What is the name and treatment of phobia of fear of the dark?

What is nyctophobia?

Nyctophobia (less commonly achluophobia ) - pathological fear of the dark, night time, dark rooms.

Many people believe that such fear is only characteristic of children, but this is not so.

Most adults are ashamed to admit it . Nyctophobia is one of the most common fears; people of completely different ages suffer from it. 10% of the population experiences paralyzing terror when in a dark room.

This phobia can accompany a person exclusively in childhood, and later simply disappear on its own. It happens that a person has never been afraid of the dark in his life, but suddenly he becomes afraid.

But most often, nyctophobia haunts people from childhood, and in older age it only intensifies. As a rule, it is much easier for children to get rid of a phobia; in adults, fears become more serious.

Kinophobia - fear of dogs

Look at this good-natured face. How can you be afraid of such a delightful pet? Cynophobia, or the fear of dogs, is actually very common among people of all ages. Often, negative experiences with dogs can lead to the development of cynophobia, and sometimes children imitate their parents' fear of dogs, although they themselves have never experienced problems with dogs.

PVC pipes and dad's hands: a simple spray shower made our daughter happy

Crowds and closed spaces: this is how most people got sick with coronavirus

Filming for remaining episodes of Supernatural begins in Vancouver

Most dogs are not dangerous or scary at all, but people with cynophobia must undergo appropriate therapy to understand and accept this truth.

Causes

1. Genetics – at the genetic level of a person there is information that night – is the most dangerous time of the day.
   It was with the onset of darkness, in ancient times, that people feared attacks from predatory animals, enemy tribes, etc. Therefore, the sense of self-preservation causes the body to experience fear in the dark. If parents suffer from this phobia, then the likelihood that the child will also be afraid of the dark is 80%. And in this case, parents do not help their children cope with fear, but only strengthen and feed it.
2. Vision - human visual acuity is significantly reduced in the dark. Eyes are one of the main human defense mechanisms. In the dark, it seems to us that if we close our eyes, something bad will definitely happen. At such moments, a person feels as helpless as possible, which is where fear arises.
3. Fear from childhood &mdash, almost all children are afraid of the dark. It happens that parents intimidate their child with horror stories, and the wild children's imagination begins to draw scary pictures of the inhabitants of the night. In this case, fear can develop into neurosis.
   At a certain point, the mother begins to teach the child to sleep alone in his own room with the lights off.

   At such moments, he may feel unprotected and need maternal care more than ever. This is how the fear of darkness arises.

4. Feeling of loneliness - many people are afraid to be alone, they feel an urgent need for someone to be nearby. In the dark they feel as lonely and vulnerable as possible.
5. Psychological trauma - people may experience a fear of the dark if something terrible happened to them in the dark, or in an unlit room.
6. Excessive parental care - it happens that parents are too protective of their child. This can lead to the baby becoming cowardly and unsure of himself. This is where the fear of the dark comes from.
7. Single-parent family - experts say that children who are raised in single-parent families are more susceptible to acquiring nyctophobia.
8. Imagination &mdash, our imagination and fantasy can complete what is not there. In the dark, some things distort their shape, so a person may see something that is not actually in the room. Many people even sleep all night with the lights on because they are afraid of their own fantasies.
9. Stress , severe stress, conflicts and nervousness can significantly affect a person’s mental state, which can lead to a fear of the dark.
10. Fear of death is precisely what can provoke fear of the dark.
    After all, death is often associated with darkness. If a person suffers from nyctophobia for this reason, then, as experts say, it is the fear of death that needs to be gotten rid of.
11. Abuse of horror films and other horror stories - too impressionable, emotionally unstable people, after watching enough horror films, may begin to be afraid of the dark.

Why are people afraid of the dark? About this in the video:

ICD-10 code

Fear of the dark belongs to the group of specific (isolated) mental disorders, their code is F40.2.

These fears are characterized by the occurrence of pronounced discomfort in front of an imaginary danger.

Sick people are very tense, as they constantly project the possibility of ending up in a poorly lit space and encountering something terrible there; their thoughts are chaotically looking for ways to avoid places and situations associated with the appearance of darkness. And when they get it in life, their mental state suffers greatly: severe trembling appears throughout the body, sticky cold sweat, shortness of breath, lack of air, confusion, fainting, hallucinations.

Constantly expecting a meeting with an imaginary danger, patients exhaust themselves emotionally and physically, so the fear of the dark is often combined with depression or neuroses. In cases where nyctophobia is complicated by them, treatment takes longer and requires the use of additional methods of psychotherapy and psychocorrection.

What is the fear aimed at?

A person is afraid not so much of the dark, but of what he thinks is hidden in it. Due to the fact that we see poorly in an unlit room, our brain perceives this as a danger signal , and our imagination draws what is not there.

The person begins to experience a feeling of insecurity and weakness.

He expects something that won't happen. Every rustle frightens and drives you into panic.

This state can lead to pseudo-hallucinations - fictitious images will begin to be seen in reality.

How to overcome fear of heights? Read about it here.

Symptoms and signs

Nyctophobia has the character of attacks that intensify with the approach of darkness .

• cardiopalmus,
• stomach ache,
• pressure surges,
• headache,
• shiver,
• increased sweating,
• unreasonable feeling of cold,
• feeling that my legs have become “woolly”,
• stuttering, even if the person has not observed this before,
• anxiety,
• strong fear
• panic,
• hand tremors,
• fear can lead to real horror, in which a person can scream loudly, fight hysterically, run headlong, or, conversely, hide in a corner,
• neurotic state,
• dizziness,
• sleep disorder, nightmares,
• paranoia.

Atychiphobia - fear of failure

Atychiphobia, or fear of failure, is a pressing issue for many people. People with atychiphobia experience physical symptoms such as sweating, rapid heart rate and difficulty breathing when they are faced with the possibility of failure.

Many people suffering from this disorder also suffer from self-deception, which means they don't make a serious effort when they encounter difficulties at school or work because they don't want to find out that they tried their best and failed.

Features of manifestation in children

Psychologists say that a child’s fear of the dark begins to develop around the age of two . At this time, parents try to teach the baby to sleep alone in a room with the lights off.

A child who is used to always being with his parents may begin to feel afraid, sad and lonely. If he starts coming to his parents’ bedroom at night, it will be quite normal.

But if a child over 3 years old flatly refuses to stay in a dark room or even go there, he begins to become hysterical and panic, then you should start worrying.

In childhood, nyctophobia is much easier than in adults. If you pay attention in time, you can cure the child. Then the fear will not pass into adulthood, but will remain a childhood nightmare.

Fear of the dark: how can a child overcome nyctophobia? Find out from the video:

How dangerous is a phobia?

Scientists conducted a study that showed that people suffering from any phobia are more prone to heart attacks and strokes due to constant stress.

Constantly being nervous, worried and afraid is very dangerous for the body.

This condition can activate all latent diseases. Due to constant stress, a person's sleep is disturbed.

He feels tired, lethargic and lack of sleep all the time, which leads to absent-mindedness and lack of focus in everyday life. Nyctophobia can cause nightmares, which also interfere with a person's normal life.

Fear of the dark needs to be treated as quickly as possible. Don't sleep with the lights on. This way you will simply delay solving the problem, but will not rid yourself of fear. And sleeping in the light all the time is harmful to human health.

Recommendations from psychologists for overcoming the fear of clowns can be found on our website.

Coulrophobia - fear of clowns

Coulrophobia is a common phobia that involves the fear of clowns. Moreover, patients may notice anxiety, animal fear and physical malaise not only in the presence of live clowns, but also at one glance at their images.

36-year-old Alsou shared a photo with a new hairstyle

A baby with red hair was born to black parents. New photos of the boy

Neighbors made a dining area out of a huge reel of wires: instructions

Clowns were originally circus villains and trickster characters. It is not surprising that today there are people for whom such memes cause fear and anxiety. The clowns themselves are dehumanized, which can also cause rejection in people prone to coulrophobia.

How to overcome fear?

You can get rid of nyctophobia both in childhood and in adulthood. The main thing is to seek help in time .

Medicines

cannot get rid of nyctophobia . There are no special pills for fear of the dark. In particularly severe cases and during moments of exacerbation, sedatives may be prescribed to relieve symptoms.

In especially severe cases, when fear can lead to depression, antidepressants may be prescribed.

Psychological help

First of all, you need to see a psychotherapist.

He will conduct a conversation, find out the causes of fear and prescribe treatment.

You should not limit yourself to just one visit to a specialist; it is better if you keep in touch with your doctor throughout the entire treatment.

If your fear dates back to childhood, it’s worth remembering what exactly you were afraid of then and understanding whether it scares you now.

Before going to bed, you need to relax, take a deep breath, and try to convince yourself that what you are afraid of does not exist. After all, this is so.

Don’t watch anything scary or heavy before going to bed; it’s best to watch something light and relaxing, or listen to pleasant music.

If you are afraid of some creatures in the dark, face your fears . Touch and feel everything with your own hands. Make sure there is no one in the room except you. You are not in danger.

When getting ready for bed, turn on a small night light. Gradually reduce the light to a minimum.

You can try a course of hypnotherapy . A psychotherapist may recommend taking part in special training. Yoga and meditation can also help combat fears.

Psychologists say that dreaming about something pleasant before going to bed helps to overcome fear. You need to go to bed in a good mood.

5 tips on how to overcome the fear of the dark:

What disorders are accompanied by obsessive fear of the dark?

Nyctophobia can occur in isolation, as an independent disorder, or it can be included “as” a symptom in the structure of other, more complex pathologies. What are these pathologies? There are four of them. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (obsessive-compulsive disorder), paranoid schizophrenia, neurosis-like schizophrenia, schichotypic disorder.

Most often in the practice of a psychotherapist we encounter patients with isolated phobia. In this case, things do not go further than fear: there are no obsessive actions or other characteristic symptoms of diseases.

Patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder neurosis consult a doctor somewhat less often. It is distinguished by the presence of characteristic rituals to get rid of uncomfortable feelings (turn on and turn off the light a certain number of times, count to yourself and many other variations limited only by the patient’s imagination). In this case, the phobia of fear of the dark is a pathological symptom (obsession).

With paranoid schizophrenia, in rare cases, the formation of phobias is possible, but they are even more irrational and have a bizarre nature. For example, in the practice of one psychiatrist, there was a patient with a paranoid form of schizophrenia who was afraid of the refrigerator when it was in the dark and flatly refused to go into his own kitchen. This is no longer obsession, but delirium. In addition, this terrible form of the disease is characterized by the presence of other productive symptoms: hallucinations (usually pseudohallucinations).

Worth seeing: Phobia of Love

Delusional thoughts differ from obsessive thoughts by their complete dominance in the structure of the psyche, as well as the lack of a critical attitude towards them.

In the neurosis-like form of schizophrenia, as well as in schizotypal disorder, we are talking about the same obsessions, there are two differences:

• Obsessions have almost imperative properties, forcing the patient to build a life based on them.
• Unlike typical compulsions, obsessive actions in the diseases described above are absolutely ridiculous.

Only a doctor can make a differential diagnosis. Attempts at self-diagnosis will not bring any tangible effect.

What to do if a child is afraid of the dark?

Psychologist's advice:

1. There is no need to scold your child because he is scared and wakes you up in the middle of the night. Under no circumstances should you call him a coward or a nurse. You definitely need to support your baby, hug and reassure.
2. You can't scare children with monsters and scary stories. Unfortunately, many parents do this, because children have such difficulty falling asleep. Subsequently, this may result in a phobia.
3. If a child experiences severe fear, you can turn on a night light for him . If it’s easier for him to sleep with the door open, then leave it that way.
4. Talk to your child, try to explain that monsters do not exist, he has nothing to be afraid of.
5. Don't let him watch TV at night , it's better to read him some good fairy tale.
6. Have a positive attitude and maintain a good mood.
7. All children have favorite toys, let the child sleep with his favorite.
8. Pets are good helpers in the fight against fears.

What is arachnophobia? Find out the answer right now.

My child is afraid of the dark, what should I do? Advice from a child psychologist:

Treatment of neophobia

A person who experiences neophobia is often fully aware of its existence and has a good understanding of what is happening to him. But with all his awareness, he cannot cope with this pathological condition on his own. Therefore, if you have such destructive fear, you should definitely contact a specialist.

Neophobia can be effectively treated with medication, but this phobia is not so dangerous that one would resort to only this method of dealing with it. In many countries, in order to overcome neophobia, various psychotechniques, trainings, psychotherapeutic sessions and psychological counseling are actively used. A qualified psychologist can help you understand the cause of this phobia, and this is the first step to getting rid of it. In addition, various psychotherapeutic influences remove existing psychological barriers to learning new things, which contributes to more successful adaptation to changing conditions.

Useful tips for treatment

Autogenic training, relaxation and meditation are great help in the fight against neophobia. And you can combat some of the symptoms of this phobia quite effectively yourself. If you understand that you are overcome by a feeling of fear, first of all you need to normalize your breathing and pulse; to do this, you need to take several slow breaths through your nose and exhale through your mouth (with a slight delay when exhaling). Slow counting and physical exercises (for example, you can squat 10-20 times) help to cope with impending fear. In addition to stabilizing breathing, it is also necessary to normalize your consciousness. To do this, you need to try to focus your attention on your surroundings as much as possible (try to describe in sufficient detail all the objects that surround you).

SUBSCRIBE TO THE VKontakte GROUP dedicated to anxiety disorders: phobias, fears, obsessive thoughts, VSD, neurosis.

fobiya.info

How to live with nyctophobia?

Living with nyctophobia is quite difficult .

After all, darkness comes every day. If your fear gets out of control, you should definitely seek help.

And if fear does not cause much discomfort, or appears periodically, then for a comfortable sleep you can use, for example, a night light . Try not to walk on unlit streets.

There is nothing wrong with an adult being afraid of the dark. If your fear prevents you and your loved ones from living, you should think about overcoming it. Nyctophobia is treatable.

There is no need to delay this. After all, healthy sleep is one of the main components of our life.