Vermiphobia

Helminthophobia, scoleciphobia or vermiphobia is the fear of worms, especially

parasitic worms. The sight of a worm, or anything that looks like a worm, may cause
someone with this phobia to have extreme anxiety or even panic attacks.

According to the DSM-IV TR, scoleciphobia is a disorder that would be classified as

Specific Phobia of the animal type. This particular subtype of Specific Phobias generally
has a childhood onset and persists through adulthood. Specific Phobia has a
prevalence rate of 5.1 to 12.5% according to the National Institute of Mental Health.

Scoleciphobia is usually associated with the fear of unhygienic conditions. Many adult
Scoleciphobes believe that the presence of worms means poor hygiene or diseases.

Fear of worms can be evolutionary as well. Man has always feared reptiles, poisonous
snakes etc. Worms resemble tiny versions of snakes and can evoke a disgust response
owing to their ability to spread diseases.
The old aged Opening a can of worms means to complicate existing matters or add to
a problem. Thus, worms are directly/indirectly referred to as unwanted/unpleasant or
disgusting.

It appears that family members of a person diagnosed with Specific Phobia have an
increased risk of developing the disorder. Particularly, first-degree biological relatives of
person with Specific Phobias, Animal type, are more likely than the general population
to have animal phobias.

Summary

Helminthophobia, scoleciphobia or vermiphobia is a disorder when someone sees a

worm that may lead them to anxiety or panic attacks. It is usually associated with fear
with unhygienic environment. This particular subtype of Specific Phobias generally has
a childhood onset and persists through adulthood.

Reflection

There are many things that I could be afraid of such as fear of a presence of an evil
entity/demons or daemophobia, fear of ghosts, fear of clowns and scoleciphobia or fear
of worms or on the other hand, fear of losing a family member or loved one. But these
fears have not and possibly will not cause me any extreme anxiety and panic attacks
because; I know they are just little things we could conquer. Overcoming ones fear is
not easy but for me, its just a matter of diverting them into happiness and have to
accept that they coexist in this world. We must not become slaves of our fear, thus if we
have fear, we just have to walk toward it and then through it.