⚠️ Content Note: Spiders ⚠️
This post discusses arachnophobia and contains images of spiders, as well as preserved spider specimens (taxidermy/museum mounts).
These images are included as part of an educational discussion on exposure therapy.
If you have a severe fear of spiders, please proceed with caution.
Arachnophobia – a fear of spiders – can be extremely life-limiting. Sairah Shaheen Pervez and Jeanne Robinson explore how museum collections and community resources have been helping to address this.
Spiders are fascinating biologically and behaviourally – and they are hugely important ecologically. They regulate insect pests and act as a food source for the many animals that eat them.
Our British species are generally benign, with only a few species delivering an innocuous bite if provoked.
Despite all they have to offer to the world, spiders often remain a source of fear, rather than fascination.
The Hunterian’s Spiders
Jeanne Robinson, Curator of Entomology, The Hunterian
The Hunterian is home to several thousand arachnids – including spiders, tarantulas, daddy long-legs and their more obscure and fascinating relatives.
Some of these specimens have been preserved naturally in amber for tens of millions of years. Others have been preserved whole, wet, dried or mounted on slides more recently, for incorporation into Zoology collections.
These range from chunky 18th century giant bird-eating spiders with custom made metal skeletons (to help keep their delicate remains intact), to tiny money spiders on microscope slides.
We have many specimens collected locally by naturalist Elizabeth Anne Crowson (1928-2006), recognised for her contributions to our knowledge of British spiders through her numerous publications in the 1960s.
There are also other interesting arachnid artefacts, notably the cast skins shed by Wanda, the Mexican red knee tarantula.
Wanda lived for over 20 years – with much of her time in a vivarium outside the curator’s office in the Hunterian Zoology Museum, delighting and terrifying our visitors in equal measure.
The collection holds examples of the elegant silken burrows constructed by trapdoor spiders to catch their meals too.
In addition to being used for teaching, displays, outreach, scientific and historical research – and as inspiration for an incredible array of creative endeavours – our zoology specimens can also be put to use to serve the wider community in other helpful ways.
Arachnophobia: A Fear of Spiders
A 2023 YouGov survey found that 21% of British people identify as arachnophobic. According to the survey, it is the second-most commonly reported phobia, after a fear of heights.
Even more people feel some anxiety around spiders, though not severe enough to classify themselves as arachnophobes. Such fear and anxiety can be incredibly crippling and life limiting.
Recently, museum specimens have been used to try and help address this.
Healing Beyond the Clinic
Sairah Shaheen Pervez, Trainee Clinical Psychologist
As a clinical psychologist in training with NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde (GGC) and the University of Glasgow, I’ve recently had the privilege of supporting a client facing a long-standing phobia of spiders.
As part of the therapy, I was able to use The Hunterian’s preserved spider specimens in a very meaningful and therapeutic way.
Phobias are among the most common anxiety disorders, and treating them often requires creativity and collaboration. Exposure therapy is often recommended when treating phobias, and works best when people can approach their fears step by step.
When planning the graded exposure in this instance, it became clear that photographs and videos alone would not provide sufficient progression toward the ultimate goal of tolerating contact with live spiders.
At the same time, moving directly from images to live spiders risked overwhelming the patient and causing therapeutic setbacks.
This highlighted the need for steps the could bridge the gap. I anticipated that engaging with The Hunterian, with its extensive zoological collections, could provide an ideal therapeutic resource. The preserved specimens offered the opportunity for realistic yet safely contained exposure experiences.
For the patient, using real specimens from The Hunterian provided a powerful bridge: more tangible and emotionally evocative than pictures and videos of spiders, yet far less overwhelming than a live spider.
Sitting with the specimens, first with the wet and dry specimens, then with the cast tarantula skin, observing them closely and processing their reactions in a safe therapeutic space gave the patient the confidence to progress to more challenging exposures to live spiders and tarantulas.
Collaborating with the Community
Similarly, once therapy progressed to the stage of working with live spiders, collaboration with a local community resource, Partick Aquatics & Reptiles, was a natural next step.
Their expertise and safe handling practices ensured that exposures could be carried out ethically, safely and with due consideration of animal welfare.
This experience overall was a powerful reminder that our work as psychologists often extends beyond the clinic room. Collaborating with community and third-sector organisations – like The Hunterian and Partick Aquatics & Reptiles – can open up creative pathways to recovery that can make a meaningful difference to patient’s lives.
In this case, the museum’s specimens weren’t just objects in a display; they became part of a personal journey toward freedom and resilience.
Working in this way highlights the importance of community partnerships in enhancing psychological therapy – particularly through creativity, collaboration and sharing resources.
It has made me reflect on how many more community resources might be quietly waiting to support psychological healing.
Special Thanks
I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to The Hunterian for their invaluable support and generosity in granting access to their spider specimen collection.
Their willingness to collaborate has provided a unique and powerful resource that has enriched the therapeutic process in ways that would not have been possible within the clinic alone.
I’m also deeply grateful to Partick Aquatics & Reptiles, whose practical support and expertise in handling live spiders in their premises played a vital role in the graded exposure work.
Their collaboration not only facilitated the therapeutic goals but also helped create a safe and supportive environment for the intervention.
Interested in seeing more amazing arachnids from The Hunterian collection?
- Sun Spider (GLAHM:Z3737)
- Whip Scorpion (GLAHM:127725)
- Small Spider in Amber (GLAHM:100603)
- Bird-eating Spider (GLAHM:139786)
- Wanda Mexican Redknee Tarantula Cast Skins (ENTO:AR/04)
There are more brilliant blogs stretching right across our collection for you to explore – covering art, coins, medals and much more!
References
Clark, D. A., & Beck, A. T. (2011). Cognitive therapy of anxiety disorders: Science and practice. Guilford Press.
Hancock, E. G & Brown, G (2014) An unusual preparation of an eighteenth-century spider and its consequences, Journal of the Institute of Conservation, 37(2), 110-119, DOI: 10.1080/19455224.2014.915225
Raven, P. (2023). What do Britons say they have a phobia of? (accessed 28/08/2025)
Wolitzky-Taylor, K. B., Horowitz, J. D., Powers, M. B., & Telch, M. J. (2008). Psychological approaches in the treatment of specific phobias: A meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 28(6), 1021–1037. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2008.02.007
Publications on Hunterian Spider Collections
Breitling, Rainer, Coleing, Amelia, Peixoto, Tiago, Nagle, Helen, Hancock, E. Geoffrey, Kelsh, Robert N. and Székely, Tamás (2011) An overview of the spider fauna of Maio (Cape Verde Islands), with some additional recent records (Arachnida, Araneae). Zoologia Caboverdiana, 2(2), pp. 43-52.
