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What Is The Phobia Of Dolls

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Symptoms Of Doll Phobia

Overcoming A Phobia of Dolls I The Speakmans

Individuals who suffer this irrational fear of dolls they feel great anxiety or discomfort when being near them, when seeing them on television or imagining them . Therefore, fear and panic attached to anxiety are the main symptoms. In addition, like any type of phobia, the person suffering from this disorder avoids the feared stimulus, and performs behaviors so as not to have to be exposed to the source of discomfort.

The symptoms of phobias are practically the same for all phobic disorders, and they are the following:

  • Dry mouth
  • Loss of concentration and disorientation
  • Excess of sweating
  • Feeling of shortness of breath and hyperventilation
  • Catastrophic thinking
  • Increased heart rate and pulse acceleration
  • Intestinal discomfort

Automatonophobia: Irrational Fear Of Things That Impersonate Sentient Beings

Automatonophobia refers to an irrational fear of any object that falsely imitates a living, conscious being . Common examples include dolls, wax figures, puppets, animatronics, prostheses, and ventriloquist dummies.

Automatonophobia is an umbrella term and includes several more specific categories of phobias, including:

  • coulrophobia – fear of clowns
  • dry mouth and even
  • a full-blown panic attack.2

If any of this sounds familiar to you, refer to the sidebar for a description of diagnostic criteria for phobias.

Additionally, there are on-line screening tools available which can help you determine whether you need to seek professional help.

This Chucky Doll Could Give You Nightmares

The movie Child’s Play and its sequels feature Chucky, a doll with the soul of a serial killer.

The Clown In “Poltergeist”

In the 1982 movie “Poltergeist,” a family is attacked in their own home by terrors both seen and unseen. One of the assailants is a creepy clown doll that plays into every kid’s worst nightmare. It grabs the kid and drags him under the bed.

Fats the Ventriloquist Dummy in “Magic”

This classic 1978 psychological thriller features Anthony Hopkins as a mentally ill magician and ventriloquist who is the object of his malicious dummy’s control issues. When the magician attempts to rekindle an old flame with his high school sweetheart, Fats, his foul-mouthed, knife-wielding dummy intervenes.

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How The Program Works: Getting Over Phobia Of Dolls

It is all about learning to redirect your unconscious mind, which sounds like a lot but is easier than you may think. You know that Phobia Of Dolls isnt working for you. But the fear remains because, with even just a thought of dolls, your subconscious mind triggers fear and other negative emotions.

Getting rid of those automatic feelings isnt hard you just need the right techniques for changing your reaction to your personal set of dolls-related triggers. We are here to teach you on how to use the right techniques to vanquish the fear forever. Interested in putting these techniques to use?

How Can You Tell If Someone Is Lying By Their Eyes

Pediophobia: Understanding Fear of Dolls

The eyes: Someone who is lying might stare or look away at a crucial moment, says Glass a possible sign theyre moving their eyes around as they try to think about what to say next. The research conducted by Geiselman at UCLA corroborated this, finding that people sometimes look away briefly when lying.

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So Sure Were Afraid Of Creepy Dolls In Movies But Why Does That Fear Then Seep Into Real Life

According to Kate Wolitzky-Taylor, PhD, a faculty member in the department of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at UCLA, we start to associate the fear we feel in those situations with dolls in real life. Wolitzky-Taylor says, This consistent pairing of dolls with other creepy, scary stimuli may lead to experiencing fear or nervousness when confronted with a doll or an image of a doll. Learning is a big factor, whether itâs direct learning experiences, or vicarious learning through others. Theres even a documented phobia about the fear of dolls, called pediophobia. Although its so uncommon, Wolitzky-Taylor says shes never come across it in her years of clinical research or practice. Genuine pediophobia would be debilitating, where your fear of dolls would cause immense distress or impairment. So I dont have that. But they ARE creepy.

For those of you who have a fear of dolls, stay strong: Halloween is almost over! Then we just have to deal with whatever new creepy ass doll comes becomes the new hot toy this holiday season.

What Makes A Phobia Different From Fear

In the course of everyday life, the words “phobia” and “fear” are often used interchangeably. Dig a little deeper, though, and you will find a difference.

Ali Mattu, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist at Columbia University, joined Wednesday’s roundtable discussion on HuffPost Live to discuss phobias, which was part of a week-long series concerning mental health in America today.

According to Mattu, the difference between a common fear and an actual phobia boils down to two things: impairment and distress.

“Are these phobias — are these fears — getting in the way of the person’s life? Is it making it hard for them to participate in all their daily activities? Does it make it hard for them to get to school to participate in a job?” Mattu told host Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani. “You can have a fear of sharks, but if you live in Kansas and you’re not really going near water, it really doesn’t affect you too much. That’s a different story if you’re living in Hawaii.”

Catch the rest of the clip above, and watch the entire HuffPost Live conversation here. for Live Today, HuffPost Live’s new morning email that will let you know the newsmakers, celebrities and politicians joining us that day and give you the best clips from the day before!

Coraline Nomoall

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Mistaken For The Real Thing

Unfortunately, there have been occasions when reborns were so well crafted that they were mistaken for the real thing.11 Police have occasionally broken into hot cars to “rescue” abandoned reborn infants. More frequently, people have also cooed over a reborn out for a stroll with its “mother” only to learn it is art imitating life.

Reborn dolls first appeared in the United States in the early 1990s. Now also popular in Europe and Australia, the dolls have no sign of slowing down or growing up.

When Does Worry Become A Problem

PEDIOPHOBIA STORY: Fear of Dolls

Pediophobia is the irrational fear of dolls. Someone suffering from this disorder may find it extremely difficult to simply think of dolls, let alone be in the same room with one. Their fear of dolls may be so intense and intrusive that they may even experience panic attacks which may force them to be hospitalized. However, such extreme cases are likely to be outliers.

Throughout the years, horror films have wasted no time taking advantage of the creepy, uncanny look that most dolls have. This becomes blatantly obvious when we look at one of the most popular horror franchises in America:;Childs Play, which stars the horrifying murdering doll named Chucky. There have been dozens if not hundreds of movies made about possessed dolls who go on killing sprees. So, there is definitely a mainstream appeal to pediophobia.

This phobia is actually quite common, as far as phobias go. It is likely to be just as common as;aerophobia;,;cynophobia;, and;achluphobia;. Pediophobia is likely to affect children more than adults. However, this is not always the case.

Depending on the severity of someones pediophobia, they may eventually develop an additional disorder due to their intense fear of dolls. For instance, it is not implausible to conceive that someone with an irrational fear of dolls may eventually develop obsessive compulsive disorder or generalized anxiety disorder , among other disorders.

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Impacts Of Automatonophobia On Daily Living

Those who suffer from automatonophobia can experience significant impacts to daily functioning.

For example, some people are so debilitated by their fear of mannequins that they find it difficult to do their own shopping. Imagine being afraid of the display dummies in the mall!

Others are required to deal with practice dummies as a part of their professional training. Medical professionals often train with dummies when learning CPR, surgical techniques, drawing blood and doing spinal taps. They even practice on dummies when learning how to deliver babies. Some of the most advanced digital mannequins are designed to speak, blink their eyes, breathe, and even “die” if their quality of care is insufficient.4

In such cases, fear of dummies can potentially end a career before it really gets started.

But Why Do You Fear Dolls That Arent In Movies

You begin to associate the fear you absorb from specific fear-inducing situations with other dolls, even those that are seemingly innocent. This consistent pairing of dolls with other creepy, scary stimuli may lead to experiencing fear or nervousness when confronted with a doll or an image of a doll, says Wolizky-Taylor. Learning is a big factor, whether its direct learning experiences, or vicarious learning through others.

While few people have studied the specific fear of dolls, there has been research conducted on what gives us the heebie jeebies in general. In 1970, Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori coined the term uncanny valley to describe the discomfort that arises in people when they see robots that are very similar to, but not quite human.

At first, people respond well to robots even as they become more realistic, but at a certain point that changes. It usually happens when the robots are very close to being life-like, but then do something that is out of human character. Thats when you start to find them unnerving and possibly creepy. Basically, while we are attracted to just how similar they are to humans, we are also a bit afraid because they are different.

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Pediophobia: The Fear Of Dolls

There are different types of phobias, and some of these can be really strange . The hexakosioihexekontahexafobia or fear of the number 666, the coulrophobia or fear of clowns or turofobia or fear of cheese, are some examples. Another phobia that may seem strange is pediophobia or fear of dolls.

The dolls are adorable objects that remind us of childhood and innocence, but some people may suffer an irrational fear of these toys that represent the human figure although in smaller dimensions. In the cinema, some films have based their stories around these objects, sometimes possessed or possessed in their scripts.

What Does It Mean When A Person Looks Down And To The Left

I am 23 years old. How do I get rid of pediophobia (fear ...

If someone looks down and to the left they are accessing their feelings and when they look down and to the right they are having an internal dialogue with themselves. If someone says they were at a certain place at a certain time and you dont believe them you can always ask them a question about it.

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What Is The Extreme Fear Of Dolls Called

Some people are so afraid of dolls, they cross over into phobia territorybut thats very uncommon. Pediophobia, the fear of dolls, doesnt really conform to typical types of phobia, such as those involving animals, natural environment, infections, or injuries, according to Wolizky-Taylor. In fact, she has never come across it in her practice or years of clinical research.

To meet the criteria of pediophobia, an individual would have to be debilitated by a persistent, excessive, and unreasonable fear or avoidance of dolls to the extent of causing significant distress or impairment to live their day-to-day life. Being simply creeped out by them doesnt make the cut.

If you are genuinely scared by dolls and think you may suffer from pediophobia, Wolizky-Taylor explains that it is highly treatable, along with any other specific phobias. A treatment plan would likely involve exposure, which is gradual confrontation with feared stimuli, she says. In this case, it would mean slowly coming face-to-face with dolls. Someone might start by being in the same room as a doll, and eventually work up to holding a variety of different dolls of varying creepiness in their hands.

But if dolls just leave you feeling a little bit squeamish and uneasy? You might want to just say no when one of your pals suggests binge-watching Chucky movies.

What Is Automatonophobia

Among all the existing phobias, the automatonophobia is perhaps one of the most curious, but at the same time one of the easiest to understand. This specific phobia consists in experiencing an exaggerated and irrational fear of everything that symbolizes or falsely personifies a sensitive being.

That is to say, the person feels great fear towards entities or objects, both animate and inanimate, that represent a living being . These objects are usually dolls, mannequins, statues, etc.

When a person is in front of one of these objects a great anxiety and anguish response arises in her, which can lead to the person avoiding at all costs to find one of these objects in question.

  • Within this category of specific phobia other phobias related to them can be classified. These are:
  • Pupafobia or fear of the puppets
  • Pediophobia or fear of dolls
  • Coulrophobia or phobia and clown phobia

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Fear Of Dolls Symptoms

The symptoms of the Fear of Dolls are very similar to other specific phobias and will often include:

  • Turning toys around at night
  • Panic attacks
  • Breathlessness
  • Migraines and Headaches

Pediophobia Symptoms are generally automatic and uncontrollable and can seem to take over a persons thoughts which frequently leads to extreme measures being taken to avoid the feared object or situation, what are known as Safety or Avoidance behaviours.

Unfortunately, for the sufferer, these safety behaviours have a paradoxical effect and actually reinforce the Fear of Dolls rather than solve it!

Your Fear of Dolls may be the result of negative experiences that can be either directly or indirectly linked to the object or situational fear.

Over time, these symptoms can become;normalised and accepted as limiting beliefs in that persons life you have learnt to live with it.

In just as many cases, Pediophobia may have become worse over time as more and more sophisticated avoidance behaviours;and routines are developed.

The good news is that the vast majority of people who suffer with a Fear of Dolls will find that a course of Psychological Therapy will help enormously by helping to change the fundamental thinking contributing to the problem in the first place!

How To Overcome Pediophobia Which Is The Fear Of Dolls

Tobysblogs – Pediophobia – The Fear of Dolls

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The American Psychological Association officially recognizes only 100 phobias, but there are actually more than 500 of them in existence. Pediophobia just happens to be one of them. And this is not just some minor fear, were talking about. Its so intense, in fact, that it disrupts the sufferers life.

Anyone who has ever tried to conquer the irrational fear like pediophobia knows just how difficult the effort can be. Indeed, the seeming impossibility of it all leads many a sufferer to give up, allowing their phobic tendencies to take over their lives.

The good news for these individuals is that pediophobia can be overcome if it is approached in the right way. Following are five effective strategies for putting this unwanted fear to rest once and for all so that those afflicted with it can reclaim their lives.

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Unexpected Scene In A Paris Shop Window

The scene was so out of place amidst Paris’ bread shops, fashion boutiques, and quaint sidewalk cafés. Yet there it stood like an accident scene, begging the bystander to look for a moment too long. I stopped in my tracks and complied.

The object of my fascination was a shop window filled with more than a dozen male mannequins. How surreal. Together they cavorted merrily in their birthday suits. Frozen in time and space, they did chin-ups, waited patiently for their turns, and played chase. One even tried to fly.

Entranced by the weirdness of it all, I staredgawked even. Then I did what any good tourist would do: I took photos. After all, you just don’t get this type of thing where I’m from.

Although intrigued, I also found the scene bizarre. It was as if I had caught the mannequins in the midst of some kind of naked aerobics. But it all seemed so … creepy? Artsy? Over the top?

Automatonophobia : Symptoms Causes And Treatment

There are many stories created around the idea of perverse dolls, evil puppets and androids that threaten to end the human race . So the feeling of discomfort that many people feel around them is more than justified.

However, when this discomfort turns into terror or exaggerated anxiety responses we speak of automatonophobia. Throughout this article we will talk about this strange phobia, its causes and its treatment.

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How Do You Treat Pediophobia

Pediophobia can be treated in different ways.

Exposure therapy

Exposure therapy is the most common treatment for most phobias. It is also known as systematic desensitization. As the word implies, exposure therapy is a treatment where you get exposed to dolls in a gradual process. The therapy also teaches you techniques to deal with the anxiety you experience in the sight of dolls.

You learn breathing and relaxation techniques that can help you. The therapy will start with simple things like a photograph of a doll which you can look over and stare at then practice your relaxation techniques with.

Next, you can watch a video about dolls and then practice your breathing and relaxation. Eventually, your therapist will put you in the same room with a doll to see your reaction and if there is any improvement in your relaxation and breathing techniques.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy

Here, a therapist will try to identify the underlying cause of your fear and to help you unlearn the behaviors that cause Pediophobia. The treatment is centered on changing your thoughts and beliefs that influence your body to a flight or fight response at the thought or sight of dolls. Eventually, the therapist hopes to change your thinking and behavioral patterns.

Medication

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