Ophidiophobia

Ophidiophobia, sometimes called ophiophobia, is an intense fear of snakes, and is considered one of the most frequently reported specific phobias; the broader fear of reptiles in general is termed herpetophobia. Roughly a third of adults report some degree of unease around snakes, though only a small minority, on the order of three to four percent, experience symptoms severe enough to be considered clinically significant and to warrant treatment. Researchers have proposed that the fear has deep evolutionary roots: a Swedish study published in 2001 suggested that mammals may carry an innate wariness of snakes that once conferred a survival advantage, and subsequent research has shown that fear responses to snakes can be acquired unusually quickly through conditioning and involve the brain's amygdala, consistent with the idea that natural selection favored rapid snake detection in primates. As with other specific phobias, exposure-based psychotherapy is the primary treatment approach used to reduce the fear response.