Fear of dogs: causes and remedies for child and adult cynophobia
The fear of dogs, also known by the technical name of cynophobia, it is a much more widespread phobia than you can imagine. The word Cinofobia comes from two Greek words "chiùon" which means dog and "phobos" which means fear. To overcome the fear of dogs we have collected a series of useful tips. Overcome the fear of dogs for yourself or to make those you love happy!
The fear of dogs up close.
Contrary to social phobias such as the fear of flying, or the fear of the crowd, the fear of dogs falls into specific phobias along with all those concerning the fears of animals such as mice, spiders or snakes. For cynophobia we mean an unmotivated and irrational fear of dogs (to understand this, not a fear of a truly aggressive dog). Both companion dogs and stray dogs can be involved, from a child as well as an adult. Those who suffer from this fear are sick simply by seeing or thinking about a dog, for no real reason, even without even being close to dogs. As with all fears, there are degrees of fear and therefore different intensities: there are those who are afraid but manage to gain strength and live a normal social life and those who remain deeply conditioned by their phobia to the point of not attending certain places or houses. of friends with dogs. The fear of dogs usually has its roots in the life of those who are afraid and is probably attributable to past attitudes and experiences even if the subject rarely focuses on them and remembers them clearly.
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What Causes Fear of Dogs?
The phobia can arise from an accident with a dog, perhaps as a child. You may not remember it but maybe a dog has scared you, growled or bit you. In this way the only memory that your brain has associated with dogs is that of a fear and for you they represent only an uncontrollable alarm signal, the result of a traumatic experience that I do not reside to forget or even to rationalize (direct personal experience) . Or the traumatic experience is not yours, but for example of a parent who taught you from an early age to be afraid of dogs and to feel anxiety in their presence, also to justify his fear and anxiety at the sight of a dog ( information experience). It is no coincidence that children are particularly at risk, because children aged 4 to 9 are easily influenced and absorb every stimulus from their parents so they can quickly learn fear. Finally, fear can be linked to an external memory, for example a scary movie where a dog attacked a man or a story of someone else's experience, true or false (observational experience). The first thing to do to try to overcome the fear of dogs is undoubtedly go and find its origin, if you understand where your fear came from, it will be easier for you to understand and overcome it. The psychoanalytic interpretation causes the fear of dogs to derive from an emotional transfer, practically the subject tries to attribute to dogs a fear that he himself has, however, hidden reasons, perhaps hiding a tension towards a person with fear of an animal. A first step to do this is to understand what scares you of the dog, if when it barks, if the mere sight of it, if when it runs, if you fear being bitten or attacked, etc. This is always valuable in understanding the cause that has ignited fear in your mind. Although it is a very frequent fear, only 2% of those who are afraid of dogs take action to overcome it: it is really a shame because this fear is very debilitating for your health. Are you ready to overcome it once and for all?
These are the most recurrent symptoms of cynophobia:
At the sight of a dog, those suffering from cynophobia begin to feel anxiety and nervousness like all fears towards animals. Then the fear often leads to real panic attacks with all the psychophysical manifestations that we know well such as increased heart rate, hyperventilation and sweating and even nausea and dizziness. Fear is very powerful and can have terrible effects on our body! When he sees a dog, who is afraid, sees imminent danger approaching and feels the need to escape. Trembling, shivering, cold are just some of the sensations you always feel. These symptoms are very disabling and in fact this fear considerably affects the life of those who experience it because there are so many dogs in Italy and it is impossible to avoid them all! Alongside the physical symptoms there are a number of psychological symptoms such as anxiety, anguish and agitation that lead the phobic to exaggerated and excessive reactions.Those who suffer from cynophobia certainly conditions their lives and make choices to avoid meeting dogs such as changing paths, avoiding places and people and other changes to their natural lifestyle that certainly do not contribute to your well-being because they implement avoidance strategies. Any fear can be overcome, there is a cure but there is a need for commitment and good will. If your fear is very strong and ingrained you may need the support of a doctor or a therapist who will help you face the path in the right way. Are you ready to overcome the fear of dogs?
How to overcome fear?
To overcome the fear of the dog you need to arm yourself with patience, because you cannot believe that you will overcome in a few days a fear that has conditioned your life for years. A therapist can be useful to guide your path, suggest you where to start and maybe lead you to a gradual approach to the world of the dog, which starts with seeing some specimens drawn and arrives slowly and day after day to see dogs live, to get closer slowly until you want to caress them. It's not impossible: the change that can occur in your mind will amaze you too, and you will also have significant benefits in terms of well-being, health and balance. The feeling that those who win the fear of dogs always feel is that of freeing themselves from an enormous weight and finally feeling masters of their own life and existence, also overcoming all those boundaries and limits that our mind had placed for us, believing to defend ourselves. so. Overcome your fear of dogs and then find out which dog is best suited to your character, based on your zodiac sign and your personality!
