Ailurophobia

Ailurophobia is a type of specific phobia: the persistent, irrational fear of cats.[1] The name comes from the Greek αἴλουρος (ailouros), 'cat' and φόβος (phóbos), 'fear'. Other names include felinophobia,[2] elurophobia,[2] and cat phobia.[2]

Description

The phobia manifests itself in different ways. For most people it is less about fear than about loathing, similar to the reaction many people have to snakes or rats. Some people experience it almost all the time, others just in response to direct stimuli. Some possible situations that can trigger the loathing of cats are hearing purring, seeing a cat in real life, imagining the possibility of a cat touching or rubbing against one, the thought of meeting a cat in the dark, seeing the staring eyes of a cat, cats in pictures and on television, and cat-like toys and cat-like fur. Big cats such as lions or tigers can also trigger the stimuli associated with the phobia.[3]

Treatment

There are many ways to treat ailurophobia; treatment is usually carried out by a psychiatrist or other therapy specialist.

One strongly motivated patient was able to recover by slowly becoming accustomed to cat fur, under therapist supervision, by first touching varying types of velvet, then becoming accustomed to a toy kitten, and finally a live kitten which the patient subsequently adopted. As the kitten grew, she also became less afraid of full-grown cats.[3]

In the 1965 animated television special A Charlie Brown Christmas, the character Lucy lists a number of phobias to Charlie Brown and incorrectly states, "If you’re afraid of cats, you have ailurophasia."[4] The word-forming element "-phasia" is a scientific Greek suffix used to form the names of disorders and phenomena relating to words and speech, such as cryptophasia, aphasia, dysphasia, and schizophasia.[5]

In the 1969 horror film, Eye of the Cat, where the protagonist planning the murder of an elderly woman has a fear of cats.

In the 1988 anime City Hunter 2, the character Umibozu has a fear of cats.

In the 1989 anime Ranma 1/2 the main character Ranma Saotome has a fear of cats.

In the 2016 anime High School Fleet the character Mashiro Munetani has a fear of cats. In the 2017 anime Nyanko Days, the character Arashi Iketani has a fear of cats.

The title character in the comic strip Big Nate has ailurophobia.

The character Robbie Jackson, in the BBC soap opera EastEnders has the condition.

Impractical Joker Sal Vulcano has ailurophobia.

Xiumin of musical group Exo developed ailurophobia in his childhood due to being attacked by a cat. He apparently overcame his fear at some point in his mid 20s, as he's had a pet cat since at least December 2016 and stated cats as his favorite animal in the seventh volume of the Exo-L Japan Official Book, which was released February 2018.

See also

References

  1. ↑ London, Louis S. (January 1952). "Ailurophobia and ornithophobia: Cat phobia and bird phobia". The Psychiatric Quarterly. 26 (1–4): 365–371. doi:10.1007/BF01568473. PMID 14949213.
  2. 1 2 3 Szasz, Thomas. A lexicon of lunacy: metaphoric malady, moral responsibility, and psychiatry. p. 68.
  3. 1 2 Freeman, H. L.; D. C. Kendrick (August 1960). "A case of cat phobia. Treatment by a method derived from experimental psychology". BMJ. 2 (5197): 497–502. PMC 2097085. PMID 13824737.
  4. ↑ Schulz, Charles. "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (PDF). Ashley River Creative Arts Elementary School. Retrieved 2016-06-18.
  5. ↑ See -phasia at Wiktionary.

Further reading

  • Crawford, Nelson Antrim (1934). "Cats Holy and Profane". Psychoanalytic Review. 21: 168–179. Retrieved 9 April 2009.

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