User:Lilagoldman/Ailurophobia

Article Evaluation
The Ailurophobia wikipedia is considered a Start-class page.

At the beginning, there is a pronunciation guide that should be revised to use the phonetic alphabet rather than just written out sounds.

The last paragraph of the description section veers into talking about which animals preyed on hominids. By removing some extraneous information, this information would be relevant to the topic, but right now the paragraph is less about the genetic predisposition to the phobia and more about the misconceptions of which big cats ate what animals.

The article explains the concept of Systematic Desensitization, when I think it should hyperlink to the wikipedia for Systematic Desensitization. Overall, the treatment section has multiple places where hyperlinks could go.

The article is written neutrally for the most part. In the talk page, users in 2007 discussed how the article was "a mess" because it seemed so biased anti-cat, so I think some editing has happened since then to make the article more about the medical perspective on the phobia rather than about justifying the fear of cats.

Almost every claim in the wiki page is linked to one singular Healthline article, so the page is almost a summary of that article more than a synthesis of information about the topic from multiple sources. Also, after reading the Healthline article, I noticed that many of the claims in the wiki are extremely close paraphrases/verbatim quotes which should be restructured. Another one of the sources is a blog post on the website Boredpanda which talks about an episode of a TV show that featured Ailurophobia. I think this citation should be of the episode, rather than a post recapping the episode.

Lead
In the "other names" portion, it should also include gatophobia and galeophobia according to these sources. (I already added this)

The pronunciation should be changed to the phonetic-alphabetical spelling "aɪˌlʊər əˈfoʊ bi ə" in order to be consistent with other wikipedia articles (I already added this)

Description
Ailurophobia is a relatively uncommon phobia compared to other animal phobias, such as the fear of snakes or spiders. Ailurophobes may experience panic and fear when thinking about cats, imagining encountering a cat, inadvertently making physical contact with a cat, or seeing depictions of cats in media. They may experience extreme anxiety and fear when hearing meowing, hissing, or similar sounds made by cats. In one case, it was reported that a patient with ailurophobia was unable to touch clothing that had a soft, fur-like texture possibly due to the clothing's similarity to a cat's fur.

Causes
Sandbox edit: Though the exact cause of ailurophobia is unknown, ailurophobes often trace their fear back to early in their childhood. This is a trend observed in many other specific phobias, especially those involving animals. One theory is that a singular traumatic incident, like being attacked by a cat or witnessing an attack someone else, can trigger the development of this phobia. Other theories as to the inception of ailurophobia include the individual observing another individual's fear, or being inundated with troubling information about the danger of cats, before developing the fear. Another explanation could be that humans are somewhat preconditioned to fear cats because domestic cats' ancestors preyed upon human's ancestors.

Treatment
The treatment section is copy/pasted from a health article, so it will need to be completely reworked in order to remove the plagiarism

Sandbox edit:

It is widely believed that the best treatment for animal phobias is exposure therapy((helathline))). A particular form of exposure therapy called systematic desensitization has been successful for ailurophobes in the past. This method involves gradually showing the ailurophobe pictures and objects that prompt their fear of cats until they are comfortable with each stimulus and eventually cats themselves. One late step of systematic desensitization that has worked is introducing the ailurophobe to a friendly kitten, which typically elicits significantly less fear than a full grown cat. Watching the kitten grow up and remain friendly to the ailurophobe has the potential to alleviate their fear altogether. This method is used to help patients with both ailurophobia and cynophobia.

There are no medications designed to treat ailurophobia. However, anxiety relief and stress relief medications, such as Beta-blockers and Benzodiazepines, can help to mitigate symptoms. {{[healthline)). D -cycloserine has been linked to facilitating better results in exposure therapy.

In Popular Culture
The citation for the pop-culture reference "Impractical Jokers" should be changed from an article about the show to the episode itself (Not related to psychology at all, I already added this)



Checklist:

 * Add more info to lead that summarizes all points in article
 * Rewrite treatment section.
 * double check that every sentence relates to a reference
 * double check that all sources are complete (in wiki template)