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Ichthyophobia is the fear of fish. Although the term technically refers to a specific phobia, in many contexts it may refer to any kind of fear of fish, such as fear of eating fish, or fear of dead fish. Galeophobia is a subtype of ichthyophobia specifically focused on one species: sharks.[1][2]
Ichthyophobia is an intense and persistent fear of fish, described in Psychology: An International Perspective as an “unusual” specific phobia.[3] The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM IV) classifies it as as a fear that the individual who holds it recognizes as excessive.[3] Both symptoms and remedies of ichthyophobia are common to most specific phobias.
John B. Watson, a renowned name of behaviorism, describes an example, quoted in many books in psychology, of conditioned fear of a goldfish in an infant and a way of unconditioning of the fear by what is called now graduated exposure therapy: [4]
In contrast, radical exposure therapy was used successfully to cure a man with a “life affecting” fish phobia on the 2007 documentary series, The Panic Room. [5]
Historically, the Navajo people were described as being ichthyophobic,[6][7] due to their aversion to fish. However, this was later recognised as a cultural or mythic aversion to aquatic animals,[8] and not a psychological condition.
The Journal of the American Medical Association have published a research paper[9] addressing the fears of eating fish[10] because contaminants, such as mercury may be accumulated in fish.
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