Spiders why are some people so terrified?

[Loosehead]

Related to a Question below. 99% of spiders are harmless, probaly 100% in UK and even the biggest ones can be easily squashed and yet there is this irrational fear, abject terror in some, why? Any psycho analysts out there care to explain? For my own part, I don't really like picking them up but otherwise I just let them get on with it, they mainly hang around out of sight anyway and they do eat all manner of other creepy crawlies.

[loobie]

I am not a psycho ananlyst, but I am terrified of spiders of any kind!! They are so fast and I think that is why I hate them so much!! The thought of them touching me makes my skin crawl and at the age of 23 I still have to get my dad to come and catch them in a nice manner!! I absolutely hate them!!!

[Pippa68]

I don't have a problem with any kind of spider ~ big, small, hairy etc. I find them fascinating and could watch them for hours.

However frogs are another thing entirely. They stalk me, I tell ya. Last night I was clearing up the garden and I threw a rock on to the flowerbed. This frog launched itself off the ground and onto my foot. Not only did I scream the place down screeching for my mummy, I peed myself. That is terror!

[Champagne]

I'm a psycho and I hate them too. They have more legs than me, can move in any direction (which is usually towards me!) and can move far too fast for their size! My irrational fear was passed on through my mother. She was terrified of them too so from a very young age I learnt that they were to be feared. I can't and won't kill them though. I know they're harmless and that I'm not justified in killing them so I leave them to it. 'Cept for the big hairy ones which must be removed from the house. Or the ones that insist on stalking your shower when you want to use it. Or the small ones that are in the corner of your bedroom waiting for you to fall asleep so they can crawl all over your face.

See. I told you I was a psycho.

[PinkFizz]

Good question! I used to be terrified of them till I had lkids then decided I didn't want them to inherit my fear so I now just leave them if I see one in the house.But b/f - he is absolutely petrified!!!! If he sees a spider he will freak out - and he has no idea why!

[Supernick]

Money and garden spiders don't pose any problem for me, as the former are so tiny, and the latter hang around in webs all day. You know where you are with a spider in a web. Tarantulas don't bother me because they're kind of docile and can be quite pretty to look at.
But house spiders are the spawn of the devil. They build really sh*t webs and then can't even be bothered to spend any time in them, preferring instead to scuttle over your bed, or across the carpet whilst you're quietly watching Eastenders. I would advice arming yourself with a hockey stick at all times, but not a can of spray varnish, because that really p*sses them off.

[China Doll]

I am irrationally scared of anything with more than 4 legs... I am getting better since I started living on my own but I have been known to cry when something like a spider, wasp or beetle gets too close or comes in to my room. It's just a phobia, I try and control it but sometimes I just come over all wussy!

[Jay_Jay]

Yeah, but you have your Boxer dog to deal with them, Champagne, I seem to remember !

I guess we're frightened by the things we don't straightaway understand: how a thing that small (and have so many legs) can move around so fast; how it can have a brain controlling it.

It's the primal fear. It MAY bite. We may fall sick if we're bitten. So we're well-advised, by our sense of self-preservation, to keep well away from it, or at least to keep it mind where it is at any one given time. We don't care if it actually bites or not: it's the possibility that it might.

[Supernick]

I could always trust my parents cat to sort the problem out. Pick it up and point in the direction of the spider whilst excitedly shouting "What is it Kevin (the cats name)? What is it? Is ist food? Go on. Have it"
He'd chase it and eat it no problem, but usually spit it out a couple of minutes later.

[Champagne]

This is true Jay-Jay. I do have a spider-murdering doggie. :o}

[Backdrifter]

I've heard phobics say the speed and manner of movement is a factor. Have you seen one zoom out of hiding once it's caught something in its web? It's a blur. I reckon it must also have something to do with their particular predatory nature - building a sticky thing to catch its prey, then wrapping the prey up and, while the victim is still alive, biting it and injecting stuff that turns its innards to gloop, enabling it to be conveniently sucked up. Something about that lying-in-wait business is a bit disturbing.

People often assume spiders are running towards them but a lot of the time you're sitting watching TV when this happens and I've heard that spiders are freaked out by the glow of the TV (and perhaps its electromagnetic field too?) so they run away from it, which by default means they're running TOWARDS the person watching the telly.

Yes, when I was a kid our tabby cat Bubble would go all big-eyed and playful when she saw one, and start batting it about with her paw. It cracked me up that someone's cat was called Kevin... I love it when pets have normal human names. Someone mentioned to me the other day about a cat called Bob.

[electricblue]

I have a spider-murdering dyson,but then again the spiders in my house are big hairy gun toting ones that will shoot first and ask questions later,!

[mccfluff]

i've gone all funny and my skins crawling now i wish i'd never read this, note to myself see a thread on spiders stay away.

but i don't think they should be killed just removed from my personal space!

[Dizzieblonde]

Apparently most phobias are from our days as cavemen and women, when things like water, spiders, snakes *did* pose a dangerous threat - human instinct just clings onto the fear still

[Champagne]

ROFL @ electricblue!!! I know those types. They thrive on your fear and can smell it a mile away. You can see the hairs on their legs from 50 yards. Evil things. *shudder*

[electricblue]

Yep,they're the ones champers,tell ya wot,next time i get one at my door,i'll send him to u,see if you can 'rehabilitate'him would ya?????lol,and i dont 'kill' them,i just hoover them,make them nice and clean before they go off on there merry way to threaten someone else!!

[kate1976]

I hate spiders, I don't understand why things with eight legs need to be around, it's not natural!! I also have a thing about hating octopus so maybe it's an eight legged phobia I have going on!!

[Ms.Hijinx]

i dislike anything with more than four legs and less than 2 and i trained my cats like supernicks parents did and they bug bust for me

[spinchimp]

I think the answer lies in our evolutionary development. Many tropical spiders are poisonous. Those of our distant ancestors who instinctively moved quickly on sighting a spider or something moving like a spider were more likely to survive longer and therefore have more offspring - because they didn't get bitten. Their offspring were more likely to have inherited their instinctive fear of spiders. Over many generations more of our ancestors would have inherited this instinctive reaction, hence the large numbers of people who are frightened of spiders now. As its an inherited instinct, its nothing to do with a logical understanding of the actual dangers they pose in the world we now live in.

[unruliejulie]

I don't mind them at all but my husband is terrified of them. Only last night i had to stop what i was doing because i had been called to remove a small one from the bath! Good job i'm not bothered by them isn't it?