Entomophobia sometimes known as Insectophobia is a

specific phobia Specific phobia is an anxiety disorder, characterized by an extreme, unreasonable, and irrational fear associated with a specific object, situation, or concept which poses little or no actual danger. Specific phobia can lead to avoidance of the o ...

characterized by an excessive or unrealistic fear of one or more classes of

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three ...

, and classified as a phobia by the

DSM-5 The ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition'' (DSM-5), is the 2013 update to the '' Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders'', the taxonomic and diagnostic tool published by the American Psychiatri ...

. More specific cases includes arachnophobia (fear of

spiders Spiders (order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species di ...

), katsaridaphobia (fear of

cockroaches Cockroaches (or roaches) are a paraphyletic group of insects belonging to Blattodea, containing all members of the group except termites. About 30 cockroach species out of 4,600 are associated with human habitats. Some species are well-known a ...

), melissophobia (fear of bees),

myrmecophobia Myrmecophobia is the inexplicable fear of ants. It is a type of specific phobia. It is common for those who suffer from myrmecophobia to also have a wider fear of insects in general, as well as spiders (see Arachnophobia). Such a condition is know ...

(fear of

ant Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous period. More than 13,800 of an estimated total of ...

s), and lepidopterophobia (fear of moths and butterflies). One book claims 6% of all US inhabitants have this phobia. Entomophobia may develop after the person has had a traumatic experience with the insect(s) in question. It may develop early or later in life and is quite common among animal phobias. Typically one has a fear of one specific type of insect, but in some cases this may encompass most, if not all other insects, and possibly other animals of the phylum

Arthropoda Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and cuticle made of chitin, ...

. Entomophobia leads to behavioral changes: the person with entomophobia will avoid situations where they may encounter the specific type of insect. Cognitive behavioral therapy is considered an effective treatment.

References

Zoophobias {{disorder-stub

See also

References