What is coulrophobia? Coulrophobia (Clownophobia) - fear of clowns: important details

Reasons for fear of clowns

Many people don't know what the fear of clowns is called. So, its name is coulrophobia. This is one of the diseases that became widespread only at the end of the last century, which is why it is called a phobia of the 21st century. According to scientists, the main reason for the panicky fear of farcical jesters, as they are popularly called, is a person’s exaggerated fear of the unknown. Due to the fact that the clown's face is covered with a thick layer of makeup, a fearful person cannot see his true appearance. Other reasons why people are afraid of clowns include:

1. Strange behavior. Due to loud and artificial laughter, stupid jokes and expressive gestures, a clown is perceived by a person as a mentally inadequate person. Many people have a fear of clowns precisely because of the unpredictability of the actions of a crazy jester.
2. A negative image entrenched in the human subconscious. This often happens in early childhood, when the baby experiences severe fright as a result of a sudden meeting with a circus character.

3. Excessive passion for horror films. As a result of watching bloody horror films with a mountain of human corpses, which are accompanied by the nervous laughter of a clown, the ground is laid in the child’s psyche for the development of this disease.
4. Fear of being ridiculed. Quite often we are afraid of being ridiculed during public speaking. A common trick used by jesters is to force children into the circus arena. Due to the spontaneity of such actions, the child simply does not have time to tune in to playful interaction with the clown. As a result, the baby gets lost and feels awkward. This is why children are afraid of clowns.

It's claustrophobia. What is claustrophobia

What is claustrophobia? Claustrophobia is the fear of elevators, small rooms, and other enclosed spaces. When entering an elevator, basement, storage room, attic or other small and cramped room, a person experiences fear and severe discomfort.

Examples of places where a person becomes ill:

• a small room with no windows and/or a locked door;
• elevator;
• solarium;
• shower and toilet;
• magnetic resonance imaging;
• metro;
• airplane;
• train carriage;
• bus;
• tunnels;
• caves;
• narrow streets;
• basement;
• queue.

Discomfort can occur even in the hairdresser's chair or due to a tightly tied tie, while removing clothes over the head, etc.

What fears does claustrophobia experience (fear of enclosed spaces, hidden reasons):

• fear of restriction of freedom;
• fear of a new attack;
• fear of suffocation;
• fear of death;
• fear of going crazy;
• fear of harming someone;
• fear of people;
• fear of getting stuck in an elevator;
• fear of crashing on a plane;
• fear of committing an uncontrollable antisocial act.

The behavior of a claustrophobe has a number of features:

• the person tries to sit closer to the exit;
• leaves doors and windows open;
• feels uncomfortable in a closed room and rushes about;
• avoids public transport, especially during peak traffic hours;
• avoids elevators and queues.

This is interesting! 10-15% of the world's population suffers from a phobia of fear of enclosed spaces, 3-6% suffer from a severe form of the phobia. Men get sick less often than women. The phobia develops more often in adulthood (25–45 years), but can also appear in childhood. Children tolerate the disease more difficult.

Consequences of coulrophobia

Like other fears, coulrophobia can provoke:

• panic attacks;
• difficulty breathing;
• intermittent heartbeat;
• sweating;
• nausea.

The fear of clowns is irrational - it has no reasonable explanation. This phobia seems absurd to some people, while others feel a stomach ache just at the thought of meeting a vile buffoon. A study conducted by British scientists found that clowns prefer to scare children aged 4-16 years. Although coulrophobia occurs primarily in childhood, this fear is also common among adults. According to available information, today this phobia is observed in 12% of American adults. Many people explain their phobia by saying that they are put off by stupid, wacky and inappropriate clown humor. Although coulrophobia is not a serious cause for concern, it is still not something to joke about.

Coulrophobia - symptoms.

As with other phobias, coulrophobia causes a variety of physical and mental symptoms, including:

• Sweating;
• Nausea;
• Feeling of fear;
• Panic attacks;
• Increased heart rate and rapid breathing;
• Cry;
• Scream;
• Attacks of anger in the presence of a clown.

How to get rid of the fear of clowns?

In mild situations, psychotherapeutic treatment helps combat the fear of clowns, during which the specialist tells the patient about the nature of coulrophobia and the characteristics of these fears. The goal of this treatment method is to turn a person's negative attitude towards jesters into a positive one. The task of the psychotherapist is to explain that behind the clown mask there is an ordinary person who has his own advantages and disadvantages. Gradually coming into contact with the object of his fear, the patient learns to control his emotions.

In severe cases, when psychotherapeutic treatment does not help fight such fears, it becomes necessary to put the person into a hypnotic trance. Due to this, it is possible to weaken the guardianship of consciousness and penetrate into the depths of the subconscious sphere, which stores information erased from memory. Thanks to hypnosis, it is possible to identify the true cause of coulrophobia and completely rid a person of his panicky fear of clowns. The purpose of a hypnotic trance is to form a positive image of reality and develop a new constructive model of thinking.

This treatment has many advantages over drug therapy. They appear as follows:

• painlessness;
• atraumatic;
• harmlessness;
• no side effects;
• absence of addiction and dependence.

Hypnosuggestive treatment completely transforms a person’s inner world. After several sessions of hypnosis, the patient ceases to be afraid of clowns forever. It is also important that hypnosis encourages a person to reveal their own potential and achieve heights in their chosen areas.

It is not surprising that modern medicine recognizes hypnosuggestive therapy as the most effective and safe method for completely freeing yourself from coulrophobia.

What is coulrophobia, or Why are we afraid of clowns?

This is called coulrophobia - a panicky, uncontrollable fear of clowns. As studies by English scientists conducted among 250 children aged 4-16 have shown, most of them are afraid of clowns, and some are seriously afraid. But not only children and teenagers, but sometimes also successful adults suffer from this fear. Surprisingly, the phobia only spread at the beginning of the 21st century.

Other studies conducted on the Internet showed that out of 100 people of different ages surveyed, 84 do not like and are afraid of clowns, try not to attend circuses and consider their humor stupid and inappropriate. Here’s how the “no” answer was commented: “For some reason, it seems to me that if people laugh at clowns, it’s more of a nervous laugh to hide the tension... Screenwriters of all sorts of horror films strive to shoehorn the image of a clown into some chilling scene.” , this is probably why my imagination now always draws huge cutting knives for clowns...”

And it’s not for nothing that most respondents associate the clown with knives, chainsaws and other weapons. It's all because of the film adaptation of the novel by the “king of horror” Stephen King. Filmed in 1990, It is about a clown who kills people with their own fears while maintaining a kind smile on his face. This marked the beginning of a whole series of horror films starring evil clowns: “SICK”, “Killer Clowns”, “Clown”, “Fear of Clowns”, “House of Clowns”, “A Good Clown is a Dead Clown”, “The Undertaker”... Screenwriters found the right rope, which is most convenient to pull in order to achieve a reaction of panic fear in people.

We also cannot ignore the topic of murderers, rapists and pedophiles who worked professionally or moonlighted as clowns at fairs. This had some impact on society.

Russia was a little luckier. Soviet clowns bore little resemblance to those killers from the films, and coulrophobia did not become particularly widespread until the late 90s. And it’s unlikely that, remembering such clowns as Yu. Nikulin, O. Popov, V. Polunin, you will be able to associate them with murder or violence. In their performances, the humor was always only kind and sweet; these are Clowns with a capital C and on a global scale. Alas, it is not always possible to speak as flatteringly about clowns from city circuses or companies invited to a holiday; sometimes their professionalism leaves much to be desired.

Many causes of fear are subconscious:

1.

A face under a mask or makeup. This is one of the main reasons - it is impossible to understand what a person really thinks and feels, although he always keeps a smile on his face.

2.

Fear of being ridiculed in public. When a clown chooses someone from the audience and starts making fun of him, this only increases the fear. A story from one of those suffering from a phobia: “...Initially, I was generally indifferent to them, until these examples of deviant behavior were honored to reward me, who once came to the circus, with a portion of their most valuable attention, dragging me into the arena and making me an involuntary participant in their pathologically stupid trick...”

3.

Expressive phraseology and sudden movements, which are designed to attract attention, but in ordinary life are characteristic of mentally ill people.

4.

Childhood memories of a bad trip to the circus or a movie seen. These impressions, as a rule, are the strongest and bear their imprint throughout life.

5.

Allergy to makeup, paints, stupid noses. This may not lead to a phobia, but hostility will definitely appear.

6.

Fear of the new, incomprehensible, unusual. As a rule, the actions of a clown are unpredictable, it is impossible to guess what he will do next, this makes you treat him with caution. What if the next action turns out to be dangerous?

But, like any fears, you can and even need to get rid of coulrophobia. You can, of course, refuse the circus and watching films with clowns, but there is no guarantee that you will not meet them in real life.

In the most difficult situations, only a psychologist can help. But if a child has a slight antipathy, then you can show him a cartoon or performances of good clowns on TV or in the circus, where they are exclusively positive characters.

When preparing a trip to the circus, you need to pay attention to the fact that the clown is truly a professional in his field, so that his program is designed for spectators of all ages. Another option: one of the parents can dress up as a clown and chat with the baby. This will also help adults understand that behind the mask there is an ordinary person with his own life and worries.

Get only positive emotions and don’t watch horror films at night!

Tags: psychological health, mental health, psychological help, pathology, mental disorder, jokes, psyche, psychological problems, circus, fear, humor, health

What is the fear of dolls called? Pediophobia - fear of dolls

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Psychology knows various phobias. One of them is the fear of dolls.

Neuroses caused by dolls

1. Pediophobia is the name given to fear provoked by toys. People suffering from pediophobia fear that the doll might suffocate them during sleep or cause a heart attack.
2. Glenophobia is a neurosis associated with the fear of the gaze of dolls. A person becomes anxious because it seems to him that he is being watched. Fear of mannequins prevents you from visiting clothing stores. Glenophobia affects both children and adults.

Fear of dolls can arise upon contact if a person enters a room filled with them. This could be a certain type of doll - beautiful girls, babies. Pediophobia is observed in women with a rich imagination. In men, this type of phobia is rare and has a pronounced character.

There is another variant of the manifestation of pediophobia. Some people take a doll with them all the time because it makes them feel safe.

Causes

There is still no single concept about the causes of pediophobia. Sigmund Freud claims that all psychological problems originate in childhood. Experts give several reasons:

• Fright. The child may not remember the situation that started it all. The stressful situation could be anything: a broken expensive figurine, a mannequin that fell in a store. Sometimes this is a real threat to the life of the child and his loved ones.
• Until a certain age, the line between living and nonliving was not formed. A dummy with pronounced human features is perceived as a threat. Realistic mannequins, wax figures, humanoid dolls can cause anxiety in a small child because they are too similar to real people. It is worth emphasizing the wisdom of our ancestors, who gave small children toys without a face or with poorly drawn eyes.
• For an impressionable child, it is enough to watch a film where evil spirits inhabit children’s toy objects, so that later they will be afraid to be alone in the room. Horror and suffering are excellent reasons for problems to arise. The image of a toy is associated in a child with good feelings, but here are bloody fairy tales that are harmful to the fragile child’s psyche. Even adults predisposed to suspiciousness should not watch films where dolls become tools in the hands of evil. The list of films makes you shudder: “Child’s Play,” “Bloody Dolls,” “Bad Pinocchio.” Looking at such a “masterpiece” at night has a chance of triggering neurosis.

It's fear of crowds. Causes

Fear of crowds is a fear that always has a logical basis and illogical manifestations. The cause of fear is traumatic events or attitudes (for example, in childhood, when forming a personality, the child was told that he was incompetent). The manifestation of the first symptoms of demophobia is delayed: panic gradually develops from slight nervousness into a real attack.

Prerequisites for the development of phobia:

• childhood trauma;
• a consequence of the development of a mental disorder;
• instability (difficult social or housing conditions);
• low self-esteem.

For a victim of demophobia, being afraid of a crowd means “showing the instinct of self-preservation.” The patient is not aware of the true influence of fear. For him, the body’s protective reaction is natural and necessary. Patients justify their own behavior and defend the right to escape in difficult psychological conditions.

Events with large crowds of people are a reason to develop fear. Through a panic attack and other symptoms of a phobia, a person relieves excessive stress and finds temporary relief.

Causes of childhood demophobia

The fear of big events in adolescence only intensifies: a personality that has not yet formed cannot find its own place in society. Demophobia becomes a reason for escape, an excuse for a teenager who does not find a common language with his peers.

If the causes of demophobia are violence, then the person identifies those around him as ill-wishers, rapists, sadists who want to cause even greater harm to the victim. Seizures become an alarming signal, an incorrect defensive reaction. The more a person indulges fear, the harder it is to separate fear from manifestations of character.