ARE you one of the millions of people worldwide who experience cynophobia, the fear of dogs?
What Causes the Fear?
There are four likely causes of cynophobia:
Vicarious Learning: Witnessing others’ fear of dogs can lead you to develop a phobia too.
Evolutionary Perspective: Fears of predators like wolves might have evolutionary roots. Although domesticated dogs pose much lesser threats, this primal fear can persist.
Cultural Attitudes: Cultural norms shape perceptions of dogs. Societies viewing animals as utilitarian may foster greater fear, whereas cultures with close human-animal bonds may encourage ease and comfort.
Traumatic Experiences: Past negative experiences with dogs often form the core of this phobia. Traumatic encounters in childhood, such as being bitten, chased, or threatened by a dog, can deeply embed a fear response that persists into adulthood.
Severity and Impact
The intensity of fear can range from mild discomfort to debilitating panic attacks. Some individuals might only experience fear in specific situations, others might experience anxiety around any dog, regardless of size, breed, or behaviour. Fear can strain friendships, prevent visits to dog-owning relatives, and hinder social activities. Anxiety about encountering dogs can limit travel options and restrict routines.
How Can We Change This?
Most phobias can be addressed, and in the majority of case they can be removed completely. There are seven stages to this process, which I call the Integrated Change System.
1. Recognise what you’re really afraid of
Understanding the roots of any phobia is crucial. Identifying not just the surface-level fear (dogs, in this case) but also the deeper fears it represents.
Instead of asking, “Why am I afraid of dogs?” focus on questions that go deeper, like “What specifically about dogs scares me?” and “When did I first feel this fear?”
2. Relax the conscious mind
Calmness is the key to accessing emotions and letting them go. Achieving a state of relaxation allows us to work with these fears more effectively.
The ‘4-7-8 Breathing Technique’ involves inhaling quietly through the nose for four seconds, holding the breath for seven seconds, and exhaling forcefully through the mouth, pursed around the tongue, for eight seconds. This breathing pattern, repeated three to four times, acts as a natural tranquilizer for the nervous system.
3. Reward for your fear (Secondary Gain)
Phobias can serve hidden purposes, even if it doesn’t seem logical. Identifying secondary gains can help us change any blocks that stop us letting go of our fear. One way to find the secondary gain is to ask, ‘Does this fear keep me safe from situations I perceive as dangerous?’, ‘Do I receive comfort or attention because of this fear?’ ‘What might I lose if this fear were to disappear now?’
4. Recipe
Everything we do, including phobias, operates according to a subconscious ‘recipe’ - a sequence of thoughts, behaviours, and feelings that reinforce, in this case, the fear.
By getting clear on our recipe for fear, it becomes easier to change it. A highly effective technique involves changing the internal representation of the fear.
Visual: Imagine the dog that triggers your phobia. Now, in your mind’s eye, start to shrink that image, make it lose its colour, and let it play backward like a film reel running in reverse. This process helps in diminishing the image’s emotional impact.
Auditory Changes: Pair this altered visual with a change in any sounds associated with your fear. If the bark is a trigger, imagine that sound becoming like a cartoon character, or even overlay it with a ridiculous sound effect. Incorporating humorous or nonsensical auditory elements further breaks down the fear.
5. Release the past
This step addresses the root of the fear, often buried in past experiences, by finding the first event and changing the mind’s link to fear. This can then have an effect on how somebody will feel about that fear in the future.
One way to release the past is through tapping. Begin by clearly identifying the fear or specific event related to your dog phobia and hold this memory in your mind. Start by tapping on the karate chop point (the outer edge of your hand) with the fingertips of the other hand. As you tap, verbalize your fear and your acceptance of yourself despite this fear.
Proceed to tap lightly but firmly on the sequence of points: eyebrow, side of the eye, under the eye, under the nose, the chin, the collarbone, under the arm, and top of the head.
While tapping each point about seven times, briefly state your fear to maintain focus on the issue.
After a few rounds of tapping, begin to introduce a positive reframing of your fear. For instance, “I choose to release this fear” or “I am open to feeling safe around dogs.”
6. Recondition your emotions
The essence of emotional reconditioning lies in recognising our responses to dogs - or any fear-inducing stimuli - are learned behaviours. The good news? Just as a response can be learned, it can also be unlearned or modified.
One way to do this is an exercise known as Emotional Anchoring. Decide on the positive feeling you’d want instead of fear, select a memory where you felt this positive emotion strongly. While immersed in this memory, do a simple physical gesture, like pressing your thumb and forefinger together. This gesture is your anchor.
It’s a physical action tied to your positive emotion.
7. Realise a powerful future
Step Seven is about crafting a future where fear doesn’t dictate our choices, transforming ‘what-ifs’ and ‘yes, buts’ (which are often the mantra of the anxiety mind) into new positive possibilities.
Start by jotting down the most frequent ‘Yep but’ and ‘What if’ thoughts that bubble up when you think about interacting with dogs. Now, flip the script. Rewrite each ‘Yep but’ and ‘What if’ into a positive statement or question.
After following these steps and repeating them as needed, you may well find that your fear of dogs significantly reduced.
Christopher Paul Jones is a leading phobia expert on Harley Street, London. Having overcome his own phobias, his culmination of over 20 years of research worldwide is an integrated approach combining mainstream psychology with cutting edge techniques: The Integrated Change System.
See www.christopherpauljones.com
Read More
Why I will be embracing ‘No Mow May’ More in this section
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Belen Fernandez
Rami G Khouri
Mort Laitner
Donald Low
Ali Fathollah-Nejad
visit website
