Most likely, you are afraid when you see these hairy eight legged creatures, as well as other arachnids of the spider family. You wouldn’t be the solitary person experiencing this, as there are many people who feel anxiety and panic when they are in a place where spiders are crawling. In some unexplainable fright, people experience rapid short breaths, excessive sweating, nausea, inability to think or speak clearly, and quick heart beats. Oftentimes, this unexplainable, irrational reaction seems odd for other people, who are mere spectators of those who are experiencing this gnawing fear.

Arachnophobia, or this fear of spiders, can be traced to its historical, as well as cultural origins. Long before, during what was regarded as the Dark Ages, spiders were thought of as cause of food and drinking water contamination. They had been believed as the reason for the Bubonic Plague. And although rats and fleas were really the sources, the misconstrued fear has long been passed down since the 10th century.

In the view of evolutionary psychology on the other hand, the evolution of this fear started from the perception that spiders are venomous. However, this is relative and variable depending on the intensity of one’s fear of spiders. Those spiders that are relatively minute in size for example do not fit the qualification of a threat with size being a factor. However, those with intense fear are afraid of this, and hence the phobia.

An alternative view to this is that this unexplainable fear from spiders is not sufficient to influence evolution, and rather overrated. In such view, acquired phobias have constraints on survival. Take for example, non-European culture communities as Southern America and Papua New Guinea generally do not fear spiders, and have included them in their traditional food, while those in Northern and Central Europe where no known deadly spiders originate and hence could not exert evolutionary pressure, are known to have the strongest phobia of spiders. Regardless of these theories, fear of spiders, like other irrational fear of creatures and encounters, remains one of the most common phobias.

At this time and age, advancements in technology and science have offered treatment for people with such fear. Systematic desensitization is a treatment wherein the person will be slowly exposed to spiders, from images and pictures to actual live eight legged creatures-until they will be able to conquer their spider phobia and not be anxious seeing a spider around. This therapy is done with the help of a therapist who will guide the person suffering from this fear to psychologically modify or rectify what he has previously perceived of it. Virtual reality has also added a dimension to such treatment. Arachnophobics are asked to wear Virtual Reality helmet glasses along with a glove. Like the therapy, computer generation of seemingly live creatures will allow people to experience being close to arachnids, and steadily see themselves overcoming their fear.