Katsaridaphobia

Yes, cockroaches wallow in filth, but a case of food poisoning is probably about as bad as it gets if one of those pests skitters across your slice of pizza – a stroll through the park compared to malaria, yellow fever or dengue fever. Still, anecdotally, many people suffer from katsaridaphobia, or cockroach phobia.

This paper reviews the literature about virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) of five forms of phobias (agoraphobia, arachnophobia, claustrophobia, katsaridaphobia, fear of driving), describes the therapeutic procedures, and compared them with procedures used in behavioral-analytic psychotherapy.

Once, a roach entomologist in Gainesville, Florida, helped a woman overcome her lifelong katsaridaphobia.

The opposite end of the emotion ‘fear’ is ‘courage’ or ‘confidence’. So in case of phobia, the therapist should create a ‘courage’ or ‘confidence’ evoking situation, like a ‘caged spider’ or ‘caged cockroach’ in a case of arachnophobia or katsaridaphobia; ‘appreciating and approving company’ rather than criticisive and disparaging people in a case of social phobia.