Sinistrophobia: Fear Of Left Side And Dextrophobia: Fear Of Right Side
You probably have Sinistrophobia if you feel uncomfortable with anything to your left side or someone who is a left-handed. But then, you might also have Dextrophobia if you fear anything to your right side. God knows the science between this left and right. But one thing for sure, many people really suffer from these weird fears.
What Are The Cures For Coulrophobia
Just like treating other phobias, curing fear often isnt easy.
Cognitive behaviour therapy can be used to help sufferers change their unproductive thought patterns.
This allows them to distinguish that their intense fear is in their imagination.
Other treatment that is taken on by acrophobic patients includes behaviour therapy, counselling and hypnosis.
In some cases, anti-anxiety medication can be prescribed to help relieve the stressful symptoms.
What Does It Mean To Have Fear Of The Dark
Nyctophobia is an extreme fear of night or darkness that can cause intense symptoms of anxiety and depression. A fear becomes a phobia when its excessive, irrational, or impacts your day-to-day life.
This treatment exposes people to their fears repeatedly until the thing they fear, such as being in the dark, no longer triggers feelings of anxiety or panic. There are a couple of ways to be exposed to fears, including visualizing the fear and experiencing the fear in real life. Many treatment plans blend these two approaches.
Anablephobia Fear of looking up. Androphobia Fear of men. Angrophobia Fear of anger or of becoming angry. Anthropophobia Fear of people or society.
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Signs And Symptoms Of Achluophobia
Some physical manifestations include intense fear when exposed to a dark area. Other physical manifestations also include increased in heart rate, sweating, feeling nauseous, increased blood pressure, confusion and even passing out. Anxiety can also be developed in achluophobia.
Fear of the dark and separation anxiety disorder
Experts like Sigmund Freud came up with an idea that the fear of the darkness is a manifestation of a condition called SAD or separation anxiety disorder. In this situation, an individual will experience extreme anxiety when they are separated with someone from their homes or somebody where a person has a strong connection or attachment.
Talking Treatments For Achluophobia
Talking treatments or talking therapies, which include counselling, might be very effective at treating fear of darkness or Achluophobia. Talking therapies are very laid back treatments and physically non intrusive which involve talking to a highly trained and proficient professional about your thoughts, feelings and behaviour. There are many different types of talking therapy, but they all aim to:
- help you recognise unhelpful patterns in the way you think or act, and find ways to change them .
- help you resolve complicated feelings, or find ways to live with them
- help you make sense of things and understand yourself better
- give you a safe time and place to talk to someone who wont judge you
Talking therapies are in most cases the same as counselling, therapy, psychotherapy, psychological therapy, talking treatment. There is usually a very little difference between whats meant when talking about any of these.
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Psychopathology Life And Society: Coulrophobia: Are You Afraid Of Clowns
Psychopathology, Life, and Society: Coulrophobia: Are you afraid of clowns?
When we think of clowns, one of two visions usually come to mind. Its either the playful, friendly clown at your birthday party or the evil, scary clown that haunts you in your nightmares. The recently release of the movie It inspired me to write about an issue anecdotally reported to psychiatrists by their patients but rarely discussed in the psychiatric literature: coulrophobia, or the phobia of clowns.
What about treatment? There is no literature data specifically addressing the treatment of coulrophobia, although we can possibly infer that, similarly to other specific phobias, it would respond well to cognitive-behavioral therapy. Techniques such as systematic desensitization would probably be of benefit. Despite the curious and unique nature of this condition, we can surely state that patients experiencing enough distress associated with it should surely be encouraged to seek treatment and its importance should not be, by any means, minimized.
References
What Is A Phobia Of The Dark
In simple terms, fear becomes a phobia when the terror you experience because of it is so extreme that it detrimentally affects your life.
Your phobia could make you afraid to perform certain tasks or become overly anxious when visiting certain places. A phobia of the dark is no different.
Your scared of the dark phobia may cause you to have an irrational fear of the night, which may lead you to purposefully avoid outings with friends or loved ones after the sun drops, or to even sleep with all your lights on at night.
These extremely avoidant and otherwise irrational behaviors will only continue to grow worse if you refuse to seek treatment.
There are several fear of the dark names out there, all of which basically mean the same. Nyctophobia, which directly translates to fear of the night is the most well-known title for a phobia of the dark.
Other names for an afraid of the dark phobia include achluophobia, scotophobia, and lygophobia, all of which translates to the fear of darkness in some form.
For simplicity, we will be referring to a fear of the dark phobia as nyctophobia.
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How Can I Get Over My Fear Of The Dark
This treatment exposes people to their fears repeatedly until the thing they fear, such as being in the dark, no longer triggers feelings of anxiety or panic. There are a couple of ways to be exposed to fears, including visualizing the fear and experiencing the fear in real life. Many treatment plans blend these two approaches.
Implications For Insomnia Treatment
Dr. Carney says that this study could have implications for the treatment of insomnia, particularly Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.
A CBT practitioner might suggest a patient leaves the bedroom if they cant sleep, then return and try to sleep later.
However, it might not be so effective if theres an underlying phobia. Every time they return to the dark bedroom, the fear would come back, thus preventing them from falling asleep. So CBT would have to perhaps involve the treatment of the phobia first.
So perhaps if youve tried getting up and going into another room when you cant sleep, but find you still cant when you return, it might be worth trying out a night light to see if it makes a difference.
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How To Overcome From Nyctophobia
The most common way to overcome the fear of darkness is the combination of medical help and meditation. Those who suffer from panic attacks or anxiety due to nyctophobia should follow some strategies to overcome it and reduce the distress caused by it.
It is necessary to discover the factor responsible for fear. A patient should try to make him/her less anxious by doing meditation, which ultimately can help in good night sleep.
Try to slow down the negative thoughts and do not overthink at night. Focus on the positive perspectives of the nighttime where you can actually relax and have some me-time. Muscle relaxation exercises are also suggested as they help in relieving stress from the body. Apart from these, follow the prescription of your doctor and do as he guides to overcome your fear.
Tips To Overcome Fear Of The Dark
Avoid ideas like “monster spray” which only affirm in a child’s mind that monsters are real and need to be “sprayed away.” – Berkley James, pediatric sleep consultant
Fear of the dark is a normal part of development and one of the most common childhood problems plaguing families of school-age children. According to Dr. Jane Sosland, a clinical child and adolescent psychologist, nearly 30 percent of children have sleep problems and oftentimes, bedtime battles can last well past midnight. Without a good night’s sleep, children can suffer behavior and mood issues and have trouble concentrating at school. So, how can parents best support a frightened kiddo?
Discuss the fear. Listen carefully to your child, without playing into their fears, to see if you can identify a trigger. Nighttime fear might be caused by a fairy tale before bed or even a stressful event during the school day. Other times, the fear won’t make much sense at all.
“Just by hearing what kids are saying, helps them feel heard and validated, which can help eliminate irrational fears,” explains Berkley James, a pediatric sleep consultant.
Be Aware of frightening images. As kids wind down after a busy day and the quiet of the night sets in, they may begin to replay scary images in their heads that they saw in books, movies, video games or on the news. Pair those visuals with nighttime creaks of the house or a strange shadow on the wall, and you’ve got a wide-eyed kid at midnight.
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How The Brain Works During A Phobia
Some areas of the brain store and recall dangerous or potentially deadly events.
If a person faces a similar event later on in life, those areas of the brain retrieve the stressful memory, sometimes more than once. This causes the body to experience the same reaction.
In a phobia, the areas of the brain that deal with fear and stress keep retrieving the frightening event inappropriately.
Researchers have found that phobias are
Association Of Phobia Of Darkness With Sleep Disorders
The fear of the darkness might be associated with a condition known as insomnia a sleep disorder. A study was conducted on college students in Toronto, who suffered from insomnia.
The study uncovered that almost half of those students who had a fear of the dark had insomnia. The students response to darkness and light was measured by researchers.
Those who were easily startled had more trouble falling to sleep in darkness. Those who could sleep well and didnt suffer from the fear became used to the noises and slept soundly.
But those suffering from insomnia grew increasingly anticipatory and developed more anxiety.
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Which Is The Silliest Phobia In The World
Linonophobia: This has got to be the silliest phobia ever. A morbid fear of strings! I am sure, all the cats in the world do not have it. Euphobia: This is the fear of hearing good news. Now why in the world would anyone be fearful of that, beats me! Vestiphobia: Commonly known as the fear of clothing.
Tips To Overcome The Fear Of The Dark
Nyctophobia is related with a sleep disorder,like insomnia. The dark is something that scares most of the people. with darkness comes a loss of control. As humans, we are highly dependent on our sense of vision. When we lose our ability to see, it definitely affects our sense of control and power. Below are 5 tips to overcome the fear of dark:
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Causes Of Fear Of Darkness Phobia
Experts believe that Nyctophobia generally originates from a traumatic experience in the past.
As a child, one might have been left in the dark as a punishment. Siblings and friends might also be responsible for instilling the fear of darkness.
Movie, TV shows and literature depicting horror, blood, gore, ghosts and other paranormal activities that normally take place in absence of daylight are also often responsible for creating a deeply rooted fear of darkness in a childs mind.
Domestic violence, sexual abuse in childhood , car accidents and other devastating or traumatic events can also leave a child confused, scared and anxious. Teenagers and young children are known to react very differently to such events. One of the responses to such incidents could be a persisting fear of night or darkness, when the events might have occurred.
Most childhood fears go away as one grows up and matures. However, in some cases, the Achluophobia can persist well into adulthood. Such people tend to keep recalling these past events which they associate with the dark.
What Is The Most Common Phobia
7 Most Common Phobias & How They Affect PatientsArachnophobia Arachnophobia is possibly the most well-known of all phobias. Ophidiophobia Ophidiophobia is the fear of snakes. Acrophobia Acrophobia, or fear of heights, affects over 20 million people. Aerophobia Aerophobia is fear of flying and affects an estimated 8 million people.More itemsMay 30, 2019
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Is It Ok To Lie To Protect Someones Feelings
But before lying to protect someones interests or feelings, ask yourself not only whether you are lying to protect them, but also whether that person would believe your lie was well-intended if they found out. Even though paternalistic lies are often well-intentioned, if uncovered, they will usually backfire.
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I Know That All Of My Anxiety
There aren’t any monsters in my closet, boogie men under my bed, or creepers camped out in dimly lit corners. Yet, I can’t help but let it freak me the eff out.
Part of my thinking is very logical. Nothing good can happen when you can’t see clearly or at all. But I’ve also spent ample time in a therapist’s chair and psychoanalyzing myself, and I’ve come to the conclusion that at least one other valid reason for my fear of the dark has to do with not feeling in control.
When I can’t see while moving from room to room because I am trapped in the dark, I feel like I’ve lost control of my surroundings and the situation feels out of my hands. There’s no ability for me to achieve clarity and restore my sight. At least, it feels that way.
Sure, I could technically do a dance of feeling around for edges of the environment until I reach the light switch or doorwaybut the dark is also paralyzing when you are thiiiis frightened.
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Systematic Desensitization/ In Vivo Desensitization
Desensitization is one approach used to cure many phobic conditions such as nyctophobia. One of the given definitions from the online Merriam-Webster dictionary for desensitizing is, to make emotionally insensitive or callous specifically: to extinguish an emotional response to stimuli that formerly induced it.
Desensitization is a method used to treat people with self injurious behaviors, noise phobia, and injection phobia– also those with handwriting anxieties, agoraphobia, and driving phobia. Systematic desensitization, a common treatment procedure for treating phobias, is likely to be well suited to treatment of cases where anxiety inhibits self protective responding. Limitations to the procedure are found when there are behavioral skill deficits in the subjects response demesne There are different experimental ways for which the desensitization of something can be conducted. In-vivo desensitization is one method of treating nyctophobia. It is usually the next treatment approach therapists and clinicians resort to when imaginal-stimuli does not work on a patient.
Why Do We Avoid Eye Contact
For those without a diagnosed mental health condition, avoidance of eye contact could be related to shyness or a lack of confidence. Looking someone in the eye while speaking can feel uncomfortable for those without a lot of practice making conversation or who tend to prefer not being in the spotlight.
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Terrifying The Master Of Terror
But if youre spooked by clowns, youre in good company. Writer Stephen King, famed master of the horror-fiction genre and creator of the demonic clown Pennywise in the novel It, told the Bangor Daily News on Sept. 9 that clowns really can be terrifying.
King admitted that seeing a clown outside of the characters typical context, such as a circus or a birthday party, could be unnerving yes, even for him.
If I saw a clown lurking under a lonely bridge , Id be scared, too, King said.
Clown phobias aside, a typical circus or birthday party clown is unlikely to cause anyone harm. However, officials in Greenville are still on the lookout for people behaving suspiciously while dressed as clowns, and have announced plans to arrest and charge anyone violating standing city ordinances against wearing costumes and identity-concealing masks in public spaces.
Unless, of course, it happens to be Halloween.
Originally published on Live Science.
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Additional Information On Nyctophobia
If you or someone in your family fears of darkness, then they may have nyctophobia. Nyctophobia can become worse for some people as it can cause extreme anxiety. For them, seeking medical aid is essential.
If your fear of darkness is causing a disturbance in your day to day activities and in your ability to sleep, then visit a medical expert and stay calm during the course of treatment. This will help you overcome fear and have a good nights sleep.
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