RAT PHOBIA: SYMPTOMS, CAUSES AND TREATMENTS - ECONOMÍA - 2025

The phobia of rats or musophobia is excessive fear, aversion and rejection of rats or mice. People with this phobia experience terror and revulsion at their real or imagined presence. In addition, their fear is disproportionate and irrational with respect to the real danger posed by these animals.

Someone with a severe phobia of rats may avoid certain environments, and even stop doing the activities they used to do. In this way, his phobia ends up affecting his day to day, giving rise to problems in the work, social and personal areas.

The phobia of rats can also be called musophobia or suriphobia (from the French "souris", translated as "mouse"), in the case in which intense fear appears before mice. On the other hand, if the fear is of mice and rats indistinctly, "muridophobia" or "murophobia" is used. This term is derived from the subfamily "Murinae", which encompasses some 519 species of rodents.

Prevalence

There is little data on the exact prevalence of rat phobia.

What is known is that the age of onset of animal phobias in general is usually between 7 and 9 years old, although some authors make distinctions between the beginning of fear and of phobia. Usually, about 9 years pass between the appearance of fear and that of the phobia.

According to Stinson et al. (2007), the global prevalence of animal phobia was 4.7%. In addition, it seems to be more frequent in women, constituting between 75 and 90% of phobics to animals.

Causes

Phobias are learned, although their origin seems to be found in the basic fears of the phylogenetic evolution of humans.

There are stimuli that tend to provoke phobias more easily than others, such as rats. This is explained by the theory of biological preparation, which argues that it is more likely to develop fear of stimuli that have phylogenetically represented a threat to the survival of the species. Either by attacks or by contagion of diseases, causing the phobic both fear and disgust.

Socio cultural variables

To this are added the sociocultural variables that have great weight in the case of rats. This is because rats often arouse rational concern about food contamination and disease transmission. So it is normal that practically in all times, places and cultures there is a generalized rejection of them.

These general beliefs are passed on to new generations in many different ways. Even in books, movies and cartoons (caricatures) other people are scared or disgusted by rats.

They are mainly women, despite the fact that this condition is present in both sexes. Perhaps this reason, together with many others, make it easier for women to tend to have this phobia more often than men. Since they have learned through various means, that a woman "should" be frightened by the appearance of a rat, and not face it.

First unpleasant experiences

The phobia of rats can be caused by a first startle response (or "fright") at the unexpected appearance of the animal. If this experience is directly or indirectly linked to negative or unpleasant aspects, it is possible that the fear is established and little by little it grows to become a phobia.

Therefore, a phenomenon known as "classical conditioning" occurs in which the person feels fear of the rat by creating an association between the rat and a negative event that he experienced at the same time (finding the animal eating its food, within its bed or hurting or frightening you).

This was proven in the famous psychological experiment of John Watson, the father of behaviorism. He wanted to know if fears were innate or learned, and to verify this he selected an eight-month-old baby known as "little Albert."

He presented a rat before him, without producing any reaction of fear. Then they combined the presentation of the rat with a very loud noise that frightened Albert. After few repetitions, the baby panicked just seeing the rat.

Observation

On the other hand, the fear of rats can be learned through observation. For example, seeing your parents terrified in the presence of a rat or watching it in a movie.

Another way to acquire this phobia is through the transmission of threatening information, such as anecdotes, stories, or warnings from parents about the dangers of rats.

As we can see, the causes of a phobia are very extensive, varied and complex. They interact with each other and are linked with other variables such as the individual's personality, temperament, sensitivity to stress, susceptibility to disgust, social support, expectations, etc.

Symptoms of rat phobia

Symptoms can vary depending on the level of fear that the phobic person has. The most characteristic set of symptoms of rat phobia is the following:

Fear

Strong fear or anxiety about the real or imagined appearance of the rat. Fear is accompanied by a feeling of disgust or disgust, although fear seems to predominate.

Fear

Intense fear, rejection and disgust at the sounds emitted by a rat, its tactile properties and its physical appearance.

Physiological reactions

In the presence of a rat, the sympathetic nervous system is activated in phobics, leading to an accelerated heart rate, increased blood pressure, tremors, rapid and shallow breathing, sweating, etc.

It is also accompanied by parasympathetic activation, which causes the typical symptoms of disgust such as reduced skin temperature, dry mouth, nausea, dizziness, or gastrointestinal upset.

In more serious cases, these reactions appear, although somewhat milder, before the imagination of the rat, or the visualization of a video or a photo where it appears.

Cognitive reactions

Cognitive reactions are often negative anticipatory thoughts. They are usually very fast and the person is hardly aware of them. Normally, phobics uncontrollably imagine feared situations, such as the movement or approach of the rat, it climbing up their body, biting them, etc.

It is possible that on the cognitive level the individual also fears other situations associated with or referring to his exaggerated fear, such as fear of losing control, making a fool of himself, hurting himself, having a heart attack, fainting, or having a panic attack.

At the same time, other thoughts appear, such as looking for a way to escape or prevent imagined phobic situations from occurring. This results in behavioral reactions.

Behavioral reactions

These are safety-seeking or defensive behaviors that are intended to prevent or lessen alleged threats and reduce anxiety.

Some examples would be to escape, to stand near the door to escape faster, to avoid going near sewers or pet shops, to spend as little time as possible a place where they have seen a rat in the past, to ask other relatives to throw away the garbage. so as not to approach the containers, etc.

How is rat phobia diagnosed?

Under normal conditions, it's not surprising that most people find rats unpleasant. However, the phobia is a more intense and exaggerated fear response than normal.

To diagnose it, the DSM-V criteria for specific phobia are usually used. They are described below adapted to the case of rats:

A- Intense fear or anxiety about a specific object or situation (in this case, rats). In children, it is seen through crying, tantrums, paralysis, or holding on to someone.

B- These animals always or almost always cause fear or anxiety immediately.

C- The phobic object is avoided or there is an active resistance to face it, accompanied by intense anxiety or fear.

D- The fear or anxiety is disproportionate to the real danger posed by rats, as well as their sociocultural context. In most cultures rats are frowned upon, so anxiety would have to be very high (compared to the normal negative reaction) to be considered pathological.

- This fear, anxiety or avoidance is persistent, and its duration should be six months or more.

E- Fear, anxiety or avoidance causes clinically significant discomfort or deterioration in social, work, or other important areas of the individual's functioning.

F- This alteration is not better explained by the symptoms of another mental disorder, such as those due to agoraphobia, obsessive compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, social anxiety…

Generalization of the phobia

Normally all phobias experience a phenomenon called "generalization." This means that the responses of terror and anxiety begin to appear also before stimuli similar to the phobic. In this way, fears are spreading to situations and stimuli that previously did not cause them.

For example, a person may be exclusively afraid of having a rat near him. Later, you may feel anxious just looking at a photo or imagining your presence. It is even frequent that after time the symptoms appear before other similar rodents.

In the famous little Albert experiment, the phenomenon of generalization was also observed. Once he learned the fear of rats, he began to show the same fear behaviors when presented with a rabbit, a dog and a fur coat.

Our learning mechanism allows us to relate elements similar to the feared one, in order to react to them and maintain our integrity and survival. Although in this case, it is not adaptive and increasingly enhances the fear of rats.

It is also known that, avoid places where rats may be, run away from them, or not see videos or photos where they appear; they are considered behaviors that magnify fear and increase the generalization process of the phobia. As will be explained later, the best way to treat rat phobia is through exposure.

Treatment

Unlike other phobias, such as claustrophobia or phobia of blood or wounds, treatment for rat phobia is not usually sought. The reason is that this phobia does not normally prevent a normal life, especially if the phobic moves through places where they rarely coincide with rats.

It is more frequent that people who are "forced" to remain in an environment where these creatures can appear somewhat more frequently seek treatment. For example, in hot cities, or in places where there is garbage or food.

On the other hand, if the individual spends a lot of time exposed to rats, such as working in a pet store, the most normal thing is that they do not develop the phobia or that, if there is an initial fear, it is suppressed.

However, it is important that phobias are treated because if not, they may become more widespread or stronger.

Exposure therapy

The best way to overcome the phobia of rats is through exposure, mainly live. Although it can also be imagined exposure, with virtual reality or with a combination of these.

In the first place, the phobic person must draw up, with the help of the psychologist, a list ordering from least to greatest fear all the phobic situations that they fear.

This hierarchical list must be personalized and be as detailed as possible. For example, it can range from “watching a video about rats” to “finding a rat in my food pantry” depending on the specific fears that each person has.

Once these situations that produce fear have been identified, they will try to provoke themselves, but under a safe context, with less intensity and with the patient being as relaxed as possible.

The objective is to produce the extinction of the conditioned anxiety responses, when the phobic stimulus (the rat) is presented repeatedly without the aversive or unpleasant consequences.

Thus, the person can be exposed relaxed to first see images of adorable baby mice, going through videos where the rat is seen in little detail and from a distance, then seeing a rat inside a cage, etc.

The secret is to go little by little increasing the difficulty until the fear disappears. A phenomenon called habituation, which consists of “getting used to” the phobic stimulus by exposing yourself to it, reduces the physiological and emotional activation before these stimuli.

Relaxation techniques

Exposure can usually be complemented with relaxation techniques, especially in people with very high levels of anxiety.

In the case where phobics are reluctant to live exposure, exposure can be used in imagination, which is slightly less effective, or through virtual reality.

In the first, after a relaxation session, the patient must make an effort to imagine with total clarity and detail the feared situations that the psychologist is going to tell him about. Like the live exhibition, this one is also done as a hierarchy.

As for virtual reality, it is a relatively recent method that is working very well for phobias. The program can be customized to suit rat phobias, and is more attractive than other types of exposure for most patients.

References

1. American Psychiatric Association (APA). (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-V).
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