I have severe mottephobia. Does anyone else suffer from this? What do you do to try & overcome it?? I had a bad experience last night because of it..

I went outside around 9pm, because the stupid chicken was standing in the middle of the lawn again (& i had to put her away in case a cat or something attacks her), & as I passed the floodlights at the back of the house, there was a cloud of giant moths fluttering around the light. I went nuts & ran for my life, but smacked into a glass door and banged my head.
The damned moths started coming at me, so I took off again, & grabbed the chicken to put in her cage as I was running. When I opened her cage door, there was a BIG huntsman spider clinging on the inside of the door (about 5 inches in diameter) and I panicked & used the chicken to smash the spider like a flyswatter (the chicken didnt like this much) then I ran for it back inside.
When I got inside, everyone was laughing, because they'd been watching me screaming & running around outside. My brother says "Hey there's a moth IN YOUR HAIR!!" and I freaked again- "GET THE MOTHER%^*%^ THING OFF ME!!! ^%*^%*^%*%^*%^$^&&!!!!! AAAAAAARGH!!!!" But then I realised he was joking.. Does anyone else suffer from this weird phobia?? I have ever since I was little. I hate moths. They're like flying spiders to me. They've got lots of little twitching legs, and they fly around everywhere & get tangled in your hair & they're awful & crunchy when you swat them. I really freak out badly when I see one, & I'm 20 years old?? I used to do this when I was 5, but I havent outgrown it. I cant walk outside at night in summer because of this :( Help? :(

I completely identify. I've suffered from this phobia since I was about 4 (I'm currently 16) when my sisters gave me a 'present'. I should've known better than to open a present from my sisters without an occasion, but hey, I was four. I opened the box and a HUGE moth flew in my face and got tangled in my hair, where it was stuck until my dad removed it. Since then I've had an uncontrollable phobia.

I wish I could give you advice on how to conquer it, but there's nothing I've been able to do that helps even a little bit except being around them, which is so hard. I raise guinea pigs and in their cabin in the yard there are a lot of moths.

Even the little ones terrify me. I can't sleep if there's one in my room, even a tiny one. I have, however, for those interested, developed a good way of killing them! All you have to do is get a BIG book, dare to get close enough to the moth that you can reach out and snap the book shut- with the moth inside! It works every time. Personally I use the Twilight books, since I don't care if there's moth guts in there.

I hate that people don't understand that being mottephobic is NOT FUNNY. My friends laugh at me all the time when we're in the park and a moth flies at me and I scream and run away from it. It's not funny! Seriously, I don't think anyone understands just how terrifying they are to us. My friends once killed a moth, put it in a cup, and threw the body at me just to freak me out. Turned out it wasn't dead and it flew in my face. I think that they got the point that, while it may have been intended as a joke, I wasn't laughing. I wasn't laughing because after they threw it at me I screamed, ran to the bathroom, and locked myself in, where I stayed, literally sobbing in terror, for about ten minutes.

Good luck to anyone else suffering this phobia. God knows it sucks.

Wow, I had no idea that there were so many of us mottephobics! I only just found out that there is even a name for this phobia and I have suffered from it all my life (I'm 47 yrs old..argh). The most terrifying are the large sphinx moths that look like hummingbirds (shudder), but I'm afraid of all but the tiny ones. I cant kill anything and wish them no ill will, but I wish they would all keep far away. The most embarrassing thing is to be driving with friends in the car and to have a moth fly in the window...I've had to pull over and run out of the car (impossible to drive with one fluttering around your head!) while my friends laughed and tried to get the moths out for me.
My son loves to crinkle baggies at the back of my neck because I always think it is a moth and I let out a squeel and duck!
One of my brothers and two cousins are also mottephobic...can it really be genetic?

I also have a brutal mottephobia. What I had to do was (finally) move out of my parents house where they hatched by the dozens in the summer. I dreaded summer and could hardly sleep in my room when I knew there were moths all around. The only thing I could do while I was at home was kill them with an electrified racket or in the morning when they are sluggish. I would literally have panic attacks and would be in tears during fits of rage at moths flying around my face.

I had to move to a place where moths dont have nooks and crannies to breed in. I havent seen a moth in two years. Luckily moths are only really an issue during the summer. This is how I learned to hate summer weather.

The other thing that I would do is hang bug zappers in known bad areas. It smells something awful though when they burn.

No advice, but I can relate. I have a phobia of another sort. I get so embarressed sometimes. I wish people would understand that the despair people have from phobias are real!

Sorry I can't help you with a shared dread mine is spiders but I can sympathise with what you went throught as my family thinks it is really funny watching me freak out over spiders. The best I can suggest is perhaps a hypnotherapist to try and help you do things to work through this, perhaps even find out why. There are some who specialise in aiding people with phobias. Goodluck. As for the family - just think mean thoughts and be patient and wait - something will happen to afford you some small comfort of revenge on them.

I had to crack up laughing when I read your story, not because of your fear, but because the same thing happened to me when I lived in Utah on a chicken farm. I have severe mottephobia too, so the only thing I can tell you is to move to a place where it's really cold all the time...no moths!

Watch this.

hey im 15 male i suffer the same phobia i dont know what caused it all i know is i hate the fact that they fly everywhere i think im scared that they may fly into my mouth or in my hair had a few mates round the other day opend the window beczuse it was hot big one flew in i freaked out ran out the room and got a glass told them to catch it so they caught it in a glass and then let it go out the window i straight away closed the window and i am not taking that risk again i dont want this phobia to grow into something worse i was having heart puplatations and i dont want me to have panic attaks i need to try and over come this fear i heard that drawing a picture of one then looking at one outside might help then catching it then having a look at it through the glass but there just horrible things and i want to try and overcome this being that it could be embarsing now and in the future :(

Wow I really didn't know there were so many of us mottephobics! I was always made fun of for this fear, and my friends always joked that it's not a proper phobia cause it doesn't exist. I've been scared of moths and butterflies my whole life, ever since I was a little child. I think I may have developed this fear when my brother caught one and brought it in the house and it flew out of his hands. As I ran to catch it, just the moment I caught it my brother yelled at me to not touch it or I will destroy its wings. Sure enough I'm scared of the wings of the moths (and butterflies) since that day. Butterflies at least don't usually fly AT you, so it's mostly just moths. We get like one each night in my house in the summer, despite the mosquito nets on the windows. I have no idea how they find their way in. I even bought this insect repellent that was banned in our state because it's harmful to humans, and if I spray the mosquito nets it keeps most of them out. But I'm really scared that I'll be sorry later because the spray is toxic. I wish there was a sure way to keep them out of the house.

I have had a pretty severe fear of moths since childhood. There are so many times i've made a complete fool of myself because of it, not to mention putting myself in danger! I've tried to lessen my fear , even went to counseling for a bit. Certain characteristics such as dark color, typical triangle shape, size(1&;1/2 in. or larger) stand out. When they get in my apt, i panic , & don't even think, I feel an urgent need to flee,react.I also will be shaking, then i go & ask a neighbor if they will help me. It's so embarrassing!!
I've often thought , I may lessen my fear by dealing with it myself, killing (conquering)
it, but cannot get close enough without FREAKING OUT.The last experience , I was in the shower; a bigass moth flew at me, I tripped getting out of the shower/tub,& hurting my knee.Shortly after i got a big tattoo on my arm of a death's head moth with skulls in the wings. Ha Ha . I'm still terrified of them,&; figure i always will be. I wish i could make some sense of this inconvenient thing.

I think I suffer from this as well, but it's new...it all started one morning 2 years ago (I'm 16) when I was dressing while lying in my bed before going to school. When I put on my pants, I felt a weird twitchy feeling in my leg. I thought it was just a morning cramp, but when I took off my pants to see what was happening, a MOTH came out of them. Since then I'm terrified of moths :(
I'm writing this and I'm shaking, they really scare me!

I also suffer from this, i`m a 28 year old female and have suffered from it all my life. I think mine was triggered by my mother giving me sudafed for a cold when i was 18 moths old (its now been banned as a childhood medication) she said i was hallucinating and i kept pointing to one of those old fashioned butterfly and moth collection that we had on the wall-the ones with the chloroformed bugs pinned by their wings-and i was screaming so much that she had to get rid of it. Maybe i hallucinated them flapping behind the glass and escaping or something, i don`t know. Everybody finds it hilarious, even my partner who is terrified of spiders finds it amusing. I wish i wasn`t scared of them, the only way i`ve managed to avoid them is by buying a heavy duty fan and using that in the summer months instead of opening my window and risk them getting into my room. Iv` heard that orange peel on window sills stops them from getting in as they don`t like the smell but i don`t know if that works or not. I can`t kill them as i don`t believe in that, i just get my father or boyfriend to put them outside whilst i go and hide somewhere lol. I`m terrified that i may pass this irrational fear onto my children. To people suffering from this, YOU ARE NOT ALONE!