Fear of fish or ichthyophobia ranges from cultural phenomena such as
fear of eating
fish, fear of touching raw fish, or fear of
dead fish, up to
irrational fear (
specific phobia). Selachophobia, or
galeophobia, is the specific
fear of sharks.
[Galeophobia](_blank)
in medical dictionary.
Etymology
The term ''ichthyophobia'' comes from the
Greek ἰχθῦς - ''ichthus'', meaning "fish" and φόβος - ''phobos'', "fear". ''
Galeophobia'' comes from the Greek γαλεός - ''galeos'', "small shark".
Phobia
Ichthyophobia is described in ''Psychology: An International Perspective'' as an "unusual" specific phobia.
[Michael W. Eysenck. ''Psychology: An International Perspective'', Psychology Press, 2004, p839, ] Both symptoms and remedies of ichthyophobia are common to most specific phobias.
American psychologist
John B. Watson, a renowned name in
behaviorism
Behaviorism is a systematic approach to understanding the behavior of humans and animals. It assumes that behavior is either a reflex evoked by the pairing of certain antecedent (behavioral psychology), antecedent stimuli in the environment, o ...
, describes an example, quoted in many books in
psychology, of
conditioned fear of a
goldfish in an
infant
An infant or baby is the very young offspring of human beings. ''Infant'' (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'unable to speak' or 'speechless') is a formal or specialised synonym for the common term ''baby''. The terms may also be used to ...
and a way of
unconditioning of the fear by what is now called
graduated exposure therapy
Systematic desensitization, or graduated exposure therapy, is a behavior therapy developed by the psychiatrist Joseph Wolpe. It is used when a phobia or anxiety disorder is maintained by classical conditioning. It shares the same elements of both c ...
:
In contrast,
radical exposure therapy
Flooding, sometimes referred to as in vivo exposure therapy, is a form of behavior therapy and desensitization—or exposure therapy—based on the principles of respondent conditioning. As a psychotherapeutic technique, it is used to t ...
was used successfully to cure a man with a "life affecting" fish phobia on the 2007 documentary series, ''
The Panic Room''.
[Tryst Williams. Man cured of 'life affecting' fish phobia. ''Western Mail'', 18 April 2007]
Cultural phenomenon
Historically, the
Navajo people
The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native American people of the Southwestern United States.
With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the United ...
were described as being ichthyophobic,
[ Washington Matthews. Ichthyophobia, ''The Journal of American Folklore'', Vol. 11, No. 41 (1898), pp. 105-112][William H. Lyon. The Navajos in the American Historical Imagination, 1868-1900, ''Ethnohistory'', Vol. 45, No. 2 (1998), pp. 237-275] due to their aversion to fish. However, this was later recognised as a
cultural
Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human Society, societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, and habits of the ...
or
mythic aversion to aquatic animals,
[Howard M. Bahr. ''The Navajo as Seen by the Franciscans, 1898-1921: A Sourcebook''. Scarecrow Press, 2004, ] and not a psychological condition.
Fear of eating fish
The ''
Journal of the American Medical Association
''The Journal of the American Medical Association'' (''JAMA'') is a peer-reviewed medical journal published 48 times a year by the American Medical Association. It publishes original research, reviews, and editorials covering all aspects of bio ...
'' have published a
research paper addressing the fears of eating fish
"Time-Tested Guidelines for Eating Seafood"
, a presentation by Jane Brody Jane Ellen Brody (born May 19, 1941) is an American journalist principally covering science and nutrition. She wrote for ''The New York Times'' as its weekly "Personal Health" columnist from 1976 to 2022. Her column was syndicated nationwide, and sh ...
(Personal Health Columnist, '' The New York Times'') at the 2005 Seafood & Health Conference, where she coined her own term for fear of fish: ''pescaphobia,'' from Latin for "fish" among those who are concerned about contaminants, such as mercury
Mercury commonly refers to:
* Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun
* Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg
* Mercury (mythology), a Roman god
Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to:
Companies
* Merc ...
, becoming accumulated in their food.
See also
* List of phobias
References
{{diversity of fish, state=collapsed
Zoophobias
Fish and humans