Fear of dogs (Cynophobia) treatment

Fear of dogs (Cynophobia)

Cynophobia is irrational fear of dogs, the difference between normal fear of dogs and Cynophobia is that the person suffering from Cynophobia will do his best to avoid approaching or passing by a dog, to an extent that he may stay at home to avoid his neighbour’s dog.

A phobia is an irrational fear of something that has no real harm like fear of darkness or fear of spiders, the problem with Cynophobia is that there is a possibility (even if a very small one) that the dog may attack the person, and that’s why the person may be convinced that there is a real possibility for harm

what causes Cynophobia?

Usually the cause for any phobia is a traumatic experience associated with the feared object, in the case of Cynophobia being chased by a dog when being a kid may result in acquiring Cynophobia.

Cynophobia treatment

The following methods can be helpful in treating Cynophobia:

Cognitive behaviour therapy : Cognitive behaviour therapy will help you change the way you think of dogs and so you may start to fear them less, cognitive behaviour therapy is based on the idea that thoughts trigger the emotions and then the emotions triggers the behaviour, by controlling the first thing which is thoughts we can control the emotions (fear of dogs) and the behaviour (avoiding dogs)
using hypnosis to change your irrational ideas about dogs: usually people with Cynophobia have got strong beliefs that the dog is going to attack them at any moment or that dogs are harmful creatures, by using hypnosis you can install new beliefs about dogs or remove those irrational ones.
using NLP: NLP can be used to treat Cynophobia, usually when you fear dogs you will be having false mental image in your mind about the dog,this image may be picturing the dog as being aggresive and having big teeth, by using NLP you can change the false image of the dog in your mind to somthing more realistic and so your irrational fears may ease.

desensitization : desensitization is a method of therapy involving gradual exposure to the situation until you become relaxed with it then being taken a step further or closer to the feared object until you end up facing your fears while feeling relaxed