If you have ever seen a tiny creature go scampering across your floor or panicked as an eight-legged ballerina descends from above, you are not alone.
Even the bravest of adults cringe at the thought of bugs.
Arachnophobia is a popular disorder many people face every day, but spiders are not the only bug-related fear people deal with.
Even though humans are a lot bigger and more powerful than bugs, we still fear them.
Sometimes this is to the point of paralyzing normal life functions.
There are people who walk into rooms, see a bug, and refuse to return for days, and anyone who has ever seen a spider crawl across their bed and subsequently spent the night tossing and turning understands how debilitating a fears of insects can be.
The reasons for bug fears may be very personal, but most people detest the little creatures for similar reasons.
Maybe when they were little they had a few bad bug experiences.
If you are a little sister to a big brother who used bugs as torture devices, it may have left an emotional scar.
Little boys are often more comfortable with bugs than little girls, sometimes leading to gross-out attacks that create bad feelings toward the innocent bugs.
Even if you know you are perfectly safe around a specific type of bug, a bad memory may leave you feeling less than friendly to insects.
Unfortunately, no matter a person's personal experience with bugs, society may push them into abhorring the little creatures.
While there are plenty of cute, cuddly cartoon bugs, there is hardly anything that paints real-life bugs in an appealing manner.
Bugs are often portrayed as creepy, stinky, slimy, and gross, and this message gets embedded into our heads.
Kids also respond to how their parents react to bugs, so if mom or dad is grossed out, a little kid may mimic this behavior.
Part of the reason why bugs are so gross to people is because we do not understand them.
While people may be fascinated by documentaries on lions and tigers, animals that would not hesitate to kill you in the wild, we are disgusted by bug stories.
These little creatures lack similarities to our domesticated pets and there is nothing cuddly about them.
In many cases, this unfamiliarity and misunderstanding leads to fear.
Bugs look strange and bizarre, they often have six, eight, or what seems like millions of legs, they may not have eyes we can see, and they cannot communicate with us in a way we are used to.
This makes a lot of people uncomfortable and when something feels strange, it can lead to fear.
Finally, there is sometimes a danger associated with bugs.
Bugs can sting and bite, and in rare instances, the damage they inflict can lead to death.
Usually bug bites and stings will do little more than itch and create minor skin inflammation, but emotionally, people respond to the fear of more serious danger.
If you live in fear of what an insect could potentially do, you are likely to be scared of all bugs, all the time.