Myrmecophobia /mɹːmɛkoˈfo͡ʊbiə/ is the inexplicable fear or hatred for ants.[1] It is a type of specific phobia. It is common for those who suffer from myrmecophobia to also have a wider fear of insects in general, as well as spiders (see Arachnophobia). Such a condition is known as entomophobia. This fear can manifest itself in several ways, such as a fear of ants contaminating a person's food supply, or fear of a home invasion by large numbers of ants. The term myrmecophobia comes from the Greek μύρμηξ, myrmex, meaning "ant" and Greek, Modern (1453-);: φόβος, phóbos, "fear".
Adding to the why myrmecophobia is possible, here is a list of symptoms that come with having the fear of ant. Myrmecophobia can cause psychological symptoms and physical symptoms. In psychological symptoms people can experience anxiety, intrusive thoughts, sleeping problems, and avoidance.[2] In physical symptoms people can experience sweating, increased heart rate, shortness of breaths, tumbling, panic, nausea, dry mouth, dizziness, headaches, and numbness. Myrmecophobia may be the result of earlier traumatic experiences that can be directly (or indirectly) linked to the object or situational fear, but this is not always the case; phobic responses can also be inherited as learned behaviours from the social context in which one was brought up.[3]
In 2019, an Israeli study from Ariel University and Bar-Ilan University suggested that exposure to short clips from the Ant-Man movies could help to reduce an individual's phobia.[4]
Adding on to ways reduce or over come this phobia is by therapy, not only regular therapy but exposure therapy. In Psych Times studies "Exposure therapy may also be able to help reduce the symptoms of myrmecophobia." This form of therapy would work by slowly exposing the patient to ants. Depending on the severity of the patients myrmecophobia, the exposure therapy treatment may start off by showing the patient pictures of ants, videos of ants, and then to ultimately have them be near ants in real life with little to no irrational anxiety."[5] This can be one of the many ways to reduce the fear of ants and to insects, and furthermore there are more therapies that help with this fear, for example, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), which can help by changing the mind's perspective and help overcome complications.[6] In this case it can help with myrmecophobia by making one calm down and process what one is thinking and feeling so one can figure out what is the reason one feels the way one is feeling.