Fear of cats ailurophobia causes and cures

By M.Farouk Radwan, MSc.

Fear of cats Ailurophobia causes and cures

Ailurophobia is the intense fear of cats and its one of the very common phobias.
The causes of any phobia is usually far away from being related to rational thoughts about the feared object. For example, we all know that cats are tiny, helpless and that they fear humans yet many people have Ailurophobia or the fear of cats.

Most people try to cure the fear of cats using rational arguments such as the ones mentioned above and that's why they always fail. When trying to cure a Ailurophobia know that rational arguments can never work and that understanding the causes of the phobia is the real key.

In this article i will tell you about the causes and cures of Ailurophobia the fear of cats.

What causes Fear of cats (Ailurophobia)

In my previous article What causes fears and phobias i said that most phobias result from a traumatic experience that happens at childhood and then lies in the subconscious mind of the person.

If for example a little kid was bitten by cat then he might retain this experience and develop the fear of cats or Ailurophobia.

Lots of people wonder why do some people fear cats even if they never had bad experience with them? This leads us to the second cause of phobia formation which is seeing someone else responding with fear to a certain object.

If a mother fears cats and then reacted with fear when a cat suddenly appeared then there is a big possibility that the child will develop fear of cats too as a result of believing that cats are harmful. So Ailurophobia isn't only caused by bad experience but can also be the result of seeing someone else reacting with fear.

I have also said before that people sometimes shift their fears to other harmless objects because of not being able to confront themselves with their real fears. A man who fears the unknown and who can't face this fact might end up fearing darkness without knowing why.

Ailurophobia can be a reflection of another fear that the person can't face. For some people cats represent femininity and thus they might fear cats just because they can't admit that they fear women.

Fear of cats (Ailurophobia) cures

These were the causes of Ailurophobia the fear of cats but what about the cures?
Just like any other phobia the fear of cats can be cured by gradual controlled exposure under the the guidance of a professional.

In the Solid Self confidence program i said that most phobias including the fear of cats can be cured through the following steps:

1) Divide your fear into levels (watching a pic of a cat, seeing a cat in a cage, walking beside a cat etc)
2) Start with the easiest level. Try to control your breath and remain calm
3) As soon as you manage to stay calm during a level go to the next one
4) Keep doing so until you find yourself calm during the final level (holding a cat for example)

The fear of cats is not hard to cure, you just need to know the right causes and commit to the treatment method described above.

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