Fear of birds

 

I've shared this with many people but felt like I just needed to blog about it - to help me get over it.

I'm afraid of birds.

The first thing people asked was "Really?" Then they would either laugh or let out a chuckle. I'm sure it wasn't because they found it hilarious that I  had this weird fear of birds, but because they were fascinated by it.

Then they would ask me "What kind of birds scare you?" It didn't really matter what size or colour the bird was. The fact that it had feathers kinda weirds me out. I mean I've touched a bird before. I've petted a live rooster before and touched a stuffed crow - the kind you would see in a taxidermy shop. Maybe it was the hard bodies birds had that make them not ideal to cuddle with. Then again, why would anyone want to cuddle with an eagle?

I could list ten more reasons why I didn't like birds but the main point was that I recently went to a psychologist to talk about my self-diagnosed phobia.

I took an introduction to psychology class at another college a few years back and learned that I shouldn't self-diagnose myself or anyone for that matter. But I still did - how else would I find out I was terrified of feathered animals?

Before I get into why I even considered seeing a psychologist about this issue, let me just explain that my fear of birds was not at all serious in any matter. So before you get any funny ideas of shoving a bird in my locker or bag, know that it won't affect my quality of life. I would still able to function and carry on with my day-to-day activities. A person should be concerned if his or her fear was affecting the way they live and the way they do things. The person must seek professional help once the fear takes control of their life i.e. staying indoors because of their fear, not being able to work because of their fear, etc.

The visit to the psychologist was part of an assignment in sports journalism. But the idea of getting over one's fear fell through because my instructor said the topic was focused more on the mind and not on physical activity. It was too late to cancel my first ever appointment with a psychologist and, to be honest, I wanted to see what a psychologist thought about my feelings towards birds.

The psychologist was really great. She explained to me the Pavlovian theory of conditioning where the Russian scientist, Pavlov, wore a read coat every time he fed this dog. The long and short of it was the dog salivated every time he saw the scientist enter the room wearing a red coat. The dog learned to associate feeding time with the colour red to a point where the scientist would enter the room without food and the dog would still salivate.

The psychologist said I was doing the same thing to myself. Every time I'd have an encounter with a bird, I'm conditioning myself to be scared and fearful, thinking the bird would attack me. Once I'm out of the situation, I'd tell myself how I just survived yet another close encounter with a bird when in reality, the bird wouldn't have attacked me. But years and years of my own self conditioning has led me to believe birds are dangerous and I should be fearful of them.

So what was her professional advice? She told me that I needed to get bored of my fear. She told me to expose myself more to birds. I would quickly find out that birds are pretty docile and tame for the most part. She also told me it was OK to be a bit afraid of animals I wasn't generally exposed to in an everyday basis - kind of how some people are afraid of lizards, spiders, or bugs.

The psychologist actually told me I probably shouldn't have booked the appointment as it probably was a waste of my time since I already knew and realize all the stuff she told me. For me, I just needed to hear it from a professional. The fact that I said I have a fear of birds was probably bad as it was contributing to my fear of the animal.

Going forward, I'm going to try to expose myself to more birds. Maybe I'll visit a pet store and ask if they could perch the parrot on my shoulder while I wear an eye patch. I'll also swap my ergonomic pillow with a full down feather pillow. When I eat chicken wings, I'll ask them not to de-feather it - OK maybe not that one. I still love chicken wings.