| Re: Research
A slightly different viewpoint on this.
My mother is terrified of cats. She stops dead in her tracks if she even sees one in the distance when walking along the street. She’s had this fear all of her life and says that her mouth goes dry, her heart starts to beat and it feels like something is crushing her chest, constricting her if one of them happens to get too close to her. Rather than run away from a nearby one (or even walk briskly to protect her dignity!), she is petrified; rooted to the spot.
When she was a baby, a cat leapt into my mother’s pram. It curled up and lay down on her face, smothering her. Even though my grandmother told my mother that she had been distracted for a couple of seconds, the cat was quite content and was getting ready to go to sleep, before getting shooed away. My mother remembers nothing of this and was told about it much later on by her mother. Needless to say, my good ol’ ma wonders if there is some subconscious part of her that recalls this incident deep down, provoking the fear. If so, then it’s not an irrational fear but a legitimate self-preservation instinct. Of course, it might not be related at all and the phobia is one that she randomly suffers with.
On a side note, my grandmother used to have a couple of cats and had no problem with them, and I have four of the little varmints. So, at least in her case, it’s not hereditary. If my mom talks about cats, she gets a shiver down her spine, but none of the shaking, clammy hands etc that have been mentioned elsewhere. For the fear to really kick in, there has to be one in a fairly close proximity. |