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ZooNooz Article - december 2005
Phobia busters
There's a new self-help gang in town, writes DAVID HARRIS.
Photograph Annette Petersen
Warrick Angus is a man who
believes in confronting his fears
head-on. He grew up with an
irrational fear of spiders, unable
to even look at a picture of one. It
would not have been too surprising
if he'd taken up a career as a pest
exterminator, dedicated to freeing
Sydney of its funnelwebs and
redbacks.
Determined to help some of these people, Warrick and a team at Backyard to Bush set up a special one-night course called 'Fearless at Taronga'.
Instead Warwick decided to
come to terms with his phobia by
embarking on a career as a spider
expert, even doing his honours
thesis on Redback Spiders and
solving the puzzle of why they live
in our backyards. So today, as Unit
Supervisor of the Backyard to Bush
exhibit, Warrick oversees all of the
spiders at Taronga Zoo - well those
on exhibit at least.
There are many zoo visitors who suffer from the debilitating phobia that once plagued Warrick. Most of us are reasonably cautious when it comes to spiders, aware that some are capable of inflicting a venomous bite. But people who suffer from arachnophobia can begin trembling and even break into tears at just the mention of spiders. Some would find themselves totally unable to go to a child's assistance if it meant getting too close to a spider.
Determined to help some of
these people, Warrick and a team at
Backyard to Bush set up a special
one-night course called 'Fearless
at Taronga'. Participants in the
course spend four hours with
spider experts and a hypnotherapist
learning to leave their phobia
behind. By the end of one of these
evenings, people who couldn't look
at spiders are safely and carefully
putting them in jars.
Spider |
The fourth 'Fearless at
Taronga' was run one evening in
late September. There were 17
participants and by the end of
the night, 16 were able to capture
a huntsman spider escapee, and
some pushed themselves further
to actually free-handle one. One
person was so pleased she rang a
radio station next morning to report
excitedly on the way the course had
changed her life.
'Fearless at Taronga' will
continue next year, and there are
plans to expand the program to
cover other phobias, such as fear
of snakes, birds, insects and bats.
But it won't be extended to cover
some people's dislike of modern
technology, including mobile
phones.
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