Though many arachnids are harmless, a person with arachnophobia may still panic or feel uneasy around one. Sometimes, even an object resembling a spider can trigger a panic attack in an arachnophobic individual. The above cartoon is a depiction of the nursery rhyme "Little Miss Muffet," in which the title character is "frightened away" by a spider.

Arachnophobia is a specific phobia, an abnormal fear of spiders and sometimes other arachnids, such as scorpions and harvestmen. It is among the most common of all phobias. The reactions of arachnophobics often seem irrational to others (and sometimes to the sufferers themselves). People with arachnophobia tend to feel uneasy in any area they believe could harbor spiders or that has visible signs of their presence, such as webs. If they see a spider they may not enter the general vicinity until they have overcome the panic attack that is often associated with their phobia. They may feel humiliated if such episodes happen in the presence of peers or family members. Arachnophobia may refer to one of the following: Arachnophobia, fear of spiders Arachnophobia (film), a 1990 American comedy-horror film starring Jeff Daniels. ... Image File history File links Little_Miss_Muffet_2_-_WW_Denslow_-_Project_Gutenberg_etext_18546. ... Image File history File links Little_Miss_Muffet_2_-_WW_Denslow_-_Project_Gutenberg_etext_18546. ... William Wallace Denslows illustrations for Little Miss Muffet, from a 1901 edition of Mother Goose The Little Miss Muffet scenario explained by Denslow Little Miss Muffet is a nursery rhyme. ... Specific phobia is a generic term for any kind of anxiety disorder that amounts to an unreasonable or irrational fear related to exposure to specific objects or situations. ... Families Suborder Mesothelae     Liphistiidae (primitive burrowing spiders) Suborder Mygalomorphae     Atypidae (atypical tarantula)     Antrodiaetidae (folding trapdoor spider)     Mecicobothriidae (dwarf tarantulas)     Hexathelidae (venomous funnel-web tarantula)     Dipluridae (funnel-web tarantula)     Cyrtaucheniidae (wafer trapdoor spider)     Ctenizidae (trapdoor spider)     Theraphosidae (tarantula) Suborder Araneomorphae     Hypochilidae (lampshade spider)     Filistatidae (crevice weaver)     Sicariidae (recluse spider)     Scytodidae (spitting... Orders Acarina Amblypygi Araneae Opiliones Palpigradi Pseudoscorpionida Ricinulei Schizomida Scorpiones Solifugae Uropygi The arachnids, Arachnida, are a class of invertebrate animals in the subphylum Chelicerata. ... Superfamilies Pseudochactoidea Buthoidea Chaeriloidea Chactoidea Iuroidea Scorpionoidea See classification for families. ... The Phalangids or Opiliones (better known as harvestmen or daddy longlegs) are eight-legged invertebrate animals belonging to the order Opiliones in the class Arachnida, in the subphylum Chelicerata of the phylum Arthropoda. ... For other uses, see Phobia (disambiguation). ...

The fear of spiders can be treated by any of the general techniques suggested for specific phobias.

Arachnophobia is, in many cases, the result of a traumatizing encounter with spiders in one's early childhood, though the experience may not be remembered^{[citation needed]}. An evolutionary reason for the phobias, such as arachnophobia, claustrophobia, fear of snakes or mice, etc. remains unresolved. One view, especially held in evolutionary psychology, is that the presence of venomous spiders led to the evolution of an innate fear of spiders or made acquisition of a fear of spiders especially easy. Like all traits, there is variability in the intensity of fears of spiders, and those with more intense fears are classified as phobic. Spiders, for instance, being relatively small, don’t fit the usual criterion for a threat in the animal kingdom where size is a factor, but most species are venomous (although many of the poisons produced by these species having no effect on humans), and some are lethal. Arachnophobes will spare no effort to make sure that their whereabouts are spider-free, hence they would have had a reduced risk of being bitten in ancestral environments. Therefore, arachnophobes may possess a slight advantage over non-arachnophobes in terms of survival. However this theory is undermined by the disproportional fear of spiders in comparison to other, far more deadly creatures that were present during Homo sapiens' environment of evolutionary adaptiveness. Claustrophobia is an anxiety disorder that involves the fear of enclosed or confined spaces. ... Ophidiophobia or Ophiophobia refers to the fear of snakes. ... The English suffix -phobia is used to describe fear or hatred (the latter is often ignored) of a particular thing or subject. ... This article includes a list of works cited or a list of external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ... See Animal. ... It has been suggested that Snake poison be merged into this article or section. ... This article includes a list of works cited or a list of external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ...

The alternative view is that the dangers, such as from spiders, are overrated and not sufficient to influence evolution. Instead, inheriting phobias would have restrictive and debilitating effects upon survival, rather than being an aid. For example, there are no deadly spiders native to central and northern Europe that could exert an evolutionary pressure, yet that is where the strongest fear for spiders began, suggesting cultural learning. In contrast, many non-European cultures generally do not fear spiders, and for some communities such as in Papua New Guinea and South America, spiders are included in traditional foods. South America South America is a continent crossed by the equator, with most of its area in the Southern Hemisphere. ...

References

• Stiemerling D. Analysis of a spider and monster phobia, Z. Psychosom Med Psychoanal. 1973 Oct-Dec;19(4):327-45. (in German)
• National Geographic: Fear of Spiders rooted in Evolution