Suriphobia – Part 1 positivetranceformations.com.au

Suriphobia sounds as though it’s one

of those silly phobias that people invent

for a chuckle.

You’ve probably seen those lists – they

often get used as funny fillers in

magazines. But suriphobia isn’t one of

those made up phobias.

In fact, suriphobia is quite common and

we occasionally have people coming to

seek help from hypnotherapy for it.

Suriphobia is, quite simply, a morbid

fear of mice. It can also be extended

to a terror of rats and of other small

furry animals.

This sort of fear sound slightly

ridiculous but it does happen. And,

contrary to the cartoon images, it’s not

confined to women. People of both

sexes can have trouble with this

problem.

Fear of mice and other small animals

may have a number of causes,

although the reasons why mice trigger

a panic response in someone will

vary, depending on the individual

and his or her background.

Theory 1:

The startle response. It is natural to

react in surprise when suddenly

confronted with something unexpected

that moves very quickly.

There you are, opening the cupboard to

get a Tim Tam and instead of finding

the biscuits, there’s this small grey

thing that moves quickly.

If you already have problems with

anxiety and stress, the surprise might

be enough to tip you over the edge into

a panic attack.

This may create a mental pathway

where the sight of a mouse becomes

associated with the panic attack, and

then you get a situation where you get

afraid of mice because you’re scared of

going into another panic attack.

Hypnosis can be used to help break the

mental pathway and also to deal with

the underlying anxiety and stress,

which would have the knock-on effect

of dealing with the suriphobia.

Theory 2:

Fear of disease. Mice and rats do

carry disease (although pet rats are as

clean as any other pet, if not cleaner –

but that’s another story).

Historically, rats have carried the

plague and if you’ve learned this fact,

then you have probably learned to

associate the sight of this rodent with a

horrible disease that decimated the

planet.

Some people have an obsession with

germs and hygiene that goes beyond

normal precautions and goes into the

realm of obsessive-compulsive

disorder, and a fear of mice is an

extension of this condition, as they are

“disease personified”.

Again, dealing with the underlying

cause via hypnotherapy or some other

form of counselling is needed to deal

with the root of the problem.

Suriphobia can be cured. You just need

to consult expert Hypnotist Brisbane.

positivetranceformations.com.au