Zoophobia

An abnormal and persistent fear of animals. A phobia is an unreasonable fear that can cause avoidance and panic. Phobias are a relatively common type of anxiety disorder. Phobias can be treated with cognitive behavioral therapy using exposure and fear reduction techniques. In many cases, anti-anxiety or anti-depressant medication proves helpful, especially during the early stages of therapy. Zoophobia is a term that encompasses fears of specific types of animals such as of spiders (arachnophobia), birds (ornithophobia), bees (apiphobia), etc. It is a zoo-ful of beastly phobias.

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Morbid fear of animals. [zoo- + G. phobos, fear]

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zoo·pho·bia .zō-ə-'fō-bē-ə n abnormal fear of animals

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n.

excessively strong fear of animals. See phobia.

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zoo·pho·bia (zo″o-foґbe-ə) [zoo- + -phobia] irrational fear of animals.