Cynophobia

Cynophobia (from the Greek: κύων kýōn 'dog' and φόβος phóbos 'fear') is the fear of dogs. Cynophobia is classified as a specific phobia, under the subtype 'animal phobias'. According to Dr. Timothy O. Rentz of the Laboratory for the Study of Anxiety Disorders at the University of Texas, animal phobias are among the most common of the specific phobias and 36% of patients who seek treatment report being afraid of dogs or cats. Although snakes and spiders are more common animal phobias, cynophobia is especially debilitating because of the high prevalence of dogs (for example, there are an estimated 25 million stray dogs in India, and an estimated 62 million pet dogs in the United States) and the general ignorance of dog owners to the phobia. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) reports that only 12% to 30% of those suffering from a specific phobia will seek treatment. Cynophobia (from the Greek: κύων kýōn 'dog' and φόβος phóbos 'fear') is the fear of dogs. Cynophobia is classified as a specific phobia, under the subtype 'animal phobias'. According to Dr. Timothy O. Rentz of the Laboratory for the Study of Anxiety Disorders at the University of Texas, animal phobias are among the most common of the specific phobias and 36% of patients who seek treatment report being afraid of dogs or cats. Although snakes and spiders are more common animal phobias, cynophobia is especially debilitating because of the high prevalence of dogs (for example, there are an estimated 25 million stray dogs in India, and an estimated 62 million pet dogs in the United States) and the general ignorance of dog owners to the phobia. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) reports that only 12% to 30% of those suffering from a specific phobia will seek treatment. The DSM-IV-TR provides the following criteria for the diagnosis of a specific phobia: The book Phobias defines a panic attack as 'a sudden terror lasting at least a few minutes with typical manifestations of intense fear'. These manifestations may include palpitations, sweating, trembling, difficulty breathing, the urge to escape, faintness or dizziness, dry mouth, nausea and/or several other symptoms. As with other specific phobias, patients suffering from cynophobia may display a wide range of these reactions when confronted with a live dog or even when thinking about or presented with an image (static or filmed) of a dog. Furthermore, classic avoidance behavior is also common and may include staying away from areas where dogs might be (i.e., a park), crossing the street to avoid a dog, or avoiding the homes of friends and/or family who own a dog. Jeanette M. Bruce and William C. Sanderson, in their book Specific Phobias, concluded that the age of onset for animal phobias is usually early childhood, between the ages of five and nine. A study done in South Africa by Drs. Willem A. Hoffmann and Lourens H. Human further confirms this conclusion for patients suffering from cynophobia and additionally found dog phobia developing as late as age 20. Bruce and Sanderson also state that animal phobias are more common in females than males. Furthermore, Dr. B.K. Wiederhold, a psychiatrist investigating virtual reality therapy as a possible method of therapy for anxiety disorders, goes on to provide data that although prevalent in both men and women, 75% to 90% of patients reporting specific phobias of the animal subtype are women. A current theory for fear acquisition presented by Dr. S. Rachman in 1977 maintains that there are three conditions by which fear is developed. These include direct personal experience, observational experience, and informational or instructional experience. For example, direct personal experience consists of having a personal negative encounter with a dog such as being bitten. In contrast, seeing a friend attacked by a dog and thus developing a fear of dogs would be observational experience. Whereas both of these types of experiences involves a live dog, informational or instructional experience simply includes being told directly or indirectly (i.e., information read in a book, film, parental cues such as avoidance or dislike, etc.) that dogs are to be feared. A study was conducted at the State University of New York to distinguish the significance of these three conditions upon the development of cynophobia. Thirty-seven women ages 18 to 21 were first screened into two groups: fearful of dogs and non-fearful of dogs. Next, each woman was given a questionnaire which asked if she had ever had a frightening and/or painful confrontation with a dog, what her expectation was upon encountering a dog (pain, fear, etc.), and subjectively, what was the probability of that expectation actually occurring. The results indicated that, while non-fearful subjects had a different expectation of what would happen when encountering a dog, painful experiences with dogs were common among both groups; therefore, the study concluded that other factors must affect whether or not these painful experiences will develop into dog phobia. Although Rachman's theory is the accepted model of fear acquisition, cases of cynophobia have been cited in which none of these three causes apply to the patient. In a speech given at the 25th Annual Meeting of the Society for Psychophysiological Research, Dr. Arne Öhman proposed that animal fears in particular are likely to be an evolutionary remnant of the necessity 'to escape and to avoid becoming the prey of predators'. Furthermore, in his book Overcoming Animal/Insect Phobias, Dr. Martin Antony suggests that in the absence of Rachman's three causes, providing that the patient's memory is sound, biological factors may be a fourth cause of fear acquisition—meaning that the fear is inherited or is a throwback to an earlier genetic defense mechanism. In any case, these causes may in actuality be a generalization of a complicated blend of both learning and genetics. The most common methods for the treatment of specific phobias are systematic desensitization and in vivo or exposure therapy.