Easter Phobias

Ovophobia is the fear of eggs

Should you have this fear you are in good company as Alfred Hitchcock is possibly the most famous person with this fear.

Ovaphobia is often triggered due to negative experiences involving eggs, the smell, gooeyness, being allergic, breaking or being hit by eggs etc

Leporiphobia is the fear of Easter Bunny

While it’s one of the more unusual phobias. Maybe your nightmares include a giant bunny with a basket and large teeth out to get you, or an over sized rabbit breaking into your house to randomly distribute foil wrapped chocolate eggs, triggers your stranger danger fears.

Just to top it off nobody can say exactly what the Easter Bunny looks like either, just to trigger fear of the unknown, eg big foot etc

In addition some of the Easter Bunny costumes are just downright scary and trigger the similar fear related to fear of clowns.

Psychological Symptoms Include:

An overwhelming feeling of anxiety or fear
Fearing that you’re losing control
An awareness that your fear or anxiety is exaggerated, but being unable to control it
Feeling like you need to escape or run away

Physical Symptoms Include:

Nausea
Dizziness
Extreme anxiety
Racing heartbeat
Shaking or trembling
Rapid breathing
Irregular heartbeat
Sweating
Excessive sweating
Dry mouth
Pain or tightness in your chest

Tips to Help You Overcome Easter Phobias

1. Get to the root of your fear

If you want to know how to overcome Easter Phobias, one of the first things you need to do is figure out what caused you to develop your fears in the first place.

2. Challenge fearful thoughts

Once you know what caused your Easter Phobias and the things that frighten you most about rabbits or eggs, spend some time challenging your fears with logic.

3. Learn mindful breathing

This can be very calming. Practise doing 7-11 breathing . It’s one of the most common breathing techniques for anxiety.

4. Make it funny

This technique is geared towards kids and teens who suffer from Easter Phobias, but can be helpful to adults as well. The idea behind this technique is to try and replace fear with humor.

This will take time, but can be very helpful with little ones!

5. Exposure Therapy

If none of the tips and strategies you’ve tried are working, Exposure Therapy (ET) is perhaps an option to consider. The idea of being exposed to rabbits or eggs can feel extremely overwhelming to someone with Easter Phobias, but rest assured that ET is focused more on challenging the avoidance behaviors that negatively reinforce your fear of rabbits or eggs.

Dialectical behavioral therapy: (DBT) is a specific type of CBT. The term “dialectics” refers to a philosophical practice of examining multiple or often contradictory ideas, combining acceptance and change simultaneously.

DBT places an emphasis on mindfulness, enabling people to recognize and attempt to understand thoughts as they occur.

6. Medications

Recommended as a very short term solution only

SSRIs and SNRIs: These two classes were initially prescribed as antidepressants but, more recently, research has found that they might help with anxiety based phobias as well.

Benzodiazepines: These drugs work on the GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) neurotransmitter, which plays numerous roles related to sleep, relaxation, anxiety, mood changes, and memory.

Although benzodiazepines are typically fast-acting, they also tend to be habit-forming, so doctors usually try other medications first, especially in their patients with a history of addiction.

Beta Blockers: This class of drugs blocks the binding of epinephrine (also known as the hormone adrenaline) and norepinephrine to nerve receptors.

Tricyclics: This is a class of drugs that have demonstrated helpful effects on most anxiety disorders other than obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

These drugs are known to cause side effects, such as drowsiness, dizziness, and weight gain.

If you can’t overcome your fear with practice alone, consider seeking professional help.

Sydney Phobia Therapy has an online therapy for the fear of Easter phobias and related phobias.

We currently use a 3rd generation version for fear of Easter phobias therapy based on the original Fast Phobia Cure initially created by Richard Bandler and John Grinder in the 1970’s.

Now when I say fast, I mean typically one session only, no homework and its content free.

Content free means you don’t talk about, and you certainly don’t tell me, because I don’t want it either. You’re seeing me online, so stay in the comfort of your own space and no travel time, to have it removed, not to see if we can talk it to death.