Dogs are found in the city everywhere, and many are afraid of them. Generally it is reasonable. But it happens that the child is frightened even by a tiny chihuahua. This is a phobia. How to be parents? What to do if the child has a fear of dogs - see the answer below.
There are different theories of the origin of zoophobia. Some psychoanalysts argue that this fear occurs even at the time of birth. In addition, this fear has evolutionary roots - the memory of the saber-toothed tigers is firmly in our genes. But most often people start to fear dogs because they frightened him in childhood.
Baby and dog
Strong fears can be fixed and turned into neurosis, if a frightening event occurred in the life of a child under seven years old. At this age, sometimes it's enough to see a big formidable dog, for example a dog or Doberman, to get scared. Even loud barking for children can be a threat, not to mention that there are, unfortunately, dogs that human cubs do not like and bite them without any provocation on their part.
Tail and ears are not for games
But one thing is fright, and fixing fear in front of dogs is completely different. Dogs do not like being dragged behind ears and tails. And they hate when they take away their favorite bone. In these situations, they can even seriously bite the abuser. Adults should explain to the baby that it is necessary to observe the boundaries in communication with the animal.
Parents generally can do much to stop the child from fearing dogs. From an early age, you need to show more pictures and movies with good-natured and sweet dogs, invent fairy tales, where wonderful heroic little dogs work. Finally, you need to gradually introduce your child to dogs, at first - with cute and kind. But most importantly, during the conflict the child and the dog do not fight in hysterics. It is the inadequate behavior of parents that most often causes children to fix fear.
Fainting from the sight of the dog
Bad, when at the sight of the dog the child falls into a panic. But even worse, if this condition, down to fainting, comes at a single thought about the dog or a look at its image. Such states usually arise in the person of anxious in the warehouse character and are associated with situations that occurred at an early age. For example, a child playing in the sandbox, knocked over and pressed to the ground a pit bull terrier. After this dramatic case, the child developed fear: at first he feared only large dogs, and then this fear spread to all dogs.
It's being treated ...
What to do if a child's fear of dogs prevents him from living and developing peacefully? Phobias are most often treated with an old and proven method of systematic desensitization. In a calm environment, the child is first explained that there is no need to fear dogs. However, usually he himself knows it. Then he is brought to a state of relaxation and shows images of the dog. Doctors ensure that he is not nervous at the same time. When the child gets used to this picture, he is allowed to admire even more vivid and colorful portraits of dogs with open mouth. Then show movies with dogs. Then they lead the little good-natured dogs into the office, and first let them cautiously, but still the person begins to iron them. Finally, in order to finally cure, the patient closely communicates with a large dog of a frightening kind; at this moment he finally forgets about his phobia; the fear died down. This treatment usually takes two to three weeks.
Phobias are also treated with hypnosis, forcing a patient in a state of trance to return to a psychotraumatic situation that once caused great fear. Man re-plays the experience and thus the nightmarish memory loses its former relevance. Just the same treatment and stammering caused by the fright of dogs.
Neurosis as it is
In far-reaching cases it is necessary to treat not a specific fear, but the neurosis itself. Otherwise, a person who has been cured of fear of one or the other will start to panic at the sight of something or someone else. To cure neurosis, specialists apply special techniques. Just do not think that it is worth the child to explain that those who he fears - harmless and cute creatures, he immediately healed. This does not happen, because fears are not in the mind, but in the deep layers of the unconscious, and do not yield to rational beliefs.