Arachnophobia Research Paper

Dissecting the Presence of Arachnophobia in Northern Kentucky

Although Spiders provide a plethora of benefits to our community, they continue to be one of the most feared insects not only in the Northern Kentuckian area but also throughout the world. In this project, I will come to a conclusion on why people generally fear spiders, which is an actual diagnosis called arachnophobia. Arachnophobia can be triggered by the mere thought of a spider or even by a picture of a spider in some cases. Some people with arachnophobia will, upon entering a room, search it for a spider. If they find a spider, they will monitor its progress very thoroughly. Often the fear is caused by having an unwanted encounter with a spider earlier in life, such as their childhood. One of the more effective and

Exposure therapy is based on the idea that a person with arachnophobia believes something catastrophic will happen when they are confronted by a spider, but because they choose to avoid contact with spiders they are never given the opportunity to have a good encounter with spiders. Exposure therapy requires the person to confront the spider in order to grasp that the threat level of a spider is not as big as they once believed. According to the American Psychiatric Association, phobias affect more than one in ten people in the US today. To gather more information concerning arachnophobia and the fear of spiders in our area, I attained a substantial amount of opinions from Northern Kentuckians in the Alexandria area. I asked locals why they might like/dislike spiders and used their words in whole to form an educated and knowledgeable reflection towards the conclusion of my project. I also advanced the interviewing process by providing them with an optional survey, so I could attain as much information I possibly could. One of the many Northern Kentuckians I interviewed on arachnophobia was David Thompson. David