Arachnephobia

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I don't know if this goes here, just thought it would be best.

I have a severe case of Arachnephobia. The smallest spiders, I will not go near, go pale, and break into a sweat. I'm talking about spiders about the size of your small finger nail.

Just about ten minutes ago, my cat was under my computer desk, I was wondering why, it doesn't normally go down there. It was all excited and looked like it was about to attack something. I look down, and there is a huge spider right by my foot (I had socks on too) As soon as I saw it, I started sweating, bad, and I felt hot. I didn't even get a good look at it, I just saw it and go up and ran. So my mom gets there and sees it (she is scared of spiders to, but not as bad as me) She goes and grabs the insect repellent, and sprays it alot. It shirvled up, but was moving around still, and would stop, and twitch. She sprayed it more. She stood there watching it the entire time. I was in a different room. Then I guess she decided that she needs to get rid of it, and go to bed. She grabs the broom and dust pan, and sweaps the half dead spider up and throws it outside.

Then after she was talking to me all pissed off, "Why didn't you just kill it?" I tell her that I'm scared of spiders, I guess that just isn't a good enough reason. I told her how scared of them I am though, shes not the only one that doesn't understand either. No one understands that I am extremely scared of spiders. I almost started crying tonight when I saw that thing. It was big - at first my mom didn't know if it was a cockroach or a spider.

What do I do to get rid of my fear? Is it possible to get it completley away? I am very scared of them, its really hard to explain it.

My daughter has arachnophobia as well, and I have to kill all the spiders she sees, even the Daddy long-legs ones.There are techniques to treat it, including systematic desensitisation or its 'one-hit' variant, flooding.

I am the same way, maybe not as severe. But I get over each individual case by standing still and watching it. Just stare it down. By all means if its on you flick it off or kill it. But you just need to get to know them better. They're actually helpful to us, because they kill a lot of the insects that bite us. Either just stay away from them or stare them down until you calm back down. Sometimes I get so scared though I get pissed off and stomp the hell out of them. Then I laugh at myself.

I must be friggin nuts to all of you. Recently a black widow moved in at my mans apartment, outside of of course.I love to go sit outside at night, and watch her spin and hang out. Although, they are squished things in my house. My doggie is the "big bad spider hunter"...Although, I can relate:I don't know how I got over it either. I used to be terrified of them, even dead ones. Once I was paralyzed on the toilet because when I looked down there was a big old hairy wolf spider dead on the floor in front of me. I was an adult at that time with kids and everything!I didn't sleep well sometimes because at night, the wolf spiders here get HUGE, and in the shadows, out of the corner of your eye, it looked like a mouse running by...

I grew up near the coast and those spiders were EVERYWHERE...They were beautiful webs when the fog came through, though, it was the only time you saw 'em. I would get hit at least 2x a year while walking to school...and yes, I squealed like a little school girl!I just wish I knew what helped me get over it.

I live in BC, Canada. We don't normally have big exotic spiders here.Oh yeah, and if I ever saw a Wolf Spider, I really don't know what I would do.

your not the only one scared of spiders. i nearly fainted when one was in my kitchen. and the other day one was crawling up my bare thigh. i almost threw up. it was disgusting. i start getting panic attacks and i cant breathe. if i see one, i have to go to another room and scream until someone gets it. im ashamed. i cry too....

hate the bastards.how do you get over it? I dunno I developed my fear or atleast hatred the fera is mostly gone now.I got bitten by a hobo spider about 3 years ago, maybe it was 2?on my shoulder. I thought nothing of it as the really only poisonous spiders where I live are black widows and Iv been bitten by them before and sick and aching and wanting to die but always recovered and knew this little bastard wasnt one of them. a few days later its ahuge, spreading acrost my back and around my arm and opening up and weeping puss and blood and getting bigger. I have hobo spiders as well as widows and never knew about them!3 trips to the ER before I found anyone that had done any studies on treating it. cut me open removed the ball of hate burning in my arm shot it full of antibiotics and steriods. I was then mega dosed with steroids and antis for 2 weeks and it took months to go away totally. when I first went in they were considering amputating my arm if the spread couldnt be controled soon. cost me a few days in the hospital and Iv never been as sick as I was with that bite. for months I was afraid of the dark where you culdnt see the bastards crawling and wouldnt stay in my gfs apartment with her as thats where it happened in a basement apartment under an open window with a small tear in teh screen right over the bed. I felt it crawl on me and thought it to be her hair then it bit and we turned on teh light found the bastard and killed it so I had a specimen for them to identify. now i spray once amonth for spiders inside (bomb the house)and have the hosue done professionally 4 times a year and the yards done professionally as well and not 20 minutes ago I finished treating the yard with a granual killer for spiders and grubs and ants and cutworms and anything else it lists on the package. 50 different things are currently being killed right now and I say hurray.its hared now and I kill them when I see them and spray when I dont, but I dont let it stop my life. it did for a few weeks after the hospital trip, but now I do everything I used to do and sleep on the ground in the woods again. I turned fear into pissed and got over it.

How do you go about killing huge spiders like a hobo spider? Pictures of them look bigger than the average foot, wouldn't it make a crunching noise and its guts spilled everywhere?

Edit: About those hobo spiders, I looked to see where they live, and they just happen to live in Victoria.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Tegenaria_agrestis_distribution.PNG

Victoria is the southern tip of that island.

Paul (diver) has Arachnephobia too. He can;t even look at a picture of a spider. I'm the same way with snakes. it don't atter if it's a picture, toy, cartoon... i can't look at anything that is or looks like a snake (like a ill) i like palying with daddy long legs. there so cool.... there the only spiders i'll touch tho. i don't really how to help...

What do you do if you have a huge spider in your house like a wolf spider or hobo spider?

you fucking run!

That would be gross stepping on it and hear it crunch, and then have to clean up its guts.

I'm a big puss, I can't stand that squishing noise, it makes me naucious... So I spray bug with either Hot Shot (for walls and lights) or Windex Multi Purpose Cleaner, for the floor (so my dogs don't get sick). I sometimes just use the Windex, though, and forget about the Hot Shot, because it'll drop moths out of the air.I HATE anything that stings... Spiders, I will stand their and kill them, but Bees, wasps, etc... I scream and RUN.

Ah, jeez, if I ever saw Daddy Long Legs, I'd throw a book at it after watching it for a long time, making sure it doesn't move.

Aghhg.

It seems many a people have at leas tsome fear of spiders. :T. So I guess it's not just rats and roaches anymore, huh! :D. I wonder why spiders, though? We don't see them around a lot, and we know many can't really harm us. Then again... those long, bent legs just take a toll on me x.x.

lol spiders...I work on a dock at night; it's not unusual to have a couple spider webs hit you every hour while doing rounds, or even getting a few very large wood spiders crawling across you.

I used to be mildly afraid of spiders, after about a year of having 1 inch round spiders running around me, I just kind of got used to it (I hate praying mantis' though, they actually BITE, lol)

I've never been scared of mice or rats... But then again, I've never really been around them since my dog tends to eat them, whole.

God! What kind of dog do you have? :S I'm not ready to assume that it's the one in your picture ><

Yea, dogs are useful that way; I have mini duschound who used to enjoy attacking, killing, and eating o'possum's, lol.

haha. wow. those are some dogs. I wish I had a dog. Only my mother says absolutely not. I guess she sees it as taking on a needless responsibility. Oh well.