.

Throughout his life, Napoleon sweated terribly and began to shake at the sight of a cat. In a battle with the British, Nelson, who knew of Bonaparte's weakness, put several dozen cats in front of his soldiers. Napoleon immediately asked his assistant to take command in the battle, because he simply could not think of anything but a nightmare from his childhood dreams. Needless to say, that this battle Napoleon lost miserably. Then the British joked that they defeated the great Bonaparte cat.

Other “cat haters” include the commander Alexander the Great, dictator Benito Mussolini, a German politician from the Third Reich Joseph Goebbels, a Soviet party leader and revolutionary Lorenius Beria.

The pathological fear of cats can be of two types - unconscious irrational fear and hypertrophic, excessive manifestation of the protective mechanism when implementing the instinct of self-preservation. Experts believe that in most cases, the basis of such a phobia is children's experience. It is believed that pathological fear can develop in several circumstances.

A cat is a small predator, but still a predator, and therefore its claws and teeth can cause a lot of pain to a person. If the person himself is small, then the attack or other aggressive actions on the part of the cat may seem to him a threat to life. Children quite often shamelessly treat domestic cats - they torment, drag by the ears, mustache and tail, and therefore aggression from the side of the pet towards the child is not always baseless. But the child cannot understand this and rationally comprehend it.

If fear arose and was associated with an episode of panic, it is possible that the image of a cat will be firmly entrenched in the children's subconscious as threatening, dangerous, scary. It is not necessary that the animal had any kind of attacks, bites or scratches. Sometimes panic fear causes a cat to suddenly appear, which can jump onto a child to cuddle (as was the case with Napoleon).

Impressive and vulnerable children with a disturbing temperament may be overwhelmed by experiences that they themselves did not even experience. For example, to see heavily scratched hands of another person, the consequences of injuries caused by a cat, watching a movie or a news release, where the cat is presented as an aggressor and a pest.

In this case, an incorrect logical connection is formed between the image of the cat and the degree of its real danger to humans. The danger of ailurofob is somewhat exaggerated at an unconscious level.

It is difficult to say whether the fear of cats is inherited, because such a gene has not yet been discovered. But we can definitely say that parents who are afraid of cats themselves form a similar model of behavior in the child, which gradually becomes part of him, his character.

Some parents overly care about the welfare of their children, categorically forbidding them to pet cats on the street (“They can be sick, contagious!”), Keep such an animal at home (“a cat can scratch, bite”). At the same time, the child gradually develops an imposed irrational fear of the animal, which, in fact, did nothing wrong to him and his relatives.

Well, the child played with the kitten, well, his pet scratched it. You can take it calmly.Some mothers and grandmothers begin to vote heart-rendingly, chasing a kitten around the house with a slipper, and then they grab a frightened child and immediately drag them to handle scratches with alcohol, although this treatment itself causes the baby more suffering than scratches. But the deed is done - a painful relationship between the cat’s image and the subsequent unpleasant and terrible consequences splits in the mind.

Sometimes fear is mystical, although officially aylurophobia does not apply to thematic mystical phobias. A man can be afraid of cats if he believes in their paranormal abilities and magical skills since childhood. A cat in the understanding of such a person can be a guide of spirits, an evil demon, and a helper of witches. There are a great many superstitions around these animals.

Fear can manifest itself in many ways. Ailurophobia is very rich in symptoms, or rather, their variability. There are people who are afraid of cats in principle - as those who may at any moment be in close proximity, as well as everyone else existing in the world. There are galleophobes who are afraid of the cat only when they see signs of a possible threat or attack in it — the cat bristled, arched its back, hisses and in other ways shows its readiness to defend itself.

There are special forms of aylurophobia when panic fear and anxiety are caused by the purring of a cat, someone is only afraid of meowing or wool. There are people who claim that they are afraid of cats only on the street, domestic cats do not cause panic in them. And there are those who are very afraid to run into a cat in the dark. Also described are cases when fear caused images (photos and videos) of cats, as well as toy animals.

In any case, a person, getting into a situation that the brain immediately considers it dangerous, experiences a great fear, turning into a chilling horror. The level of adrenaline in the body increases, which causes numerous somatic manifestations:

• aylurofob turns pale, his pupils dilate;

• heart rate increases, and breathing becomes superficial and frequent;

• cold sweat, tremors of hands and lips may appear;

• blood pressure rises, blood “rushes” to the muscles (the reflex mechanism that activates the brain in case of danger, because it is possible that the muscles have a test - to run or fight);

• in the abdomen there is a feeling of cold, spasm of the stomach or intestines;

• nausea, dizziness may appear;

• control over the situation around is lost; loss of consciousness is not ruled out.

Suffering from pathological fear - not crazy. He perfectly understands and logically correctly thinks that his fear has no reason, he is ridiculous, and sometimes ridiculous. He is ashamed of him, but cannot control himself at the beginning of a panic attack.

To minimize bouts of horror and panic, aylurofobes choose, like the rest of the phobes, to avoid behavior. They try to organize their life in such a way that not a single cat is around. But if a person can create such conditions in his own apartment, then when he goes out into the street the situation becomes uncontrollable - at any moment the most terrible creature on the planet can come around the corner, and then a panic attack can not be avoided.

In severe cases, a person is completely protected from any situations in which he can see a cat or meet with him personally - he does not go outside, does not watch TV (cats are frequent characters in films, commercials), and do not watch images of these animals on the Internet. Needless to say, the quality of life of a person suffering from such a phobia is markedly reduced.

First of all, a psychiatrist or psychotherapist finds out the causes of fear. Even if the person himself does not remember why he was afraid of cats (he was small), then diagnosis of hypnosis will help to find out the true cause. After the doctor draws up a detailed list of all situations and images frightening the person, he proceeds to cognitive-behavioral therapy.

The objective of this method is to help a person reconsider attitudes that provide an incorrect brain response to a nonexistent or exaggerated danger.

Gradually, as the beliefs are replaced, the doctor immerses the patient in a situation where he has to contact this animal and see its images. What used to seem nightmare becomes habitual and is less painful for the psyche.

Hypnotherapy is allowed, meditation and other relaxation methods are encouraged. Treatment is considered completed if yesterday aylurofob may not fall in love with furry tetrapods, at least learn to observe them calmly.

Sometimes medications may be used in the treatment process, but their use separately from the course of psychotherapy is considered ineffective and unjustified. With high anxiety, antidepressants and sedatives may be recommended. With insomnia - sleeping pills. Tranquilizers for the treatment of aylurophobia are not used.

Much depends on whether the phobia is independent or if it is just a separate symptom of another mental illness. So, with some forms of schizophrenia, neurotic conditions, psychosis, symptoms of phobias can be traced. And in this case, it is not ailurophobia that is being treated, but the underlying disease.

You can watch video about aylurophobia below.