Nyctophobia (fear of the dark) – treatment of fear, symptoms, causes

Slava Profina 07/25/2018

In the psychological literature you can find many existing human fears that do not allow children and adults to live in peace. One of them is nyctophobia, which is a panicky, irrational fear of the dark. This phobia has 3 more synonyms: scotophobia, ecluophobia and achluophobia. It can manifest itself in fear of going outside at night, as well as of dark rooms, corridors and basements.

Origin of the disease nyctophobia

The first manifestations of strange symptoms appear when the child is in a dark room, and this is accompanied by increased anxiety. The initial lever can be a child's fear, which was received by the mother during contact in the womb, or mental trauma in the early period of the child's development. Fear of the dark can also appear if parents have genetic symptoms. Also influencing may be a reason such as a negative emotional background in the family, negatively affecting the nervous system (conflict situations, frequent scandals, character, worry about a new event in life, insufficient demonstration of feelings, emotions caused by an event or materials shown on TV). It has been noted that one child in a family is at risk than those who grow up in a family with several children.

The level of sensitivity with a wild imagination, the environment around are some of the factors influencing the formation of a certain type of nervous system, and, undoubtedly, a greater likelihood of the appearance of nyctophobia. Basically, it begins to form in childhood, and to acquire such a feature at an older age, a special psychotraumatic situation is necessary. Adults try to carefully hide their illness from others, and interpret their peculiar behavior as poor eyesight and an inability to navigate in space.

With age, everything can change. For example, childhood fearfulness in adulthood can be reflected in a fear of dark alleys. Conveying the feelings of a person, we can say that it is not the darkness that frightens him, but the danger present in it. Signs of nyctophobia are based on biological factors, because at night, visual acuity decreases, dangerous predators hunt, which stimulates special attentiveness and becomes anxious with the arrival of darkness. Everyone is afraid of their fantasy, which projects all the accumulated fears and terrible thoughts into the unknown darkness. When someone says “I'm afraid,” they mean that they are more afraid of what they might encounter in this darkness.

Psychological reasons

An obsessive fear of the dark is a fairly common phobia among both children and adults.

Working with him is actually working on realizing that the client is not in danger.

Sounds pretty simple. But how to stretch a thread along which this path can be walked by touch?

There are several reasons for fear. Mostly the adult population loves to look for them in traumatic childhood experiences.

However, take your time.

If I have already written about psychological trauma and you are able to imagine a way out, then the second reason will probably come as a complete surprise to you.

My thirty years of experience as a body therapist allows me to assert that fears and phobias are not always of a traumatic nature. Sometimes their presence indicates that the person suffering from them is incredibly talented.

However, his talent is suppressed, does not develop, does not manifest itself in the external visible world in the beauty in which it should have manifested itself.

One famous artist, Alexander Maley, said something like this about this. “God gave each of us a certain amount of abilities and talents. For some it’s a little, but for others it’s more than that. And then he will ask each of them, did you realize what I gave you? And the one to whom much was given, but who did nothing, will answer for his inaction.”

So, there is a lot of truth in these words, only retribution for lost talent does not take place after a person’s death, but already here, during his lifetime.

After all, having a fantastic imagination, a talented person is able to finish drawing, thinking through, and playing out incredible pictures and stories in his head.

And if we talk about the fear of darkness, then the subtle creak of a door, the knock of a branch on a window, a light reflection on the wall, acquires a large number of details and turns into an objectively existing reality in a person’s imagination.

By the way, increased anxiety can also have similar causes.

Anxiety and fear, like spouses who love each other, exist side by side and complement and support each other. Get rid of one of them, and the other will immediately disappear.

Among those who come to me about psychotherapy for fears, there are a lot of truly talented people who do not know what to do with this huge potential. As they work, they discover an incredible treasure trove of treasures. And then a huge amount of energy is released - people simply forget that they were once afraid of something.

Symptoms of manifestation

The symptoms of the disorder include several points, the presence of which a specialist can determine abnormalities. Nyctophobia is formed from signs that are common to everyone and special that are unique to it.

The following are considered common:

increased heart rate and breathing problems;
present headaches;
nausea; gag reflexes;
in special cases, there is a loss of control over one’s own movements;
speech disorder.

Special ones include:

severe manifestations of the above symptoms of nyctophobia;
development of panic and increased anxiety with the arrival of darkness.

Strong worries prompt a person to constantly monitor his own mental safety. This is expressed in avoiding dark moments. Preventive measures include constantly checking that lighting is working properly and ensuring a high level of home safety. The person who carries out such actions is not able to adequately evaluate his behavior and considers it rational and completely logical. The present misunderstanding of such behavior by loved ones often provokes conflict situations in the family. Regular hot temper, problems with sleep, tears, constant checking of one’s actions are signs indicating a long-term destructive effect.

Formation of a phobia of darkness

Like any other, phobia of darkness begins in childhood. Having a very developed imagination, a child can draw a terrible monster in the dark and get very scared. And adults also add fuel to the fire, scaring them with various tales and Hedgehog Grandmas. As a result of severe fear, darkness begins to be strongly associated with fear. And any absence of light immediately raises that very first horror from the depths of memory.

More than 9,000 people have gotten rid of their psychological problems using this technique.

Nyctophobia in an adult

Any phobia can and should be overcome, especially if it interferes with normal life activities. There are two ways: pharmacological and psychotherapeutic. Early diagnosis is the key to a successful outcome.

Pharmacological

This pathology is partially controlled by psychoactive drugs. They will not cure the main source, but they can eliminate external manifestations. Such drugs are strictly not recommended for self-medication. The following are medications that eliminate symptoms:

antidepressants;
hypnotics (sleeping pills);
sedatives.

Remember that you can’t do it with medications alone. The psychotherapist decides which, in combination with medication, will be the optimal solution.

Psychotherapy for nyctophobia

Psychotherapy is considered the most effective way today. Only in the office of a psychologist or psychotherapist will you be able to talk about what you cannot share even with your family. When choosing the type of psychotherapy, you should rely on your own feelings, because everything depends on purely individual characteristics. For some, gelstat therapy is suitable, and for those who are unstable to hypnosis, hypnosuggestive therapy will be relevant. The doctor will choose the best direction for recovery.

Fear comes from childhood

Nyctophobia is an intense fear of the night or darkness that can cause severe symptoms of anxiety and depression.
A fear becomes a phobia when it is excessive, irrational, or affects your daily life. Fear of the dark often begins in childhood and is considered a normal part of development. Anyone who has ever been a child, which means we all remember our childhood fears. What was it like for you? Maybe you were afraid of your closet, a thunderstorm, or a neighbor down the street who was so old that he could still give the old man Fura a head start? When we're wary of strangers, why would we giggle with delight at the strangest-looking stranger we've ever seen?

It seems that children's fears can only exist in childhood. But it's surprisingly common for childhood trauma to carry over into adulthood—maybe you were bitten by a dog or stung by a bee, and the bees have haunted you ever since. Or maybe your fear has evolved into something else, but ITS BASE remains the same? For example, as a child, a fear of monsters may have developed into a fear of burglars (how many locks are there on your door?).

Fear of strangers could turn into social anxiety. Or the fear of doctors and dentists that still remains?

As an excellent example, my international patient Nicolas wrote (and allowed me to tell his story) that he is an adult who has been afraid of the dark all his life. As a child, his parents told him to just get over it, which didn't really help him, and now his fear has carried over into adulthood. For Nicolas, fear of the dark means poor sleep quality, where he sleeps with the lights on and is unable to drive at night without feeling afraid.

So what should you do if, like Nicolas, you had a phobia as a child or it emerged in your adult life, like the boogeyman jumping out of the closet?

First, know that you are not alone. Almost 10% of people will experience a phobia at some point in their lives that interferes with their lives. This means a lot more than just making your partner kill the spider in the bathroom. This means you can't take a job that requires you to use an elevator to get to your office, or you can't travel by plane, which means you'll never see a Hawaiian sunset in person.

See Aerophobia:

So if your plans have been derailed by a phobia, start confronting your fears.

Progression and consequences

It is vital to treat this problem, because regular panic attacks reduce life expectancy and activate the aging process. The level of concentration and stamina decreases, and emotional instability is observed. Nyctophobia has a destructive effect on many areas of life. It is associated with eating disorders (possible development of bulimia and anorexia), the use of alcohol and drugs as one of the options for relaxation.

Worldwide studies have linked the presence of fears and other various factors in adults as an important reason for early death. It was also noted that patients who died early from cardiovascular diseases suffered from phobia. In addition, it was concluded that severe overexertion, which leads to fear of the dark, gives rise to many diseases that are in remission. All this leads to the fact that untimely treatment is very life-threatening. Don't put off visiting the doctors. A timely consultation with a specialist at an appointment in a specialized center is half the way to getting rid of the disease.

Treatment of nyctophobia: how to get rid of the fear of the dark?

For most children with nyctophobia, the disorder goes away on its own as they grow older. Treatment of nyctophobia in adults requires, in most cases, the intervention of a psychotherapist. However, some individuals with a strong will and strong motivation manage to overcome it on their own.

Psychotherapists strongly recommend seeking medical help for symptoms of nervous disorders: ignoring them can lead to dangerous consequences for overall health and more serious psychological illnesses.

If you consult a specialist in a timely manner, an individual treatment regimen for nyctophobia is prescribed. Therapy is carried out comprehensively, using psychotherapeutic work and taking medications if necessary. Timely treatment guarantees high treatment results and complete relief from phobia.

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Methods of disposal

There are many methods to combat nyctophobia. Medication is the simplest option from the perspective of the suffering person (he took the medicine and forgot), but as practice shows, this is the most ineffective method. It is reasonable to begin the healing process by identifying the causes and assessing the general condition. For example, you had to move to a disadvantaged area, and your doors are not strong enough. Against this background, cowardice has developed, but in this case, a course of pills and sessions with a psychotherapist are not entirely appropriate, and installing a secure door or moving will help treat the illness. Or in the case when a feeling of fear arises when it is necessary to walk in unlit places in the dark, then the best option would be to sign up for self-defense classes.

A traumatic situation may trigger the occurrence of a phobia, or you prefer to watch scary movies at night. In the first case, working with the ability to analyze a situation when danger arises will have a positive effect; it will be appropriate to undergo therapy sessions for traumatic experiences. If provoked independently, it will begin to disappear when the genre of film and literature changes. Try to create an atmosphere around without annoying sources. Frightening shadows outside the window will disappear after installing the blinds, and extraneous sounds will disappear thanks to PVC windows.

What are we afraid of?

The peculiarity of nyctophobia is that there is no object of fear; a person is afraid not of the lack of light, but of his own sensations. In most cases, fear is directed at something real, but at a theoretically possible or even impossible situation. It is connected with the fact that a person, without seeing the real world, begins to imagine what could be there. Fantasy comes into play and everything depends on it.

Most serious phobias in adults develop at around 18-19 years of age and last until a maximum of 45-50 years of age.

Pictures from the imagination are superimposed on the basis of the existing discomfort from the lack of light, and the nycphobe begins to perceive darkness as a danger. Everyone understands perfectly well that there are no bloodthirsty tigers or zombies from a horror movie in the apartment, but knowing and feeling are slightly different things. Fear of the dark is irrational.

Most normal people still manage to somehow curb their imagination and convince themselves that there is no threat in a dark visit, but sometimes, with an unfavorable course of the phobia, the pictures become so fixed in the head that they can turn into persistent visual pseudo-hallucinations. Usually this is caused by violations in the volitional sphere of a person.

In the hospital

If it is not possible to independently treat the disease nyctophobia, you should make an appointment with a psychotherapist. Phobias respond well to the psychotherapeutic method; hypnotherapy, various relaxing techniques and special training are often used. The use of only medications provides a short-term and unstable effect. During the period of exacerbation, the patient is prescribed one sedative drug that relieves the symptoms of the disease. Body-oriented and cognitive-behavioral techniques help to cope. The rule states that children need to create a special environment for sleep - use a night light, relaxing music, fairy tale therapy at night.

In the hospital, the clinic’s specialists treat nyctophobia and rely on the principles of proven medicine, using one effective psychotherapeutic paradigm that has received recognition in the community. The main method of work is cognitive behavioral therapy, which leads to good results in a couple of sessions. Next, these thoughts change and the emotional state stabilizes. Understanding all the processes makes it possible for suffering people to change their behavioral pattern and say goodbye to the psychological issue.

Prevention of occurrence

To successfully work on regulating the nervous system and mental balance, use meditative techniques, aromatherapy and breathing exercises, and do not forget about regular stress release on the simulator. A stable nervous system reduces the risk of unreasonable fears. Get into the habit of taking calming and herbal remedies. A visit to the pool will be useful.

Therapy is carried out only after the underlying causes have been established. After all, an unreasonable fear of death can provoke a neurotic state or even psychosis. The cure must be aimed at the root of the disease. With a favorable outcome, not only does the feeling of fear disappear, but the patient also experiences pleasure from what he was previously terribly afraid of. The program is developed after identifying the causes of the condition and includes a selection of individual techniques.

Psychologist's advice

Very often, the fear of the dark from childhood passes into adulthood. Experts offer many special techniques that help manage your own fear.

The most effective methods are:

Self-analysis and detailed study of your anxieties and fears. Psychologists recommend writing down the reasons for your fears on a piece of paper. As a result, the patient does not have a single adequate reason on the list.
Before dark, you need to relax, listen to calm music, and take a bath with herbal infusion.
If insomnia occurs, you need to describe your psychological state and make a plan for the next day.
You need to learn to shift your attention to positive aspects.
Communicate with friends and relatives more often. In the company of people, the fear of darkness is much easier to bear. Talking on the phone will help improve your psychological state.
Change your home environment, update interior details. A small lamp that creates a feeling of light in the room will help you cope with fear. If necessary, you should rehang the mirror or rearrange the bed. Then familiar objects will be perceived in a new way.
You should only sleep at night. Daytime naps provoke insomnia, which causes negative thoughts.
Breathing exercises. When you take deep breaths, the blood is enriched with oxygen. You need to sit in a comfortable position, on the count of 5 - inhale, hold your breath for 5 seconds and exhale. Repeat until the fear goes away.
Convince yourself that the house is safe. To do this, you should make locks on the windows, hang thick curtains, and provide yourself with simple means of protection.