Let's explore the causes of Ornithophobia in general. Any animal phobia is usually caused by a negative encounter with that type of animal. My dad tells me that my fear started when Rocky the Red Bird crept up behind me and scared me. After which I wouldn't stop crying for 2 hours straight. (NOT A GOOD TIME) I find this really funny that it could have been a mascot of a bird that conditioned and generalized me to be afraid of all birds. Though there are other sources of Ornithophobia that originate in popculture, I think mine stems from the negative encounter.
How can you tell if someone has Ornithophobia? It's quite simple, they will start to shake, scream and run at the sight of a bird, but it can depend on severity of your phobia.
Believe it or not, people with severe Ornithophobia can easily become Agorophobic because there are birds everywhere which would make the person scared and anxious everywhere they go. This could eventually cause them to stay indoors for the rest of their life.
Though I don't have quite the most severe form of Ornithophobia, I do have it to some extent. DO YOU HAVE ANY PHOBIAS?
Unfortunately, I don't have any major phobias. I'm mildly afraid of heights, but I'm pretty sure that's for the purposes of self-preservation; I got scared when I walked across a bridge in London with minimal side rails on a windy day. That seems pretty normal though. This blog post explains a lot, actually! I didn't know your phobia was called Ornithophobia. Also, in response to your other post about treatments, I'm curious to see whether you will actually undergo treatment to get rid of the phobia or just leave it alone. You could be our case study!
ReplyDeleteThis was such a fascinating blog post, Sophie. It's so interesting to see how one encounter can lead to a generalization of an entire species. I don't think I have any major phobias, but I am NOT a fan of spiders. How common is Ornithobia? Do you think that if you had encountered the mascot at this stage in life instead of earlier on in your childhood, the extent of your phobia would be more minimal?
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