Arachnophobia (spiders)

[Sookie79]

I have suffered my entire life with arachnophobia and it is something I have just had to learn to deal with, especially now I don't live with a partner or family who could be on hand to dispose of the unwanted visitors.

This year was particularly bad, especially in August/September when they just seemed to be everywhere. No one else at work would understand my panic when I saw one (one crawled across my desk once!) and I find a lot of people with this fear are thought of as silly. "Oh its more frightened of you than you are of it" or "Its JUST a spider". Well to me, its something that puts the fear of god in me and that's not going to change. People with a fear of heights or flying seem to be more accepted for some reason and its frustrating.

I have now invested in some spider catchers, which suck the spider into a tube so you don't have to get so close. The glass trick was never one I could manage as that meant getting too close to them. I got a few on my staircase in just one week and it made me too scared to leave my room to go to the toilet without checking every step or carrying my catcher with me wherever I went. I felt pathetic really.

Then someone suggested conkers. You put a conker in each corner of your room and there is something about them that they don't like. I was given about 20 conkers by a friend and they are on my staircase, around the corners of my bed, in every corner of the room and under windows.

It really worked!!

Although I have had one or two small spiders since which I can deal with using the catcher, I haven't had any of the massive ones. Slowly my confidence in using my staircase has come back and I haven't touched my catcher in weeks.

So my advice to anyone trying to deal with arachnophobia is to invest in conkers every year and get a spider catcher for the odd one that does get through. I promise, you will see them a lot less!

Sookie

[vicky23]

thank you!
Great tip, I've also read they hate citrus so that's another thing to use when conkers might not be available

[Mirabelle]

Skokie
I am just the same. I use kitchen bleach spray. You spray it on them and it foams up so they can't move and you can't see them. It kills em quick too.
I know it sounds cruel but I can't deal with them any other way and they terrify me.

[PanchoGoz]

I might have to try that, thanks for the great post.
I just want you to know...I used to be arachnaphobic; I would even retch around big spiders. I am no longer scared of spiders in the way that I was, only a little repulsed. But I even prod them to annoy them now and watch them whirl around in defence! My dramatic improvement is beacuse I spent some time working on a hypnosis script, then recorded it in my own voice (vocoded becaause my voice makes me laugh) and put myself into a hypnosis and used suggestion to eliminate this fear. If you would like my script or even the mp3 of my reading, let me know and I will gladly send it to you with admin's permission. Otherwise, I would suggest giving self-hypnosis a go if you haven't already. Take care.

[blue moon]

I do not like spiders,here we have huge hairy ones,and big spider call Daddy long legs we have of lot of them.I kill them with fly swat,I agree with Pancho
Petra x

[Sookie79]

@Vicky23 - perhaps conkers sprayed with citrus would be the ultimate defense?

@Mirabelle - I hate them too and have been told off by friends when I have killed them but only people with this phobia can understand why we need to kill them sometimes. Its easier to spray them with something at a distance then go anywhere near them with a glass.

@PanchoGoz - thank you for your advice. I have thought of hypnosis but not sure

@blue moon - does a fly swat not create a disgusting mess?

[brambles]

does a fly swat not create a disgusting mess?

I don't know about a fly swat but a big hammer does!

[blue moon]

hammer make big mess,no Sookie fly swat make no mess x
Petra x