Fear of mice or musophobia: symptoms and treatments

Specific phobias are more common than most people think; Although data on the prevalence of these disorders vary depending on the studies, it is around 5-15% of the population. Besides, Specific phobia is considered the most prevalent anxiety disorder in the general population.. More specifically, and according to the DSM-5, its prevalence in Europe is around 6%.

There are almost as many specific phobias as there are people in the world, since you can develop a phobia towards practically anything. One of them is the fear of mice or musophobia, which we will talk about in this article. We will learn what it consists of, what its predominant symptoms are and what treatments have proven most effective to date.

Fear of mice or musophobia: definition

The fear of mice or musophobia is a specific phobia, which are included within the category of anxiety disorders. The predominant symptoms of a specific phobia are: an intense fear or anxiety (in addition to being irrational and disproportionate) towards a certain phobic object or situation, the avoidance of said object or situation and interference with daily life and suffering. Its duration, to be diagnosed, is a minimum of 6 months.

A phobia can develop towards practically any element: animals (of any type), social situations, people, objects, natural events, blood, clowns, open places, closed places, etc. In the case of musophobia, The fear is extrapolated to mice and rodents in general.

It should be clear here that in order to diagnose a phobia it is necessary that the fear or anxiety meets all these requirements (that is, it is disproportionate and irrational, as well as intense) and that the symptoms truly interfere with the person’s life or produce a intense discomfort. That is, being afraid of something is not the same (fears are very common) as having a phobia, which constitutes a clinical disorder.

Types of phobias

Both the DSM-IV-TR (2000) and DSM-5 (2013) list different types of specific phobias. As we will see, the fear of mice belongs to an animal type phobia:

Animal: according to Antony and Barlow (1997), the most feared animals are spiders, snakes, insects, birds, rats and mice (musophobia) and cats. Environmental: includes phobia of storms, water, wind, darkness… Blood/ injections/harm: groups phobias to these three types of stimuli. Situational: this is the fear of different situations, such as riding public transport, flying on an airplane, getting into an elevator, etc. Other type: phobias are grouped here that cannot be included in the previous groups.

Symptoms of musophobia

Returning to the phobia at hand, the fear or intense anxiety towards mice that characterizes musophobia It is accompanied by other psychophysiological symptoms, such as: palpitations, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, etc. Furthermore, cognitive symptoms (fear of dying, going crazy or losing control) and behavioral symptoms (avoidance of the animal) are added to the psychophysiological symptoms.

On the other hand, other symptoms of fear of mice include: that the person tends to check all the places to make sure that there are no mice nearby, that they wear overprotective clothing to prevent rodents from touching them – even if they do not appear – (for example to walk through the countryside), who needs to be accompanied by another person if there is a possibility of seeing a mouse, who needs to carry an amulet, etc.

Fear and the rest of the symptoms in musophobia manifest themselves at the sight or presence of the mouse or rodent, or at the anticipation of it (thinking that we will see a mouse). That is to say, It is not necessary for us to have the mouse in front of us to trigger all these symptoms. These characteristics are part of specific phobias.

Psychological treatments for fear of mice

What therapeutic options do we find to combat the fear of mice or musophobia? Let’s talk about the most effective and used psychological treatments:

Exposure therapy

According to Guide to effective treatments by M. Pérez (2010), the only well-established (truly effective) treatment for specific phobia is in vivo exposure (exposure therapy). Let us remember that exposure therapy involves exposing the patient to the phobic stimulus progressively, through a hierarchy with the phobic items.

These items, in the case of fear of mice, will include your approach to the animal; For example, we could start (item 1) by having the patient see photos of mice; then (item 2), videos of them; Next (item 3), let him see them from afar or through glass, etc. That is, a list of the phobic situations that generate anxiety will be made with the patient, and the patient will be exposed to them (starting with the least phobic situations).

The ultimate goal is for the patient to be exposed to the final item (mice) without anxiety.; That is to say, the phobic stimulus (mice) and the psychophysiological reactions that the individual manifests towards it (fear, anxiety…) end up being uncoupled.

Thus, through exposure therapy (with time and training), the stimulus and the associated response are disassociated. As a complement to this type of therapy to combat the fear of mice, other techniques are also used, such as breathing training, relaxation or cognitive restructuring.

Multicomponent cognitive-behavioral programs

As a second therapeutic option (according to M. Pérez, considered probably effective treatments), we find multicomponent cognitive-behavioral programs.

This type of programs, as its name indicates, include a series of components, such as cognitive restructuring, relaxation training, psychoeducation, etc They are quite complete programs and adapt to each type of patient.

Exposure treatment through virtual reality

Finally, according to the Guide by M. Pérez (2010), we find the exhibition through virtual reality. This treatment is considered experimental when treating specific phobias, such as fear of mice (this means that its effectiveness is still being tested). However, the results are promising.

Basically, the treatment is the same as exposure therapy but through virtual reality, which offers a lot of flexibility, lower cost and multiple possibilities when creating virtual environments.

Pharmacotherapy

Regarding the pharmacological treatment of specific phobias, such as the fear of mice, drugs are not considered effective in combating them. However, Yes, benzodiazepines and beta blockers are occasionally used as a complement to exposure therapy..

On the other hand, recent studies show that d-cycloserine, an antibiotic used for the treatment of tuberculosis, can improve exposure therapy. Finally, as we always say, The ideal would be to carry out a multidisciplinary treatment going to the appropriate professionals, without ever forgetting the psychological aspect to properly work on the causes of fear.

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