What Is Fear of Bird Phobia Called?

I had never heard of any such thing as bird phobia until a friend of mine came into my house about six months ago. My budgie was out and flying about and I had forgotten all about him. Now my friend is about 6’1 tall and best described as a large hulk of a man. My budgie landed on his shoulder and he froze like he had been stunned. All I could hear was get that thing off me being mumbled under his breath. Literally he couldn’t move and could barely speak and only when I put “Chico” back in his cage did he start to unwind.

I also know someone who is petrified of pigeons and even to the point where she only goes shopping to areas where she knows there will be none of them around. This unusual persistent, irrational fear of birds is called ornithophobia. It is not as unusual as many people think and a bird phobia can be very frustrating to live with. The reason for this is that birds are highly unpredictable animals that are simply everywhere, in streets, towns, and country and especially at the seaside. Those gulls I have to say I don’t like myself. In simple terms it is hard to go anywhere without either seeing birds or coming into close contact with them.

If you have ever suffered from this phobia, you are most probably living with a lot of anxiety in your life, even though you know that birds really won’t hurt you. I do know of one person who simply refuses to leave the house, and also won’t even risk opening a window, so it can get very serious if allowed to fester.

If you can somehow begin to cure your fear of birds, then there is no doubt your world will become a much more enjoyable place to be. Imagine being able to walk in the park, go shopping without fear and have long walks along the many beautiful beaches in the world. No matter how long you have had this dreadful fear, and irrespective of how you acquired it, you can get rid of it quickly and easily.

So if you suffer from bird phobia then you already know that it is one of the most limiting of the phobias. Consider for a moment having a fear of lions or something similar to these. That can be controlled by avoidance as you tend not to see too many African lions as you walk down the High Street, or visit the local park! You can also avoid them altogether if you don’t visit the zoo, so you do have choice. With bird phobia, that choice is removed the minute you step outside the door.

They can range from a single bird flapping its wings to flocks of them coming out of nowhere. When I talked with my friend from the first paragraph, he explained it all to me and I was shocked at how it so restricted his life. The good news is he managed to get a cure and although still wary, it does not have a major impact on his life.

It can be cured by hypnosis or hypnotherapy and that is the option my friend took. Another I knew listened to tapes and like a kind of self-hypnosis. The way it was explained to me was, that like other phobias, something triggers of the initial fear, because we are certainly born without fear of anything. Fears you experience, and the panic that result from them, are like conditional responses, and you can manage or re-train these responses. That is good news and a few people have told me that every now and then they need like a top-up by re-listening to the tapes of MP3s that they have. It’s interesting that point, but I guess in many ways it is a bit like servicing a car and retuning the mind.

As I was writing this, my daughter came in and asked me what I was doing and it turns out she also has a bird phobia. She especially hates pigeons in the main street that suddenly flap when you come to close. She described them as flying rats. In her own words she said “ I hate being near to them, even seeing them with their wings flapping. I’m just scared they will land on me and attack me. “

For most of us we probably don’t give it a second thought but it just shows how many people do suffer from something so ordinary as bird phobia.