You’d have heard of people phobic about silly things but the person we’re talking about today has the strongest phobia ever.
Fifty-five-year-old Jean Diffenthal has a phobia of cats that’s so strong she can’t even look at the pictures of cats on cat food cans in the supermarket.
Watch to find out more of her phobia below.
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Video credit: Rumble
She has panic attacks whenever she is in the vicinity of cats and even avoids watching TV shows and commercials involving cats.
Jean, who has two grandchildren, bears the expense of putting her relatives’ cats in a cattery when she goes to visit them.
On seeing a cat, she simply ‘freaks out’ and her heartbeat goes abnormal. Not only that, if she even hears or reads the word cat, she gets goosebumps.
Jean has even bought her residence at Reading, Berkshire, keeping in mind that she avoids seeing any cats or stuff related to them from her windows.
Jean, who has never touched a cat, says that she can’t withstand the mention of a cat even in a nursery rhyme.
This strange phobia has made day-to-day life very difficult for Jean. Her phobia has grown worse and worse with the passing time. In fact, she desperately wants to get help and overcome it.
Jean, who is looking for a job these days, said: “I can’t be in the same room as a cat or even look at this without freaking out.
“I’ll avoid the pet aisle at the supermarket so I don’t seem imagines of cats on tinned food.
“I’m from South Africa originally and when I got home to visit family I’ll pay to put their cats in the cattery while I’m there.
“I’ve got a tiny garden, but I’ve got about six cat repellents out there just in case.
“I feel my heart racing and I break out into a sweat whenever I spot one – even saying the word gives me the heebie jeebies.
“I just tell people I’m allergic now to save time explaining the phobia because people just don’t understand it.”
Jean is a South African by birth. She moved to Reading, Berkshire, around 16 years back. She tells that she’s been cat phobic since the beginning of time.
Jean and her husband Russell have to plan their visits to other people very carefully – if there’s a cat where they are going.
Jean even went to a hypnotherapist to overcome her phobia but the condition doesn’t seem to be going away.
“People always asked if it began because of some traumatic experience but it didn’t,” Jean said.
“For as long as I can remember I’ve been scared of them and I have no idea why. It’s something about their eyes and they’re agile – they quietly dart about.
“I don’t know where they’ll be hiding.
“I’ve never touched a cat because they look like they’re all skin and bone which freaks me out. Although it’s just domestic cats – I don’t have problem with lions or tigers.
“I think moving from South Africa to the UK has made it worse because there are so many more pet cats here.
“They’re often out roaming around and I don’t know where they’ll be hiding which terrifies me.”
This phobia made it difficult for Jean to select a property in England when she decided to settle down there.
She said: “Buying a house in the UK was so difficult because of my deep-rooted fear of cats. I couldn’t go in a view some of them because they had pet cats.
“Even pictures of cats or cat ornaments – if they had anything cat-related I couldn’t go in. Most people don’t really realize how prevalent they are in everyday life but I can easily spot them.”
Getting worse over the years, the phobia has made something as simple as playing with her grandchildren Leyla and Renelan and watching TV a challenge for Jean.
She said: “I loved watching reality shows with my daughter Bianca but one of them had a resident cat on the show.
“I had to look away every time it was on screen and wait until it was gone and safe to look again.
“There so many adverts where they pop up and it sends my heart rate through the roof. I get sweaty when I see them and physically run away if I spot one.
“It’s also difficult for my poor husband and we have to make sure there are no cats around when we go to places together.
“Russell’s mom passed away recently but before, when I went to visit her in the care home, I had to get Russell to remove a cat picture off the wall in her room before I could go in.
“I make him ask his friends and colleagues if they have one in the house before we go.
“I ask my friends to lock them away in a different room, but on one occasion I heard one scratching at the door and I couldn’t stay.”
It’s been five years since she consulted a hypnotherapist for her problem but it did no good. Jean is still looking for someone to help her out of this insane phobia.
Jean said: “The therapist told me to pinch my fingers and think of something good whenever I saw a cat.
“But I couldn’t look or be near one long enough to try it. It’s really hard to talk about it because no one really understands.
“Although people are scared of things like spiders, which are tiny, so why is are cats any stranger. It’s not like fearing a type of caterpillar that you seen once a month – I have to face them most days.
“I hope sharing my story with show people that’s not that unusual. It’s really affecting everything I do and I want to volunteer for elderly care but often they’ll have pet cats in the house.”
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