Scared of spiders?

[AtSea1979]

Anyone else terrified of spiders? I am determined that this year I'm going to get over the fear. I've bought a couple of apps, I'm going to desensitise myself. Anyone else want to join and share tips along the way?

[AtSea1979]

mackerel I feel sick just reading your story. I think I would die of shock if that was me! I certainly would be worried about being in same room. I'd have to burn my sofa to the ground!

[MackerelOfFact]

I am seriously considering the spider course at London Zoo.

The other day I returned home, settled down to watch some TV Christmas specials on catchup, had some tea, lovely and cosy, snuggled on the sofa. Got up, plumped the cushions and there was a fucking huge wolf or house spider camped out between the cushions. I had been watching TV the whole time with this massive fucking spider snuggled up next to me!

It still makes me shivery thinking abuot it, and the bastard thing ended up scurrying into the inner workings of my sofa so now I won't sit on it at all. This is clearly a ridiculous state of affairs and something I feel I need to get a grip on.

Sounds like a pretty good NY resolution to me.

[DJBaggySmalls]

I tried desentisitising and can now pick up money spiders and harvestmen.
It hasnt improved for the leggy bastards at all.

[dollydaydream114]

Someone in my last job stuck a very realistic-looking plastic house spider to the wall in the office. Both I and another colleague were absolutely terrified as it looked very real, and my colleague said 'Look, seriously, please take that down and don't ever do it again; I know it seems like a joke to you but I will be unsettled and nervous for the whole day because of this and might even have nightmares. I can't help it, but I've got a major phobia.'

And the stupid bint who put the fake spider there in the first place just laughed and kept saying 'Haha, you're lucky I didn't put it on your desk then, stop being such a baby.' What an absolute cow! Fortunately her manager agreed her behaviour was unacceptable and had a word with her.

[GladAllOver]

So relievd to hear I,m not the only one who feels constantly anxious through "spider season". When I tell other people they act like I,m being stupid, but I honestly feel petrified in my own home as I know I make a fool of myself, but I can't control the fear, I wish I could
There's no need to feel foolish about a genuine phobia. It happens. But there is treatment available, as people have posted above.

Google "Spider phobia treatment". The best links will avoid directly showing you pictures of spiders, but if in doubt get someone to find them for you. Good luck!

[AtSea1979]

Yes! I've met my kind of people! Def more scared of house spiders than any other type. I see the London zoo one deals with house spiders specifically so would be good for me.
Fb is a big no in autumn, horrible mean people sharing their scary spider pics.
The app just got a whole new level of scary, augmented reality, like Pokemon except spiders appear on my bed. Eek

[dollydaydream114]

smileymam - yes, spider season is awful and don't you think it's now made totally worse by the fact that everyone seems to feel the need to post pictures of their monster spider finds on bloody social media?!

This September I could barely scroll through my Facebook and Instagram feeds without seeing some horrific spider pic with a caption like 'OMG, can't believe the size of this spider in my bathroom/lounge/shed/kitchen/child's room! It's nearly as big as my hand!'

Every time I see one of those pictures I feel queasy and get palpitations.

[smileymam]

So relievd to hear I,m not the only one who feels constantly anxious through "spider season". When I tell other people they act like I,m being stupid, but I honestly feel petrified in my own home as I know I make a fool of myself, but I can't control the fear, I wish I could :(

[dollydaydream114]

I have a phobia about spiders and just to make it even more irrational, it's only about specific types of spider.

Basically the fat ones you get in garden hedges or small plump ones in the house are fine. But the big 'house' spiders that appear indoors in the autumn or live in sheds FUCKING TERRIFY ME. I have terrible recurring nightmares about them too. Large tropical species also scare me; I would probably pass out if I saw an Australian huntsman spider!

To make things even weirder, I am a huge wildlife nerd and actively like other creepy-crawlies. I always want to handle massive beetles, caterpillars, centipedes etc, so much so that my fearless approach to them is a standing joke among my friends and family. Yet that type of spider sends me almost hysterical, even though I'm usually a very pragmatic, calm person.

I think one day I might splash out on a phobia treatment programme at a zoo or something.

[liquidrevolution]

Many phobias are learned from parents. If you have a spider phobia it is vital not to scream about them in front of your children. < this! Thankfully DH and i are happy to live in a house with spiders.

Well done OP for starting to do something about this. I would also do some general reading about spiders. It also helps if you think about the positives spiders bring to your house. They eat flies and flies are bloody annoying.

[AtSea1979]

wish I have conkers all round the house.

I was showing my mum the app earlier, now on level 4 and getting quite realistic, one on the app scurried out from under a plant pot and I practically launched the phone at my mum.

I would love to do the zoo one but I live up north and don't have childcare options else I would.

[peaceloveandbiscuits]

I have no idea where I got my phobia from, because neither of my parents frightened of spiders (that I can recall). But I have quite an extreme phobia in that just reading this thread has made my heart race and I feel anxious and on edge now. I would like to be cured so as not to pass it on to DS, but at the same time, they are evil bastards and not to be trusted.

Phill Jupitus had a stand up routine years ago where he talked about his arachnophobia, and it was so funny and true, about the heightened awareness arachnophobes have of anything you see move from the corner of your eye.

[JamButtyLand]

I bought a spider catcher. It's arms length away so can't get you and you just pick it up and put it outside. Have to be able to get close enough to catch it though which is the hard thing. Not seen a single spider since we got the cats though

[TheBadgersMadeMeDoIt]

Oysterbabe that made me laugh! Something similar happened to me. I used to keep a big beanbag next to DD's cot for somewhere to sit while singing lullabies etc. One night I was watching her on the monitor and I saw a monster spider scuttle over the beanbag. Made me jump out of my skin but it disappeared from view and I forgot about it...until she woke up crying for her night feed, and I couldn't go in! I could feel the irresistible tug on my heartstrings at her wailing but my feet wouldn't move. Had to pummel DH awake and demand action before I could feed my own crying child.

Makes no sense. I'd have been in there armed with a bread knife if it had been an escaped tiger that I saw on the monitor...but a hairy, ugly little fucker that can't actually hurt anyone has me paralysed.

[GladAllOver]

Other zoos do spider phobia days as well. Check your local one.

Many phobias are learned from parents. If you have a spider phobia it is vital not to scream about them in front of your children.

[BintyMcGinty]

Years ago when I was a nanny we lived in a huge old house , it had the biggest bloody spiders I've ever seen. I spent most of my time climbing on furniture to exit a room just to avoid the buggers. We lived very close to London Zoo, I went along with the kids one day and there was an arena where they did talks with the public about the animals and I mentioned to one keeper my fear of spiders and not wanting to pass it on to the kids I looked after. He arranged for me to go along to the spider exhibit and hold a tarantula , it changed the way I thought about spiders and I'm no longer scared of them.

[SVJAA]

I've got 2 and have had less spiders since we got them! Mind you, my last cat I miss him 💔 used to bring them in!

[BigcatLittlecat]

Get a cat! We never see a spider now!

[Iwasjustabouttosaythat]

There's a very big one living in my garage. It was high up in the wall one evening and DP took a photo to try identify it and told me about it.

The next day I went into the garage and it was in the same place. Keeping perfectly still. We ran past it to the car!

The next day it was gone! I looked about for it and still ran to the car, praying it wasn't actually in the car waiting to leap out while I was driving. No spider. Until!

About a week later it was up there again. It kept perfectly still. Ok, I am used to this.

Next night it was on the opposite wall. It has been in that same spot for about two weeks now. Sitting still. It doesn't have a web and clearly goes hunting for food at night before returning to base in the morning.

It's big and furry and has bulging eyes and big fangs. Seeing the thing every day I thought I was adjusting a bit, overcoming my fear of spiders. I thought, hey, it's not so bad! Kinda cute when you think about it...

Yesterday the fucker moved its leg while I was looking. Now I am scared again.

[TotalPerspectiveVortex]

This was me last year, but I got so fed up of it I booked my self in for hypnotherapy as a last ditch attempt to sort it out. It worked!! I still don't like the leggy bastards, but the physical fear and terror has gone and I can be calm enough to ask DP to get rid of any I come across now. It's literally changed my life for the better. I honestly didn't know if it would work or not, I generally don't believe in things like that, but I wanted it to work because I was so fed up of having such an extreme reaction, even DP agreed that I couldn't live the was I was in autumn. Best thing I ever tried for it.

[ApplesinmyPocket]

My DD, 27, had been terrified of spiders all her life to the point where she had to slam a book shut if a picture came up, and felt shaky and sweaty afterwards for hours. Live ones, obviously much worse.

It was affecting her life so much she booked a place on the Friendly Spider Course at Regent's Park Zoo. (safe to open - no spider pictures - couple of penguins though

I didn't honestly believe it would work - she was a fairly extreme case I thought - but late in the afternoon she sent me a pic of her doing something I thought she never, ever would in a million years - and smiling! It meant that much to me I had a little cry looking at it!.

A few weeks later she caught a spider very calmly in the house, using the method she was shown on the course. She can look at pictures of them now without fuss. You have to keep it up though and not let your confidence slide - they were advised on the course to keep up exposure and read books and look at pictures as often as possible.

It wasn't cheap, £135 and you have to get to London obviously, but the thing was, it actually worked, as apparently it does for nearly all participants.

Good luck everyone, it's a horrible fear to have.

[SVJAA]

Dafspunk literally the only time I can even consider dealing with one is if I'm in by myself with the kids. Then I hide and cry until I've calmed down.

[missyB1]

Another arachnophobe here
Yes Autumn is a total nightmare! I have a puppy now so have a vague hope that she will deal with them for me this year!

[wishparry]

I have heard that if you put conkers on windocills by doors etc that spiders won't enter your house.I've never tried it before because I don't want conkers everywhere.but it's just a tip I heard that I thought I'd share.

[Dafspunk]

In the last year or two, I've been trying to control my reaction to them. I feel like there's nothing I can do about my fear at the moment - it's there and I can't control it but I can control my response (to a certain extent). There is actually nothing to be gained from screaming/running/hysterics/crying and actually, it just works me up into even more of a frenzy. Unfortunately, this is as far as I've got - kudos to those of you who've actually dealt with the fuckers despite your phobia.