Spheksophobia

Today I will be talking to you about Spheksophobia, but what is Spheksophobia? According to http://www.fearof.net/fear-of-wasps-phobia-spheksophobia, Spheksophobia is the persistent fear of wasps. The word is derived from Greek spheco meaning wasps and Phobos the ‘Greek God of fear’ or dread. Now that we know what Spheksophobia is, what is it like to have Speksophobia?

Now I'm sure you've probably seen a wasp get a little too close, and you may have jumped or backed away just a little, but having Spheksophobia is more than just being overly scared of wasps, just like the definition said, this fear is persistent, the fear doesn't go away. I know this definition is very accurate because I suffer from Spheksophobia myself, and it is REALLY bad. It isn't necessarily just wasps either, anything resembling a wasp could set that fear off, and as we already know, this fear is constant. Here are some examples

Hoverfly-->

Male Velvet Ant-->

Cicada Killer-->

And probably the most commonly mistaken for a wasp somehow

The Dirt Dauber-->

But it isn't just things that look like wasps that can trigger this, sometimes it is something completely unrelated. Keep in mind, the definition of phobia is an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something. So with the combination of extreme/irrational, and persistent, even being outside and something as harmless as a leaf falling too close to your face can trigger a fight or flight response, just without the fight part.

Well we know what can trigger the phobia in people who have Spheksophobia, but how do people get phobias like this one? According to https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/specific-phobias/symptoms-causes/dxc-20253341, much is still unknown about how phobias form, but some believed causes include negative experiences, genetics and environment, and brain function. Now in my case, I feel like my Spheksophobia was caused by past negative experiences. A couple of those experiences are; One day, when i was about 7-8 years old, I was at my grandma's house, and me and my uncle went to go fix the RV

so we opened up the engine compartment and there was a giant yellow jacket nest. The yellow jackets were mad and all went after me and I was stung 6-7 times. The other one was just really unlucky, I was having a good day, and a honeybee stung my finger, not too bad though, but later that day, another honeybee stung me in the exact same spot so i had 2 stingers in my finger in the exact same place.

(If you're still reading this then I'm amazed, thanks! Don't forget to upvote this post when you're done!)

Now we know what the phobia is, what it is probably caused by, and what "triggers" the fear, what actually happens when set fear is "triggered"? When you "experience" a phobia, for example if you have Spheksophobia and you see something like a warrior wasp

-->
you will most likely experience a panic attack due to the phobia.

This fear is constantly active, the slightest thing can trigger it (things that look like wasps will cause more extreme reactions), wasps and things like that are really common, and when this fear is triggered it sends you into a panic attack. A horrible combination, but for real though, I have Spheksophobia, so it is my belief that wasps, hornets, yellow jackets, stuff like that (not honeybees though, they koo) are spawns of Satan, and I want to take some wasp killer, and spray a giant nest of any one of them, with a lighter in the middle. This way I can burn the nightmare creature's outsides, and insides! :D

Tell me what phobia(s) you have in the comments, upvote, maybe even reblog, and follow! sorry if this was a bit all over the place, I'm still a bit new to Steemit, and I'm not the best at writing things very organized.

Also here's a bonus, these are a couple Cuckoo Wasps, and I'm fine with these, in fact, I think they are actually quite beautiful!