Cockroaches

[Madelinew]

I'm counting on you lot to sort me out here! I have an utter and completely irrational phobia of all things roachy. They really freak me out and I'm really cross with myself over it. I grew up with various phobias about crawly things but gradually pulled myself together over the years to the point that all things crawly are fascinating to me now and the rest of the family think I'm slightly mad - more than slightly if I'm honest.

But I still can't get beyond the cockroaches. As I type, my hands and arms are prickling. It's the scurrying thing and the wavy antennae and it's so totally irrational. I can't watch them on telly without feeling sick. It got worse when I lived in the tropics for a couple of years. I thought that would cure me but it made me worse.

Ideas please and please don't ask me to buy some and get into handling them cos the very thought is making me feel ill.....

[Paul mabbott]

Hug a cockroach - the mind boggles!

There was a long thread on peoples' fears of spiders and how to cope with them. Similar problem, I should imagine. Some of the ideas were useful apparently so it might be worth your having a brief search through the old threads?

Good luck.

Originally Posted by Madelinew

I'm counting on you lot to sort me out here! I have an utter and completely irrational phobia of all things roachy. They really freak me out and I'm really cross with myself over it. I grew up with various phobias about crawly things but gradually pulled myself together over the years to the point that all things crawly are fascinating to me now and the rest of the family think I'm slightly mad - more than slightly if I'm honest.

But I still can't get beyond the cockroaches. As I type, my hands and arms are prickling. It's the scurrying thing and the wavy antennae and it's so totally irrational. I can't watch them on telly without feeling sick. It got worse when I lived in the tropics for a couple of years. I thought that would cure me but it made me worse.

Ideas please and please don't ask me to buy some and get into handling them cos the very thought is making me feel ill.....

[Meta menardi]

I certainly agree with you about a very bad feeling about 'roaches. I always think about one comment I saw about spiders gets near the mark. Something on the lines of "when I see a big spider, I move away from it like anyone else, but then I move back to have a look."

Maybe it's useful, not to hug a cockroach, but to do a less radical exposure and to get to know more about them. If you try it, let me know if it works and I might have a go myself.

[Wild-Woman]

Just an idea. Perhaps a visit to a zoo where cockroaches are kept behind glass in a controlled environment, so you are able to get up close to look with that barrier between you. Let's face it, with a barrier we feel safe, which is what you need to feel to overcome a fear.
Some zoos have sessions where an invertebrate of some sort is brought out by a keeper and the public can get a close up look.
Hope you overcome your fear. I worked on spiders for years, now I'm not bothered at all.
Jules.