Fear of the dark: the causes and methods of deliverance

Everyone at least once in their life had to experience an inexplicable feeling of anxiety in an unlit room. Some unnecessarily exaggerate the danger of darkness, and then fear gradually develops into a phobia. To begin treatment, it is necessary to understand the features of the appearance of fear in the evening and at night.

Panic fear of the dark is called niktofobiya. The word is translated from Greek as “fear of the night” (from Greek. Nyktos - “night” and phobos - “fear”). Skotophobia (from the Greek. Skotos - "darkness"), ahluofobiya and ekluofobiya - synonymous terms that mean an overwhelming fear of the dark time of day.

Most often the disease manifests itself in children. The world of night is associated with mystery, imaginary images, a nightmare. Subsequently, in most of the babies, the horror before night falls and passes completely. But it also happens that over the years, niktophobia only increases. 10% of the world's population suffers from a pathological fear of darkness.

The peculiarity of this phobia is that all-consuming horror is caused not by the darkness itself, but by the lack of illumination. Fear arises from the inability to obtain information about the surrounding space. Uncertainty forces to work the rich imagination of the person. In fantasy appear terrible, non-existent phenomena and objects.

A person suffering from cattle phobia has an incredible fear, even being in a completely safe apartment of his own. More often than others, people with high intelligence, innovative thinking and strong imagination suffer.

Often, people in total darkness feel discomfort from being able to collide with some object and nothing more. A phobia is different from the usual fear that anxiety gradually increases and turns into panic. With the approach of darkness, a phobic person sometimes has the following symptoms:

• tachycardia;
• gastrointestinal discomfort, stomach cramps;
• frequent urination;
• difficulty breathing;
• Strong headache;
• a sharp increase or decrease in blood pressure;
• dizziness;
• increased sweating;
• chill all over;
• chills, internal tremor, hand tremor;
• anxiety;
• fainting;
• hysterics;
• stuttering, confusion and slow speech;
• dry mouth, loss of voice;
• decrease or increase in muscle tone;
• weakness in limp legs;
• neurotic state;
• paranoia.

On an emotional level, a phobia can manifest itself in shallow sleep and tormenting nightmares. A man wakes up sharply in a cold sweat. At this moment, he is unable to immediately understand what happened. From fright and despair, physical activity and an overwhelming desire to escape somewhere appear. Subsequently, suspicion and nervousness develop.

A phobia can be beneficial: a person who is afraid of darkness is not inclined to take risks. Care and caution is manifested not only in the moment of being in a dark room, but everywhere. Extreme sports and drug use do not attract nikofobov. Such people have a well-developed instinct for self-preservation.

However, these are all advantages. The pathological state of fear often negatively affects the quality of life. Nightmares interfere in everyday life. Lack of sleep, fatigue and lethargy do not allow a person to concentrate and lead to distraction. There is a chance to earn obsessive neurosis that is not related to the dark time of day.

The man is afraid to move around the street in the evening. Unlighted room brings the patient to a stressful state. Regular fears, experiences, emotional shocks are harmful to the body. Possible exacerbation of hidden diseases. The development of diabetes, arthrosis, and oncology can be the result of constant nervous overstrain.

Fear of the dark can occur for several reasons.

• The genetic code is inherited. The ancient people were terrified by the onset of total darkness due to the possible attack on them by an enemy tribe or predatory animals. And in modern man a sense of self-preservation signals the brain about the approach of the most dangerous time of day - night.
• Vision in the dark is sharply reduced, a person begins to feel his complete helplessness and helplessness. Due to the loss of visual acuity, deterioration of smell, at night there is a danger of an accident.
• Almost all children are terrified of darkness. Worry in the dark begins due to the lack of a mother nearby. Childish fears can turn into neurosis. All sorts of scary stories about creepy night dwellers and teaching a child to fall asleep alone with the lights off contribute to this.
• There are parents who themselves inspire horror to the baby before night falls. By manipulating the child, they program it to be afraid of the dark. Bullying children with fabulous and mythical characters causes great excitement for those, fear of being left alone in an unlit room appears. Fear of evil spirits and ghosts begins, sometimes fear increases due to the appearance of sounds of unknown origin.
• Excessive parental care contributes to the emergence of cowardice and self-doubt, which contributes to the emergence of strong anxiety.
• Incomplete family causes a little man a sense of insecurity.
• In adults, nyctophobia is the rooting of children's fears.It is therefore very important to eliminate the disease at an early stage. Most often, fear of pitch darkness progresses over the years. There is a possibility of its transformation into a mental disorder.
• Fear of staying in the dark alone can cause abnormal fantasies. Imagination is designed to distort some things in the room. Rough imagination helps create scary pictures.
• Excessive impressionability from evening viewing of the criminal chronicle, detective story or horror film is reflected on many.. In low light, and even a small darkening of the overly susceptible persons, monsters and imaginary images begin to be imagined.
• Some associate darkness with non-being.. The fear of death arises because of its frequent occurrence in the dark. In this case, psychologists are working to eradicate the fear of death.
• The feeling of loneliness causes the need for the presence of a loved one. The proximity of the living soul instills peace and tranquility.
• Stress, nervousness, conflicts also often provoke a phobia. Trouble at work, lack of stable income, illness of relatives distort the mechanism of self-preservation instinct. There is a feeling of insecurity. A kid, a teenager, and even a person at a respectable age can experience fear of pitch darkness because of disagreements with close people that have begun.
• The lack of micronutrients in the body caused by the restriction of food during the diet, worsens the emotional health of a person and affects the appearance of nightmares.
• Psychological trauma may remain for many years after an unpleasant incident that occurred in an unlit room or in the evening outside. According to statistics, only 20% of those who have been robbed at night get rid of phobias over time.

The peculiarity of a phobia is the avoidance of dark places. The apartment of people suffering from a phobia is lit on all sides: the light is on everywhere. Unlit room signals danger. In the dark, ordinary objects are perceived a little differently. Scary pictures are drawn. Any rustling scares and causes a strong panic.

Sometimes fictional images begin to swim before my eyes, as in reality. Processes in the subconscious are so disturbed that pseudo-hallucinations occur. Failure to distinguish imaginary creepy pictures from reality can cause a serious mental disorder. Some have destructive behavior: flight or a wild cry.

Sometimes adults just in case bedtime leave a flashlight next to them. There are people who prefer to fall asleep to the sound of the TV. Someone is afraid to see the shadow of deceased relatives, someone is depressed by a sense of obscurity. All sorts of squeaks, rustling do not allow to sleep peacefully. Some listen hard to gnash and peer into the darkness. Others, on the contrary, try to squeeze their eyes tight and cover their ears with a blanket.

For cattophobes, the biggest tragedy is a sudden blackout or the failure of electrical appliances. In this case, they are pre-stocked with candles, flashlights and a mobile phone with a bright screen. In the absence of an additional source of light, such people flee. When it is impossible to find a lit area, they start to panic, shout, call for help.

In childhood, nyctophobia is much easier than in adulthood. We must not allow the strengthening of a child's phobia and allow it to transform into a serious disease. From an early age it is necessary to tune the child in a positive way, in every way to help maintain the good mood of the baby.

Fabulous and mythical characters often become objects of children's fears. Kids are very difficult to fall asleep because of their intimidation by monsters and horror stories. It is necessary to explain to the little man that in real life these monsters do not exist. They are the fruit of someone's violent fantasy. Impressive children should not watch TV at night.

Experiencing incredible horror, the child cries, wakes parents at night. In no case can you blame him for it and call him a coward. It is necessary to hug the baby, calm, support. If the little man is too afraid, you can turn on the night light or leave the door to his room open.

Modern psychology offers a lot of interesting methods of supplanting phobias with positive emotions.

Fighting the disease must begin with the appearance of the first symptoms. It is much easier to overcome children's fears. The more mature a person is, the harder it is to get rid of the disease. It is important for the baby to feel the tenderness, love, care of parents. Hugging and kissing a mother or father can be the best cure for all fears.

Most of all, the child is afraid in the dark of obscurity. You can stick glowing stars and crescent all over the room. Before going to bed, it is very important to ask the child to close their eyes first. After that, you need to get rid of the lighting with the words: "I turn off the light."

A good therapeutic tool is a soft toy or pet. Let the child sleep with his pet. In order to avoid the development of infantilism or excessive superstition in the future, some psychologists recommend removing the “defender” as soon as there is no urgent need for him.

It is necessary to find out from the child who or what exactly he is afraid of in the dark. After that you should draw a frightening object, lit by a bright sun and a light bulb. It is necessary to make a boat out of a sheet with a picture, which the child himself will send to sail along the river.

Sometimes the child does not need outside help. By the age of 8-10, the phobia itself goes away. As a preventive measure, the baby can be offered by touch to look for something in a dark room. At the same time it is necessary to have a cheerful conversation with him, joking, laughing. When the fear of the child can offer a flashlight. He must feel his complete safety in the absence of light.

It is possible with the child to move from a lighted room into a dark room. The action must be repeated several times. You can arrange a game with the on and off of the light, while you need to focus the child’s attention not on lighting and darkness, but on songs, clapping, jumping, funny words.

Children's psyche is plastic. It is easily treatable. Medicines are not needed. Phobia is easily eliminated with the help of creative techniques. Fairy tale therapy, sand lessons, special games make the child survive their fears, make sure there is no threat. Stories about your own horrors associated with the dark time of the day can also help the child cope with his phobia.

In this case, you need to give a person the opportunity to splash out their emotions and be cleansed from experiences. Art therapy, symbolic drama and some other techniques are aimed at correcting the situation. A timely appeal to the psychotherapist ensures the complete elimination of this phobia.

If the fear of the dark does not cause great inconvenience, then there is a chance of self-deliverance from it. To overcome a phobia can be as follows.

• Gradually reduce the brightness of the lighting, thereby weaning himself from the light. First you need to adapt yourself to twilight. Then, with the rise of darkness, it is necessary to find the moment of fear itself. We must look at this fear from the outside, analyze the objects or phenomena that cause horror. It is necessary to understand where the image originated in the head, to experience it. Fear is gradually dissipated.
• It is necessary to understand what looks threateningly at night in the imagination and challenge it.
• During the day, you should periodically relax for the onset of full relaxation at night. You need to learn how to exercise control over your body. Gymnastics breathing, based on the duration of exhalation, promotes relaxation. First you need to stand still, fully hold your breath. In ancient times, this was done so that predators would not notice. A quiet and long exhalation is made when the account in the mind to 8-10.
• Usually the fear of darkness appears when a person finds himself alone in an unlit room. You can invite a loved one for some time, and stay with him before the onset of total darkness, and then stay there alone.
• It is important to look at the darkness completely from the other side: night time allows a person to enjoy a deep sleep and rest.

When the situation gets out of control, you should seek help from a qualified specialist. Sleeping with the lights on does not solve the problem. He only delays her decision. It should be remembered: the darker the room, the deeper the sleep.

It is difficult to correct the fear of the dark, which has arisen due to the personality characteristics of the individual. An adult should not be ashamed of fear of the dark, because a healthy sleep improves vitality.

Drug treatment is possible in the period of exacerbation, to relieve some symptoms. Drugs will not help to completely overcome the phobia.Soothing drugs and antidepressants protect against the onset of severe depression, but do not solve the problem. In addition, drugs are addictive.

A psychotherapist may suggest hypnotic sessions. A phobic patient is immersed in a trance for a while. The inclusion of the subconscious makes it possible to replace the terrible thoughts of the recognition of the unjustified fear of the dark time of day. This method will be relevant only for those individuals who are well tolerated in hypnosis.

Hypnosis corrects the psyche, "puts" it in the right direction. Upon completion of the hypnosis course, fears are dispelled, the phobia is supplanted by positive thoughts:

• there is no sharp reaction to the approach of the night;
• man realizes that there is nothing terrible in the dark;
• mental state is gradually restored;
• the fear of the appearance of mysterious shadows and unknown phenomena in an unlit room disappears.

The result of therapy is very long. However, for each client you need to “pick up your key”, and the task of the therapist is to help the patient. Otherwise, neurasthenia only increases, there is a likelihood of the formation of associated phobias, not associated with the fear of darkness. If this happens, the psychotherapist prescribes different drugs.

There are special trainings that teach you to relax, bring your breathing back to normal and control your emotions. Initially, a phobic person must answer a number of questions:

• when I began to be afraid of my fantasies?
• What can happen if I fall asleep with the lights off?
• Why am I worried and how to eliminate it?
• why am I afraid of this particular creature?
• what happens to me if i fall asleep?
• Can I overcome fear on my own?

Before bed, you need to visualize your dream, remember the pleasant moments of life. All your thoughts need to be sent in a positive direction. It would be nice in a comfortable position, with eyes closed and under calm music to recode negative associations to positive. It is desirable at these moments to represent the expanse of the azure sea, crumbly golden sand, blue sky, green bushes and trees, beautiful flowers.