Specific phobias focused on animals or insects are the most common phobias in our society. The fear of mice or rats is present in 4.7% of the population, being more common in women. On the other hand, it is one of the animals that generates the most aversion, being between 75 and 90% of phobic animals.
People who have a serious phobia towards rats may avoid certain spaces or stop doing activities they used to do, in order to avoid encountering this animal, for example avoiding taking the city subway, because there are possibilities that they may encounter a mouse or rat. Thus, the fear of mice or musophobia ends up conditioning their daily life, causing limitations in the different areas of the person’s life, such as work, social and/or personal.
If you are interested in understanding what this phobia consists of, continue reading this Psychology-Online article, which will explain the fear of mice or musophobia: symptoms, causes and treatment.
What is the fear of mice called? Musophobia
The fear of mice in psychology is also called musophobia and is part of anxiety disorders, considered a specific phobia. The DSM-V establishes that specific phobias must be classified according to the phobic stimulus; in this case we are dealing with an animal phobia. The fear of mice or musophobia implies an intense and irrational feeling towards an object or situation and gives rise to irrational thoughts when faced with the stimulus.
In specific phobias there is a physiological activation which gives rise to a set of anxiety symptoms such as tachycardia or sweating. Furthermore, a set of catastrophic thoughts around the phobic object. Due to this physiological activation and the set of catastrophic thoughts that generate high anxiety, the person tries to avoid at all costs situations in which this phobic stimulus may appear.
Why am I afraid of mice?
The fear of mice tends to appear in childhood, generally before the age of 9, however it can develop at any stage of life. It is not an irrational thought to think that rats or mice are carriers of numerous diseases and it is normal for there to be a certain disgust and concern towards this animal. This rejection is transmitted from parents to children and this socio-cultural component can be a causal effect that triggers this phobia.
However, the main reason why a person can develop musophobia is from a traumatic experience experienced, observed or through transmission of information, where another person has shared stories or anecdotes with threatening or dangerous content in reference to this animal. Faced with this, a , is established, where the person associates the rat with an aversion response.
Fear of mice: symptoms
The fear of mice is made up of the symptoms that occur in specific or simple phobias; what changes between the different phobias is the stimulus that causes the irrational fear. The set of symptoms appear when the person is exposed to the animal or imagines the situation in which they may find it, thereby producing anticipatory anxiety.
According to the DSM-V, the symptoms presented in mouse phobic disorder, fear of mice or musophobia are the following:
- Presence of an intense fear or anxiety before a stimulus that triggers it.
- The phobic object or situation provokes an immediate fear or anxiety reaction practically every time the stimulus is presented.
- The person searches with all his efforts avoid or resist actively the object or situation.
- The fear or anxiety presented causes a response disproportionate to the real danger posed by the trigger.
- The presence of fear and anxiety are persistent, usually lasting six or more months.
- It generates clinically significant discomfort, as well as social, occupational and other areas of the person’s life deterioration.
Specific phobia disorder can lead to a .
How to overcome the fear of mice?
To overcome the fear of mice or musophobia, the best option is to go to a specialist. The most effective therapy is cognitive-behavioral. The most effective cognitive-behavioral therapy techniques for treatment of fear of mice or musophobia.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy: exposure technique
The treatment considered most effective in the treatment of specific phobias is the exposure technique, included within the . This method seeks to desensitize the person from the feared stimulus and to do so, the person must expose himself “in vivo” or in imagination to the feared stimulus. To work on it, the person together with the therapist establishes a hierarchy of situations from least to most difficult that bring them closer to the final goal, being with a mouse without the appearance of an intense and irrational fear. A possible example of a hierarchy to overcome fear of mice could be the following:
- See an image of a mouse
- Touch a stuffed mouse
- Watch a documentary about mice
- Go to a store to see the mice in cages from afar
- Go to a store to see the mice in cages up close
- Touch one of the mice
This could be an example of building a hierarchy, however many more steps are normally established.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy: cognitive restructuring
As we have previously pointed out, specific phobias tend to associate a set of irrational thoughts around the feared object or situation. It is necessary to work on this set of thoughts to be able to replace them with healthier and more rational ones. Cognitive restructuring allows identify irrational thoughtsreflect on them, see their irrationality and look for alternatives to them, changing them for positive thoughts.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy: relaxation techniques
Specific phobias generate high anxiety and therefore it is advisable to provide the patient with strategies to control anxiety, such as the abdominal breathing technique or the . Returning to the exposure technique, it is also necessary to highlight that between exposure from one hierarchy to the next it is important to perform some of these relaxation techniques, in order to reduce anxiety levels and allow the person to continue working on overcoming fear. to the mice.
Pharmacotherapy
On many occasions, the high anxiety produced by the phobic stimulus prevents us from being able to work on its exposure and on the restructuring of our thoughts. Faced with this, it is common to administer anxiolytic or antidepressant drugs in order to reduce anxiety levels and start working on the disorder.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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Bibliography
- American Psychiatric Association. (2014). DSM-5. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Barcelona: Masson.
- Capafons Bonet, JI (2001). Effective psychological treatments for specific phobias. Psychothema, 13(3).
- Fernández, M. Á. R., García, MID, & Crespo, AV (2012). Manual of cognitive behavioral intervention techniques. Desclée de Brouwer.