Has anyone every experienced this with their child? Mine is terrified of butterflys. It is not anything based in logic of course. He is smart and almost 13. He completely understands they have no teeth, no claws, cannot possibly "hurt" him yet he is terrified.
I'm afraid, at this age it is going to put him in a difficult position one day. There was never an incident, never a book or movie that he saw and yes we raised one from a caterpillar when he was 5, no problem. This onset was around 6 and has only gotten worse. I've googled and realize there is a portion of the population that has this irrational fear but no one seems to have a solution. I've thought about hypnotism and wonder if anyone has experience with this being effective. If so please recommend someone!
Yes, he's seen a regular therapist about it, even they were stumped as to how to help. He is not afraid of rats, snakes, any of the things that would bother most of us, only butterflys.
Almost a year later....and not much progress. He understands the issue and is working on it in his own way. He's a very smart guy and gets that his reaction is the thing that he has to work on.
Well, Monica M, seriously... therapy was the first thing I did. It is indeed a very BIG deal. If your kid ran into an intersection to get away from a butterfly you'd realize what a big deal it is.
The therapist did not recommend hypnosis because apparently there are a lot of very bad hypnosis "experts" out there who can actually do damage. This is a phobia, and while not uncommon does not get a lot of publicity. Nicole Kidman has been dealing with it for years, unsuccessfully I might add. So where do we stand now? It does seem to have something to do with the actual size of the butterfly but we are still at square one.
Thanks for the book recommendation, I will certainly read that.
Google 'Overcoming Irrational Fears' - there are a lot of articles that may be of some help. Maybe even ideas for his counselor to try if s/he doesn't have a lot of exposure to patients with irrational fears.
hi there....i'm not trying to be rude but, THERAPY.....seriously...is it that big of a deal?? i personally don't like anything with wings or beaks, but that doesan't affect my daily life and i sure don't think i need therapy for it! i really think u are making a bigger deal than it actually is.
good luck...
Did a quick google on it (Mottephobia), and someone mentioned a book called Phobia Release. Maybe your library has it. I'm assuming it's written for adults, but if you read it together, maybe it'll help. Good luck!
P.S. one of the people said their grandmom developed the phobia when she was little cause the butterfly that scared her was so big. Some of them are quite large, and to a kid, a big butterfly can be as big as their hand, so it kinda makes a little sense, even though you raised one from a "baby".
I think I would maybe focus on helping him learn to deal with his reaction to this fear in an appropriate way. His reaction to a butterfly is what will cause him problems. For example, if he runs and screams, he will get made fun of. You may never be able to change this fear, but helping him manage it may be more beneficial. I would certainly try hypnosis, its not going to hurt him, so go for it. I can imagine this is a difficult thing for you, especially because it really is so irrational in our minds, but in his mind, it is very real. I am sorry for his struggle, and hope that you can find some good coping strategies, and even a hypnotherapist that can help. Best of luck to you!! ~A.~
