As you enter your garage to get something you have not seen in a long time, you move some boxes around and scream because you saw a cockroach! Now you dash back to the door, lock it, and hope it has not entered your home. Because you refuse to go back outside, you might wonder if you have a fear of cockroaches, known as katsaridaphobia. What does that word mean, anyway?
Katsaridaphobia is defined as the fear of cockroaches. Despite the elongated name, it is understandable, as these pests can contaminate food supplies and make you sick. Worse yet, cockroaches can trigger panic attacks and anxiety disorder, so the extreme fear associated with these disgusting bugs is well warranted.
The intense dread associated with cockroaches can typically be rooted in someone’s upbringing. For example, if someone had a traumatic event like cockroaches crawling on them when they were asleep or a dare that went wrong, it could lead to a phobia.
Still, despite several treatment methods available to help overcome katsaridaphobia, like exposure therapy, given enough time and effort, you can beat the fear of cockroaches!
We will walk you through all there is to know about it and what treatment methods are available. Continue reading for more information!
Why Do I Have a Fear of Cockroaches?
There may be several reasons why you have a fear of cockroaches. Here is a list below:
- Behavioral
- Psychoanalytic
- Genetic
- Cultural
- Biochemical
- Cognitive
At a base level, it has been documented that our prehistoric brethren had to be on high alert for anything that went bump in the night.
For example, sleeping in a cave could mean you had a giant poisonous spider crawl over you. Upon being startled, it caused the spider to bite, which could have been deadly. In that case, you could have developed the response you have today from your ancestors in caveman times.
In the modern age, the intense dread felt by those with katsaridaphobia is often linked to a deeply traumatic event in their childhood.
Anything from being locked in a closet to having a home that suffered from a cockroach infestation could do it. Such bad memories can have a lasting effect on an individual and give rise to any mental disorder simply due to the experiences themselves.
Suppose either of your parents suffered from a fear of cockroaches due to a cockroach infestation. In that case, their poor reaction at the sight of creepy crawlies could have been passed on as learned behavior. Unfortunately, panic attacks and anxiety disorders caused by these events can be linked to such circumstances.
As we move on, we will break down the six significant ways someone might develop a fear of cockroaches and a deep dive into some of the reasons humans fear cockroaches.
1. Behavioral
The behavioral understanding of someone having cockroach phobia stems from a traumatic event that occurred sometime throughout their life that left a lasting scar on them and later began to manifest as a cockroach phobia.
These instances can include something as simple as seeing a cockroach fly at you to unexpectedly discovering one in your food. Again the experiences can vary wildly, but the basic theme is boiled down to having a negative experience with a cockroach.
Negative experiences do not necessarily need to happen to the child or adult to develop cockroach phobia. Seeing someone you respect or love have a significant disdain or fear of roaches can also allow the severe fear of roaches to arise over time as learned behavior.
2. Psychoanalytic
Long ago, people believed that intense fear and phobias could likely be an underlying factor that people used to handle feelings and emotions they couldn’t understand. Worse yet, the situations themselves posed psychological issues on a person’s worldview that caused people to suffer from irrational phobias as a way of stumbling through complicated problems.
While interesting as a theory, the understanding itself is ancient. More modern analytics on individuals’ pasts and upbringings has narrowed these down to behavioral issues. Still, in a different time, this could easily have been someone’s diagnosis and a prescription for drawing their blood with leeches as a solution.
3. Genetic
The backing behind a genetic cause for cockroach phobia is a tad stretched. However, certain personality traits are directly linked to making people more susceptible to developing various phobias, and katsaridaphobia is no exception to this rule.
A primary example of this would be neurosis, a mental condition that isn’t caused by a normal organic disease, but the symptoms of which can cause anything from anxiety to depression, and even OCD, with minor tie-in symptoms linking together. You could quickly get the perfect cocktail of disorders that would cause you to develop katsaridaphobia.
4. Cultural
You can learn personally with people you care or respect deeply or glean knowledge from an understood standard that your society or community endorses. This viewpoint lends to the same area that behavioral fears stem from but is broadened in scope.
5. Biochemical
The unique chemistry of a person’s brain can also play a significant part in whether or not they develop cockroach phobia. In this scenario, you could take two people who would hypothetically experience the same event, being locked in a closet with roaches, and one may develop cockroach phobia due to certain chemicals being produced in their brain. At the same time, the other would remain more or less unaffected.
In these circumstances, you can see why the phrase different strokes for different folks is so famous. Still, it also gives a better understanding of how people can change significantly despite being in similar situations and why overcoming a fear of cockroaches might pose a more significant challenge to some people than others.
6. Cognitive
The cognitive standing on how someone can develop katsaridaphobia is about how a person views their run-ins with roaches. Say, for instance, a cockroach flew at you. There are a handful of ways you could handle the situation. For example, if you viewed the roach as a pest or something annoying, you wouldn’t be inclined to fear it.
On the other hand, that same flying roach might elicit a fearful response from someone who took the insect flying at them as a threat, whether from the bug landing in their mouth or feeling it on their skin. Regardless of the reason, if there was a harmful viewing of the incident, it could cause katsaridaphobia.
Another thing to consider would be the specific viewing of the incident. If you were only afraid of the roach flying into your mouth, you might not have a fear of all cockroaches, and perhaps only specific kinds that you knew could trigger this response. However, the severe anxiety could still hit you like a ton of bricks assuming the conditions were met.
What Causes Katsaridaphobia?
As we’ve touched base on above, a vast majority of the time, katsaridaphobia is usually caused by a negative experience by the individual, someone they are close to having one, or viewing roaches in a poor light. Still, outlying factors like the biochemical response make it more likely to occur in certain people than others.
Most of the time, katsaridaphobia is more or less learned from an event. Still, on a survival level, most people aren’t comfortable with bugs being rampant near them, especially where they eat and sleep.
This fundamental understanding is even more exaggerated among people who know how filthy roaches are. Having a cold sweat wash over you while knowing you may have eaten something a roach has walked across is a normal reaction. Cockroaches have disgusting bacteria all over their bodies. They can cause diseases like E. Coli and dysentery, leaving a person in need to go to a hospital, especially among the elderly and children.
Symptoms of a Fear of Cockroaches
Intense anxiety, panic attacks, and urges to throw up can all be symptoms of a fear for cockroaches. However, you can experience physical symptoms like an extreme urge to attack the roach or flee the area. Another sign that could crop up would be being ashamed of oneself.
Those without the phobia may question how shame could be a symptom. Still, in a hypothetical situation, imagine you are a muscular bodybuilder and are hailed for your stalwart presence and ability to overcome all issues without problem.
However, at the sight of a cockroach, that full stature crumbles. If strength and stability were something you were known for, such a minor issue could easily cause shame in a person.
The most prominent symptom directly correlated with a fear of cockroaches is anxiety, with the scope changing dramatically from person to person. Those who are uncomfortable could overcome the common symptoms with a few treatments that gradually expose them to roaches, while others may require a more extensive journey.
Is It Normal to Be Scared of Cockroaches?
Yes, it is perfectly normal to be scared of cockroaches. There is a major difference between a phobia and being scared.
If you are scared vs. having a phobia, you will be able to tackle these creatures with some hesitation but will do it. However, with a phobia it may be much harder to overcome. If you are unsure if you have a phobia vs. being scared, you need to be clinically diagnosed.
How Do I Stop Being Scared of Roaches?
You stop being scared of roaches in a similar way to overcoming most fears in life: facing the situation head-on. It would be best if you had a plan with intricate steps to put yourself in a scenario where you have no choice but to become stronger and challenge yourself.
Such a strong-willed variant of overcoming your cockroach anxiety and fear would lend credit to things like exposure therapy, which you can do with a trusted friend or licensed professional, depending on your openness about the issue and availability.
Other methods like talk therapy and, in some instances, anti-anxiety medication may be able to provide relief. Still, it’s worth noting medication for a situation like this is more or less a Band-Aid and not a proper, long-lasting solution.
Can You Treat Katsaridaphobia?
Yes, you can treat Katsaridaphobia in a myriad of ways, ranging from over-the-counter medication to something more personal like meditation. Regardless there are quite a few solutions available to someone with a crippling fear of roaches, so you can find something that works for you (or someone you care about).
1. Psychiatric Medication
Anti-anxiety meds act as a preventative measure in the face of an issue. To that end, the meds will help alleviate panic attacks and potentially could be used with exposure therapy to find a happy medium to overcome the fear.
One thing to be wary of is that any medications should never be self-prescribed. If you intend to take any medicine as a preventative or aid to help overcome your fears, consult with a doctor to ensure you are taking something safe and will provide the desired outcome.
2. Meditation
Meditation is a widely practiced act that allows someone to challenge and reflect on issues or problems they face in their day-to-day lives. It will enable them to view the situation from a different perspective or open their mind to the possibility of handling it differently.
Meditation has several different forms, but one of the most effective versions of meditation comes in mindfulness or focusing on yourself or your surroundings to distract yourself from your anxiety and grant yourself peace.
Doing so can be achieved by focusing on how your muscles and organs feel on each breath you take, how your surroundings sound, or how different textures feel. Regardless of your method, the critical point is to allow yourself to master your reaction to situations calmly.
3. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction ties in directly with the last bit of the above meditation treatment, as focusing on the intricacies of oneself can help ease some of the symptoms one might experience from cockroach anxiety. To a certain extent, the treatment is relevant to symptoms that phobias develop within someone.
4. Exposure Therapy
Exposure therapy is hands down the most common way people overcome any intense anxiety or the same symptoms that arise when someone is exposed to roaches. The primary concept behind it is that with enough controlled exposure to a cockroach (or anything you fear, for that matter), you will gradually become better at handling unexpected sightings or encounters.
The problem with exposure therapy is that the person who fears cockroaches may need someone else to help hold their hand. For example, if a family member who is not afraid of cockroaches can help someone with katsaridaphobia, it can be a good thing. However, this process can sometimes do more harm than good and can be counterproductive.
It goes without stating then that the treatment should only be done by someone who is very knowledgeable about the process or someone you trust with complete certainty to never put you into a situation that can spiral out of control. Ideally, though, stick to a licensed professional.
5. Yoga
Yoga and meditation are two sides of the same coin. Both goals are to enter a meditative state that allows you to relieve the symptoms of fear and discord that arise from any phobia someone might experience. The primary difference being yoga involves coordinated and practiced movement, while meditation is a stationary endeavor.
Assuming you are entirely inexperienced and attempting yoga for the first time, you may benefit from watching educational YouTube videos from accredited instructors (to avoid hurting yourself) or taking a class to learn proper form and avoid pulling something.
Those who are well-rounded in the world of yoga know many different types. Still, rest assured, each of the methods available will provide some benefit to alleviating the burden of katsaridaphobia, especially when done correctly.
6. Exercise
Strengthening your body is akin to supporting your mind, and exercise has been known to treat all manner of anxiety disorders that you may suffer from. Thankfully enough, katasaridaphobia is no exception to this.
While getting healthy is also a side effect of getting some treatment for your phobia, the most beneficial exercise you can do is primarily centered around cardiovascular activities. Releasing more endorphins will allow you to get more reprieve from the symptoms of phobias.
Another benefit of getting your health in check would be that the resistance training you practice for your well-being can directly increase how well you handle all stressful activities by association. Thus, exercising will make you a more well-rounded person and a less round person. (Yes, that pun was necessary.)
7. Reduce Caffeine Intake
Caffeine and anxiety go hand in hand, so it’s no surprise to learn that mitigating how much caffeine you ingest daily can directly impact your ability to handle stressful situations and navigate overcoming a phobia more accurately.
For those who don’t know, caffeine causes your heart to beat quicker. While this may not be concerning outwardly, this causes you to be tenser initially, depending on how much you consume. You can easily fall into a “fight or flight” state of mind.
The primary issue with this happening to someone arises from the understanding that when you are in this state of mind, you could liken it to standing at the edge of a panic attack. Any minor incident could be enough to cause a full-blown panic. With katsaridaphobia being the focus here, you have some calm, see a roach, and then you are in the thralls of anxiety overcoming you.
Are Cockroaches Afraid of Humans?
Yes, cockroaches are afraid of humans. They are scared of anything that poses a threat to them. Still, they dislike humans primarily because we have no qualms about destroying them, and for those of us with more anger than fear, the strength to flip chairs and pull out cabinets trying to eradicate these pests.
Roaches scattering at the sight of light is all about survival. If you can see the cockroach, you can target it, and roaches understand this situation too well, causing them to evacuate areas immediately regardless of their eating or attempting to mate.
Why Do Cockroaches Fly Towards You?
Cockroaches fly toward you because they are trying to reach a specific destination. However, in most cases, cockroaches don’t fly at people intentionally. Typically, you manage to startle the bug, and it just begins to fly in an attempt to escape. It comes directly at you in its uncoordinated and uncontrollable flying stupor.
That’s not to say the incident itself isn’t traumatizing or disturbing. It’s just coming to the understanding that your mere existence isn’t causing roaches to assault you; they just happened to glide aimlessly in your direction. With horrible amounts of luck, this may or may not be into your face, or in a worst-case scenario, down your shirt!
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Cockroaches Hurt You?
Yes, cockroaches can hurt you by carrying diseases. They can also bite you, but it will not hurt. However, this is a rare occurrence and not an outward attack. In most cases, the cockroach is attempting to eat something on you, like food that has accumulated, and you need to be more sanitary about handling it.
So, going to sleep after a large dinner could mean you have crumbs on your face, lips, or hands, in which case a roach smells food and attempts to eat it, giving you a bite. Alternatively, roaches can hurt you by giving you sicknesses and diseases through direct exposure to them.
The sicknesses you can get range depending on the contact method and severity. Still, anything from dysentery to E. coli can be expected, as roaches are filthy and walk-in sewer drains and skitter across toilet seats. They even feast on feces, so coming into contact with them is never something you want to happen.
Do Cockroaches Bite Humans in Their Sleep?
Yes, cockroaches can bite humans in their sleep, but it is not to hurt them. However, a cockroach biting you in your sleep increases significantly if you don’t wash your hands and face and if you have a meal before going to sleep.
In that case, we highly advise you to be vigilant about sanitation in your home. It is paramount to controlling an ongoing infestation and keeping roaches at bay.
It may go without saying, but if you are amid a cockroach infestation, you would be wise to begin meticulously cleaning your home, ridding yourself of anything roaches view as food. Make sure to close any holes in your home that can allow roaches in.
Doing so will not only mitigate your chances of being bitten by a roach in your sleep but also begin the long and arduous process of getting your home roach free, which should be the ultimate goal of anyone who has katsaridaphobia.
Can Cockroaches Crawl Inside You?
Yes, cockroaches can crawl inside you. It may seem disgusting, especially since they carry so many unwanted germs. They will do so routinely given the opportunity and need, the first of which being opportunity, as you would likely need to have an ongoing roach infestation for this to happen.
The second part of this equation comes in the form of a need, and that stems from roaches seeking warmth to survive. Unfortunately for anyone living in a cold area with cockroaches, your ears are ideal living conditions as they provide warmth, and worse yet, cockroaches can eat the wax in your ears.
So, not only can your ears provide shelter from the elements, but depending on the severity of your ear wax build-up, you can hypothetically be providing them both room and a meal, which sounds horrifying. Still, this can quickly become a reality given the right circumstances.
What Can I Do to Get Rid of Cockroaches?
You can get rid of cockroaches by isolating entry points, controlling how they eat, and putting an end to any attempts at getting moisture necessary to their survival. These are the most critical staples to getting rid of a roach infestation.
Understandably though, if you have katsaridaphobia, handling any aspect of this process may prove difficult, neigh impossible, depending on the severity of your phobia. As such, one of your best options may be to consult a professional to help eradicate these pests.
Terminex and Orkin are top-rated exterminators that can help rid roaches from your home and explain in great detail how you got them. They will walk you through plans to keep them going in the long run and install preventative measures to keep them from returning.
