Alektorophobia is an excessive and irrational fear of chickens. Although relatively rare, this phobia can affect the daily life of the sufferer.
Alektorophobia is one type of specific phobia, namely a phobia of certain objects, places, or situations. Alektorophobia generally characterized by intense fear, panic or discomfort when being around chickens or imagining these animals.
Causes and Risk Factors Alektorophobia
The cause of alektorophobia is still not known with certainty. People who experience this phobia generally also do not remember how, when, or why they developed a phobia of chickens.
However, there are actually several things that can trigger a person to experience alektorophobia, including:
- Have had a bad experience with chickens in the past, for example when you were a child you encountered aggressive chickens
- Have a close family who is also a phobia of chickens
- Live in an environment with lots of chickens
SymptomAlektorophobia
One can be said to be suffering alektorophobia, if he is already experiencing symptoms alektorophobia for at least 6 months.
In addition to spontaneous and intense fear, here are some symptoms that are usually experienced by sufferers: alektorophobia when faced with a situation related to chickens:
- Severe anxiety and can get worse when you know you will meet a chicken
- Sweating
- Fast heart rate
- Tightness in the chest
- Difficult to breathe
- Dizzy
- Shaky
Besides, there are some symptoms alektorophobia that are common in children, namely tantrums, crying, or not wanting to move away from the person who accompanies them when there are chickens around them.
Handling Alektorophobia
Goals of treating phobias alektorophobia is to improve the quality of life of sufferers and prevent excessive fear of chickens that may interfere with daily activities at home, at school, or at work.
To be able to diagnose alektorophobia, a therapist (psychologist or psychiatrist) will review your symptoms and discuss your experiences with chickens.
If a psychologist or psychiatrist diagnoses that you suffer from alektorophobia, there are several treatments that might be suggested, namely:
Exposure therapy
Exposure therapy is one of the main therapeutic options for treating specific phobias, including alektorophobia. The goal of this therapy is to help you deal with your fear of something, in this case the fear of chickens.
Exposure therapy is done by gradually placing you in situations related to the fear. First, you may be asked to think about, look at pictures, or watch videos of chickens.
When you get used to managing your fear and anxiety about chickens, the therapy will be increased by showing a real chicken, and so on until you get used to the presence of chickens around you.
Cognitive behavioral therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy is a type of therapy that aims to control and change negative thought patterns and responses that often arise when you are faced with a situation that scares you, such as the fear of chickens.
That way, it is hoped that you will be calmer in dealing with situations related to chickens. Usually, cognitive behavioral therapy is done in conjunction with exposure therapy (putting a chicken near you).
Drugs
In most cases, patients alektorophobia rarely require long-term treatment.
However, if the two therapies above have not been able to help overcome alektorophobia what you are experiencing, a psychiatrist will prescribe anti-anxiety medication to reduce the level of anxiety and panic attacks caused by alektorophobia.
With proper handling, alektorophobia of course it can heal although it takes time and patience. Therefore, if your fear of chickens leads to alektorophobia, you should immediately consult a psychologist or psychiatrist.
