Fear of the dark in adults. Fear of the dark - how to get rid of a phobia? Create the most comfortable sleep environment

From time immemorial, mankind has experienced fears. They are associated with the instinct of self-preservation, with a sense of horror before something unknown, mysterious and inexplicable. These include the fear of the dark - a common phenomenon, often turning into a severe phobia. What is it and what are its causes? What can be the treatment of this pathology, and what is its nature?

Nyctophobia - fear of the dark

Fear of the dark in children and adults

Nyctophobia, ahluophobia, scotophobia - this is what is called in the psychology of the fear of dark rooms and the onset of night. The names come from Ancient Greece and became the basis for medical terms. Meanwhile, such a phenomenon is not considered a disease when it comes to children. Why? According to statistics, the vast majority of children under the age of 10 in one way or another showed fear of a dark room, which over the years could pass on its own and absolutely did not need behavioral correction. The fear of the dark in babies is associated with their imagination and thoughts that some kind of creature may be in the room. Often a child is simply afraid of the creatures he has invented, and a vivid imagination is played out especially strongly in the dark. This is rarely associated with a violation of the psyche and perception of reality, moreover, over the years, the baby will be able to overcome this.

Everything is completely different when it comes to an adult. In this case, doctors diagnose nyctophobia - an irrational and intense fear of twilight and especially night. The manifestations of such a disorder can be very different, but it is clear that this is a pathology that requires mandatory attention and help from specialists.

What is Achluophobe afraid of?

Under such a disease is meant the fear not so much of the dark as of the fact that there, in an unlit room, someone will appear or has already appeared. The fear of intense darkness often gives rise to terrible pictures in the mind of a person, which take on vivid outlines. The thought that there may be "evil" in a dark room horrifies a person and causes panic. As a rule, the patient is afraid of the unexpected, which may await him in the dark. As the condition worsens and the pathology develops, those who have such a problem may experience even more terrible fear and a desire to run away from the room.

Over time, the pictures become a variant of a kind of hallucination. Gradually, the strong fear of the dark in adults is aggravated so much that the patient begins to believe that there is something in the room and even begins to “see” it.

The subconscious in such patients is disturbed to such an extent that they cannot distinguish reality from their own wild imagination, and this causes serious psychological problems.

Some experts associate strong fear and fear of the dark with thanatophobia, the name of which is also borrowed from ancient Greek. In this state, a person is afraid of death, this leads him to severe stress. In particular severe cases the patient is afraid to fall asleep in a dark room, because he is afraid of dying right in his sleep.

In a dark room the imagination draws pictures of evil

What is dangerous disease nyctophobia

Fear of the dark and a phobia are somewhat different things, so if a person can cope with his fear, then this phenomenon is not dangerous. It's much worse if pathological condition does not allow a teenager or adult to lead a normal life. At nightfall, a person suffering from nyctophobia is afraid to walk down the street, and in a dark room he begins to have panic attacks, as a result of which harm is done to his health.

The danger of the disease in adults is constant stress, which is not in the best way affects the well-being of a nyctophobe. The result of regular nervous tension could be development cardiovascular diseases- stroke, heart attack and many others. Fear of darkness, from which there is no escape, can also become a trigger for the development of hidden diseases of the body. These include diabetes, joint pain unclear etiology, gastritis and even oncological diseases for which adequate treatment is not always possible.

Fear of the dark keeps a person in constant tension

Causes of Achluophobia

The appearance of such a disease is associated with many reasons. Below are the most common.

social reason.
genetic factor.
Individual features of the psyche.

If speak about social sphere, then most often, upbringing and the immediate environment in which a person grows and develops are taken into account. Such fear begins, for example, in a situation where a mother leaves her child in a room without light. Then anxiety may arise in the soul of the baby due to the absence of a loved one, which will be associated with fear later. Such an injury can worsen with age and turn into a serious disease.

The fear of terrible darkness, the causes of which lie in genetics, is formed in an infant in the womb.

If a pregnant woman is prone to anxiety, this will certainly affect her unborn baby and lead to the fact that in the future a growing person may develop this serious illness.

A special role is given to individual characteristics psyche. In this case, the fear of the dark is caused by the individual's perception of reality, based on his suspicious and anxiety-prone nature. Usually, people with an unstable nervous system, prone to breakdowns, susceptible and highly emotional are susceptible to the formation of a serious phobia.

How does a phobia manifest, symptoms

The peculiarity of such patients is that they try to avoid dark rooms in any way. Before evening, a nyctophobe turns on the light throughout the apartment, and goes to bed exclusively with a night light. strong fear He cannot overcome the darkness on his own.

by the most a terrible nightmare a person suffering from scotophobia is a power outage or failure of electrical appliances, so people suffering from the disease are always armed additional sources light: candles, flashlight or mobile phone with good screen lighting. In case of absence aids nyctophobes take flight, and if they can't escape to the light, they can suddenly panic and call for help until they get to the illuminated place.

Nyctophobia has the following symptoms:

trembling of the limbs;
heavy sweating;
panic;
rapid pulse and heartbeat;
headache;
dry, sagging voice or stuttering.

The patient also feels pain in the stomach, cramps, weakness in the legs and an increase in blood pressure.

The patient does not go to bed without a night light

How to beat ahluophobia

Like any phobia, this disease needs to be treated. If the fear of the dark has not yet turned into obsession and has not become a constant companion of a person’s life, then you can try to cope with this condition on your own. An excellent home therapy is pleasant music that you can listen to before going to bed if a person is afraid to fall asleep in a dark room.

You can tune in a pleasant way and with the help of imagination. Imagine something aesthetically attractive: nature, a green forest, an azure sky, or a boat slowly gliding along a transparent river surface.

If the fear of darkness on the street has not acquired obsessive nature, you can use meditation techniques that are great to help cope with panic. It can be a deep trance, during which your mind will let go of fears and be filled with something positive and bright. By adding yoga and asanas such as the lotus position, you will be able to overcome the fear of dark rooms and at night even faster.

But if you can’t deal with the problem alone, you need to contact a psychotherapist. You will be offered a variety of psychological techniques, among which hypnotherapy takes pride of place.

The Gestalt method also does an excellent job, in which it is possible not only to pull out his fears from the mind of the patient, but also to deal with their nature.

A psychologist or psychotherapist may also suggest some exercises to recognize and deal with fear. One of the most effective is the task “Draw your phobia”. The patient is offered to draw on paper what exactly worries him, after which his fear can be discussed with the doctor. Further, the doctor may recommend destroying the drawing, which will help symbolically expel nyctophobia from the patient's mind.

Conclusion

The treatment of any phobias, including the fear of dark rooms, streets, is not an easy task, but it is worth the effort, because thanks to competent therapy, you can get rid of obsessive fear dark room. You can not even doubt that after treatment it will seem to you just a room without light, in which no one “frightening” and “terrible” awaits you. Everyone has a chance to defeat the disease, the main thing is to set yourself up correctly.

Every person, regardless of age, gender and social status have their own fears. Even a hardened adult man, who can easily deal with a gang of hooligans in the alley, may be afraid of something unusual. Fear of heights, spiders, closed space or water can hinder movement, leading to a panic state. Especially often people suffer from the fear of the dark. After all, darkness is the unknown, in which anything can happen. Our wild imagination can transform dark outlines into scary monsters, and barely noticeable lights can turn into the eyes of a formidable monster. But how to get rid of this fear? Is it possible to conquer the fear of the dark on your own? Let's try to figure everything out.

Why are we afraid of the dark

The fear of the dark is called nyctophobia. Over time, if psychological condition a person is not treated, it can progress. Such patients cannot sleep without light; any dimly lit room seems uncomfortable to them. But why does this fear arise?

Man is a social being. We are used to seeing everything, managing everything, controlling everything. If a person does not see well-lit objects around him, he falls into a panic due to lack of control and ignorance.
Human visual vision is designed in such a way that the eye perceives only whole objects. If for some reason we do not see the object completely, the eye subconsciously "finishes" this object. And the human fantasy is rich, so objects can be drawn as you like.
Since ancient times, man has not been accustomed to living in darkness. All sense organs are developed to work during daylight hours. During the day, a man hunted, got his own food, and at night he hid in a shelter. That is why darkness is subconsciously associated with danger.
Sometimes the fear of the dark is due to some events. Perhaps in the dark someone scared a person. Here you can often find fears that come from childhood. One careless phrase of the mother “Now a monster will come out of the dark room and eat you” can give rise to serious fears in the child’s head, which are very difficult to cope with even in adulthood.

Whatever the fear and whatever it is caused, it must be fought. You can't close your eyes to your worries, you need to act!

How to get rid of nyctophobia

First, decide what you are afraid of. During the day, in a calm environment, try to talk to yourself frankly - what exactly scares you? What will the monster grab you by the leg? Or will thieves break into your apartment? Or maybe you are afraid of an earthquake? Every fear has its own nature, and in order to suppress it, you need to fight its origin.
If you're afraid that strangers break into your apartment, be sure to close the doors to all locks. Believe me, you can’t break through such a defense. If you are afraid of earthquakes, read the emergency procedures.
Often, many fears are tied to otherworldly objects. It seems to us that the outlines of a hand with long fingers stand out on the wall, or we see a silhouette stranger in the doorway. Understand that these are all objects of your imagination. Most often, such fears arise after watching a horror movie. There is no need to watch such films if you suffer from nyctophobia. Especially do it before bed.
If you can't sleep in the dark at all, buy a nightlight. It does not spend a lot of electricity, does not interfere with sleep. But he creates light illumination so that there are no prerequisites for various kinds fears.
If you see a scary "mug" on the wall, try to remember it. In the morning, look at the place where you saw the frightening vision. Perhaps in the dark it looks like a pattern on the wallpaper or the shadow of a tree. In the daytime, fear will seem unreasonable to you.
To overcome your fear, you need to laugh at it. Look at parodies of famous horror films - they are incredibly funny and entertaining.
In order not to think about the bad, you need to unwind. Read a good book with a happy ending, talk to your loved ones, watch a good TV show. Music can help you calm down and relieve anxiety. Go to bed with your favorite songs and tunes in your headphones and the anxiety will disappear.
If strange noises scare you, try to deal with them. If no one at home can hear them, record them on a voice recorder. Sometimes the cause of strange sounds can be a simple mouse or creaking floorboards in a neighboring apartment. Knowing the cause of the sounds, the fear will disappear.
In order to have less time for fear, create comfortable conditions for sleep. The room temperature should be around 22 degrees. It has been proven that in cool air, sleep is much stronger and longer.
To calm down before going to bed, you can meditate, take a bath with a decoction of soothing herbs, use aromatic oils.
Do not think about the bad, occupy your thoughts with pressing problems. Think about what you will do tomorrow, what you will take with you on vacation and how you will spend the next holiday.
For deep sleep, exclude any possibility of daytime rest. If you sleep during the day, it will be much more difficult to fall asleep in the evening, at this time the fear of the dark just torments you. And you need to go to bed no later than 22 hours - at this time the body is most ready to go to bed.
If you become unbearably scared - sit on the bed and start breathing deeply. Large dose oxygen entering the body is able to activate vital processes and minimize fear.

These simple tips help you relax and sleep soundly all night. But what if a child suffers from nyctophobia?

Most often this happens with children who, due to their age, were moved to their own room. If this is your case, do not cut off everything at the root, do it gradually. Having settled in his room, the baby should not know that he is left alone. At first, read fairy tales to your child and stay with him until he falls asleep. Do not forget to leave a night light on at night so that the baby does not get scared when waking up at night alone.

Be sure to give your child a toy that the baby will take with him to bed. If the baby ran to your bed in fear at night, do not drive him away. Let me be safe under my mother's wing. You can buy a special night light with stars and the moon for your child in the room, which will distract the child from fears and anxieties. And do not make fun of the child's fears in any case. You are the most close person for your crumbs, who, if not you, can he trust?

Fear of the dark most often occurs in childhood. If you do not treat him and do not fight him, he goes into adult life, often leading a person to panic attacks. If the fear grows and you can’t cope with it on your own, you need to contact a psychotherapist. He will find out true reason your fears and help you deal with your emotions.

Video: how a child can overcome nyctophobia

Darkness frightens many - with its secrecy, obscurity, potential danger. The fear of the dark is one of those that is prominent in the early childhood and can be found in different periods human life. What is its nature, how to deal with it and what should be done? Let's try to figure it out.

Nyctophobia or fear of the dark is a special emotional state of a person, manifested in an uncontrollable fear of the dark (night, dark time of day).

If we consider the basics of the appearance of fear of the dark, then experts - psychologists, psychiatrists or other experts - insist on the existence of not one single key factor, but a complex of reasons:

Genetic Foundations. The tendency to be afraid of the dark acts as a hereditary predisposition, passed down from generation to generation. Several generations of ancestors are forming images of terrible objects and characters that you can meet in the dark. “Figures” at the level of archetypes immediately come to mind - Koshchei, Babai, Baba Yaga. Under influence external factors, or internal conflicts, there is a manifestation of the fear of darkness already at the mental level as an obsessive one.
Physiological Limitations. The inability to perceive visual information in a situation of lack of light in dark time days due to the properties human eye. Because of this, a feeling of insecurity is born, especially when we are alone with ourselves - you never know what can be there in the dark, but it is impossible to see and protect yourself by this.
The unknown and the unknown- it is darkness that gives rise to these properties of specific situations. Then a person is lost in conjectures, what can happen in the next second, minute? Psychologically, such circumstances are not successfully tolerated by everyone.
Psychological trauma of the past. Fear of the dark, as a rule, arises from painful childhood experiences. A dog jumped out of the darkness and frightened, my mother left one (one) in a dark room and did not come for a long time. All this leaves a mark in consciousness and subconsciousness.
Feeling or feeling alone. In a dark room, when a person is completely alone, there is unpleasant feeling loneliness, abandoned personality and insecurity. This is a consequence of childhood impressions and unpleasant experiences.
developed imagination. Formed from early childhood, the imagination is gaining strength by the age of 3. With the onset of darkness, all objects acquire new outlines and unknown properties - this is how it changes human perception namely imagination as an individual property of the psyche. For the brain, imaginary dangers and obscure objects turn into reality and begin to exist.
Continuous stress in Everyday life - the disease of modernity. They force a person to be in constant psychological stress change the subjective perception of reality. Every little thing is thought of as a danger. The darkness also sees a personal threat, uncertainty and loneliness.
Lack of essential trace elements. An imbalance in the nutrition of an individual leads to a lack of some needed by the body trace elements. As a result, no minerals facilitating support emotional state at an optimal and stable level.
Fear of death as the root cause. As non-existence, death is always associated with dark forces and darkness. Perhaps nyctophobia is a consequence of a person's fear of death, getting rid of which can also overcome the negative perception of darkness.

Fear of the dark

Fear of the dark is a feeling of discomfort when faced with a situation associated with the dark time of the day or simply the lack of lighting in an isolated room.

An ordinary person, finding himself in the circumstances of an unlit area or a room without light, experiences only excitement and slight discomfort. A person suffering from the fear of the dark - a nyctophobe - has reactions of a different order:

a strong sense of fear, transforming into overwhelming horror and panic;
there is an emergency flight (perhaps with cries for help) in search of a source of light.

Nyctophobia manifests itself through attacks that occur in an individual when faced with a traumatic situation - darkness. Accompanied by characteristic symptoms:

abrupt changes in blood pressure;
accelerates the rhythm of heart contractions;
headache - has a sharp and pressing character;
spasms in the stomach area;
sweating or chills, slight shaking;
loss of voice, intermittent speech, stuttering;
weakness in the muscles (lack of tone), feeling of bending legs.

Accompanied by fear of the dark, changes in emotional sphere. As a result - dreams with nightmares, a feeling of depression after dreams. In behavior - excessive fussiness and impetuosity, a tendency to flee when faced with a problem.

In adults

The existence of fear of the dark in adults indicates unresolved problems of the past. According to statistics, nyctophobia is inherent in every 10th individual, which indicates its sufficient prevalence among the adult population.

Most often, adults try not to give out information about themselves that they suffer from nyctophobia. These “remnants of childhood” are ashamed, but it is not easy to survive them painlessly, because. they interfere full life adult and lead to restrictions. Calls for help come only in the most extreme cases.

The adult imagination creates frightening and frightening stories (associated with darkness), which are fixed in the brain and can lead to pathological disorders.

Such distorted ideas indicate violations in the emotional-volitional sphere of the individual.

In children and adolescents

Fear of the dark in childhood is even more common - 80% of the mothers surveyed put it in first place as the most common among their children.

Children's fear of the dark is subconscious; additional external stimuli are not necessary for its active manifestation:

It is associated not only with the frightening circumstances of the absence of light, but also with the fear of being alone, without love, without support.
Children are afraid to enter a room without light, fall asleep and sleep in complete darkness and in the absence of adults in the room.

AT adolescence fear of the dark has manifestations in individuals with increased level anxiety or suffering from inadequate self-esteem. Fear can arise as a reaction to violations of relationships with peers or adults, due to unresolved children's problems, intrapersonal conflict.

How to get rid of nyctophobia

General approaches and methods of self-correction for fear of the dark are focused on the following:

Identify the source of fear. "I'm afraid of the dark" is too abstract a definition. There is always that particular circumstance or object that a person fears the most. This should be determined - awareness of the fear factor will shed light on the situation of fear of the dark and allow you to work with it constructively.
Become a hunter. The inner attitude is important here. When a person understands what exactly he is trying to avoid, he can create ways active protection or even attacks. If he is afraid of insects in the dark, he can carefully inspect the illuminated room before going to bed, making sure that the situation is safe. You can also hunt mentally, forming a vivid picture of victory over the object of fear, repeating the victorious plot.
Build immunity from the fear of the dark. The creation of a positive personal atmosphere will help to overcome the manifestations of nyctophobia: building positive thinking, watching comedy and lyrical films, communicating with nice people.
For children, the technique of alternating light and dark will help. You can use "Puppet Hide and Seek": not children are hiding, but toys - some in a lighted room, others in a dark place (if during the day - with tightly curtained windows). Much more points are given for finding toys in a dark place. First, the child needs to play along - leave toys in a prominent place in a dark room.
Looking for support. To control the fear of the dark will allow its discussion in a calm atmosphere with close and understanding people. Fear of the dark can be a companion of discontent own life, then you should change something in it. It is important to understand what feeds fear - the other person, like a mirror, can reflect and suggest this.
Determine what exactly you need to strive for. An unconstructive approach to darkness will be defeated by a situation to follow - a vivid example from life or literature, how to cope with your problems, how to set yourself up for a positive result.

Separately, we should consider the method of fairy tale therapy, applicable for both children and adults. It involves the creation of special stories, where the content contains positive scenarios for overcoming the fear of the dark. It is important to invent a fairy tale together with a nyctophobe - this is how the object of fear and anxiety is clarified, the plot is laid with the maximum approximation to reality.

In history, storylines are obligatory, where main character at first he succumbs a little to difficulties, but gradually finds a way to overcome them, perhaps even in the most fantastic or comical way. You can embellish existing fairy tales or create completely your own, with unexpected characters.

What to do when fear does not recede?

Logically, seek professional help.

Specialized psychological help to counter the fear of the dark is focused on 4 areas:

Cognitive-behavioral direction in psychotherapy. Assumes individual approach when there is a study of specific manifestations and causes of nyctophobia in individual person(child). The client's fantasies and examples of irrational thinking (behavior) in traumatic circumstances are analyzed.
Game procedures as a method of psychotherapy. In the course of the game, the nyctophobe intentionally “faces” his fear, and the results of the construction of the game procedure suggest mastering ways to deal with oneself, suggest the optimal way out and outcome of the situation of meeting with fear.
Creative self-expression as a method of psychotherapy. The treatment of nyctophobia will be productive when used to work with negative experiences and fears of activities that involve creativity. Crafts, drawing, modeling will allow the specialist to better understand the client's condition, and the nyctophobe himself will better express his feelings, realize and work through them.
Immersion. The client "plunges" into the real situation, causing fear. Together with a specialist, a child or an adult enters the darkness and psychotherapeutic work takes place there. Here, a sense of trust and protection on the part of the specialist in the client's feelings is mandatory.

Video: Psychology. Fear of the dark in a child

Are fear of the dark and nyctophobia the same thing? Phobia - disease state obsessive fear coming in a threatening (phobic) environment. Attacks of fear are accompanied increased sweating, tremor (trembling) of the hands, feet, heart palpitations.

Fear as an emotion arises only when there is a real or imagined threat to human life or health. Distinguish between individual and common fears. As well as national, inherent in a particular nationality or people. A phobia is characterized by a high intensity of manifestation of the emotion of fear. According to Aristotle, fear arises from an imbalance in human relationships.

But when a person is uncomfortable in a dark room and he prefers not to leave the house alone in the dark, but does it if necessary, then this is a fear of the dark that has not turned into a phobia. Perhaps a person will live with such fear all his life. He will not seriously restrict his freedom, and on general state mentality is not particularly affected. Rather, it will be just one of its features. AT various sources under the phobia of darkness, the terms scotophobia or achluophobia are also used.

If we talk about children's fear of the dark, then a lot depends on the parents. Often adults themselves form fears with threatening phrases (don’t go there, it’s dark there, suddenly someone jumps out and grabs you) or punishments when they send children to a dark room, for example. Most healthy children have very rich imagination. There is no danger, the children themselves will come up with it, imagine, think it out, “grow up” to a frightening size. Especially, with sensory deprivation (when a person is deprived of the opportunity to use one of the senses). In the dark, he is unable to see. He is not knows that in the dark.

If a person is terribly afraid of the dark, it’s terrifying for him to spend the night at home alone, he sleeps with a “night light” and is unable to enter the room without lighting, this makes him feel bad even physically - he starts to feel sick from fear, his heart beats often, his palms begin to sweat . Then it will be a true phobia of darkness that needs to be treated. It interferes with normal life.

Nyctophobia refers to isolated phobias, ICD code 10 F40.2. This is a painful condition that needs serious therapy. Phobias arise in the background neurotic disorders, various mental illness or because of organic lesions brain. There may be other reasons as well. An attack of fear begins to overcome with the approach of night. The very fact of being in the dark causes even a state of horror (should not be confused with nyctophilia - human activity at night).

nyctophobia frequent companion neurosis and other neurotic conditions. It usually appears in early childhood. Therefore, the cause of the occurrence, or rather, the psycho-traumatic factor that served as the trigger, is difficult to identify. Fear in a phobia is difficult to critically assess. Why is a person afraid? Is he afraid dire consequences, or the very fact of being in a phobic environment. Or all together.

He himself can hardly explain it even to himself. Afraid and all. Therefore, it is difficult to deal with it. Reasonable arguments that in a particular setting - being not in a dark basement, for example, but only in a dark room, there is nothing threatening, have a bad effect on an individual suffering from a phobia of darkness. In fact, most of the time they don't work at all. It is sometimes difficult for a person to independently distinguish the true danger from the far-fetched one. Because of the fear gradually formed anxiety state. The cause of this condition is also difficult to independently explain to the person suffering from it.

Symptoms for identifying nyctophobia (are common to isolated phobias):

Expressions psychological symptoms and autonomic disorders are the primary symptoms.
The state of anxiety and fear is caused only when in a phobic situation.
Whenever possible, a person seeks to avoid being in a phobic situation.

You should not independently engage in diagnostics, undergo numerous tests via the Internet and try to “treat” for no one knows what or even worse, on the advice of “sorcerers” or other charlatan methods. It is wiser to consult a doctor if you feel that the fear has become overwhelming and limits the freedom of life and reduces the productivity of activity.

How to get rid of nyctophobia?

According to many psychotherapists, and even psychiatrists, any phobia is somehow “beneficial” to a person. Only he does not want to realize this benefit. With the help of a phobia, he hides his intrapersonal conflict deeper. This serves as a kind defense mechanism. That's why it's so hard to get rid of obsessive fears and phobias. Biological therapy is conditional. More important is the change in the behavior and life mode of the individual.

The behavioral-behavioral approach can provide successful influence per person with nyctophobia. It is cruel, but effective, to “push” a person with his state of fear. Only by experiencing fear and pulling it into the niche of conscious and critically evaluated phenomena can one cope with a phobia. As in the treatment of neurosis, it is more important to deal not with the symptoms, but with the cause that caused the onset of the phobia.

Since the appearance of nyctophobia is more often associated with childhood experiences, a large field of activity appears here for the use of psychoanalytic techniques and techniques. Some therapists consider the use of hypnosis justified here.

People suffering from nyctophobia rarely seek help from specialists. Sometimes they live with this fear for many decades. The likelihood of seeking help increases with a proportional decrease in productivity. Fighting your fears is an extremely painful process, however, like any process of psychotherapy.

Fear of the dark, but not yet a phobia. How to get rid?

If we are not talking about a phobia, but only about the fear of the dark, then you can get rid of it yourself. But even here the most effective method It's about confronting your fear. Recommendations for getting rid of the fear of the dark:

You need to answer the question "Why am I afraid of the dark?".
Find out in what situations you are afraid of the dark - at night on the street, in a dark room (any), perhaps you are afraid to be only alone in the dark, maybe the presence of other people calms you down. This will be a plus. Gradually, you will learn to be alone in the dark without panic attacks.
You need to imagine that you are alone (alone) in the dark, only where exactly, under what conditions did you find yourself there, what can expect you in the dark. as detailed and smarter Mentally analyze your feelings. In general, the more often the mind is connected instead of fantasy, the more effective the fight against fear will be.
Use breathing exercises for calm. Deep breaths and exhalations are useful, count aloud how many times you have done this. At least 10 times are needed.
It is useful to switch attention in a state of fear to other thoughts. It is possible at these moments to think about completely extraneous things - about work, loved ones, upcoming vacations, read a book, about anything, but earthly and ordinary. So the fantasy will turn off.

If we return to children's fears, then it is important to find out what exactly the child is afraid of. In children, the fear of the dark is often accompanied by self-doubt, shyness. May occur after exposure to a traumatic factor - divorce of parents, illness of loved ones, violence, forced loneliness, etc. Such children are often impressionable and emotional.

In conversations, children reveal their fears quite easily, if they trust adults, of course. This is easier to do with the help of projective techniques - ask the child to draw what he is afraid of. Children's fear of the dark can be overcome with the help of play therapy, art therapy and an unconditional benevolent attitude, without ridicule and evaluation like “you are a coward”, “you are already so big, but you are afraid of the dark” or the like.

When fighting the fear of the dark, a person is essentially struggling with his indefatigable fantasy and imagination. People do not like to admit their weaknesses, especially in front of relatives and friends. Therefore, they often hide or downplay the power of their fear. The success of the cure will depend solely on the person's desire to cope with their problems and the willingness to hard work above oneself.

Don't know how to stop being afraid of the dark? Stop being a coward! 3 effective prescription that will heal your nervous system!

Tell me, what were you most afraid of as a child?

For example, I was afraid of the dark.

I thought she was hiding great amount monsters just waiting for mom to turn off the lights to grab my leg.

Especially when I went to bed - I covered my head with a blanket so that, God forbid, even my toe would not peek out - because I was afraid that someone would grab this finger and start dragging me somewhere out of bed!

Are you familiar with this?

I am sure that many of my readers have experienced similar problems.

Sociological research confirms that the most common children's fear– fear of the dark, which has a scientific name nyctophobia.

In most cases, this phobia disappears with the growing up of the child, but sometimes it remains a constant companion.

If you are ashamed to suffer from childhood rudiments, then from this article you will learn how to stop being afraid of the dark in adulthood.

To get rid of the fear of the dark - we analyze our childhood

Once, in my student years, a fellow student invited a group of his friends, which included me, to the dacha.

The parents of the young man are quite wealthy people, so our party comfortably accommodated for the night without any problems.

My classmate Lida and I spent the night in the same room, like two single girls.

I sleep quite sensitively, especially at a party, so I immediately woke up when I heard a rustle.

Opening my eyes and adapting a little in the dark, I saw Lida, who was making her way to the door uncertainly.

I did not call out to her, so as not to frighten her, but after a minute I regretted my decision, as a wild scream broke the silence of the night. Turning on the light, I saw Lida sobbing.

Having calmed down a little, she told me that she was terribly afraid of the dark, but she was embarrassed to tell me about it in the evening.

She made her way to the exit, despite her fear, because she really wanted to go to the bathroom, but she screamed because she got confused in an unfamiliar room and accidentally touched the curtain with her hand.

To be honest, I was just in shock then, wondering how the night and the curtain can cause a tantrum in an adult.

After talking, we found out that Lida has been suffering from nyctophobia since childhood, having heard a lot of horror stories around the campfire from older friends.

And she chose because she wants to know how to get rid of your fear of the dark and teach others.

My classmate is still studying this problem, and here are the conclusions she came to.

"Fear, it's not behind your back - it's in your head!"

Why are people so afraid of the dark?

Most often, people are not afraid of the darkness itself, but of what it hides ...

Lida, studying this problem, tested volunteers with nyctophobia.

Research has shown what people really fear:

Unknown.

We are often afraid of things we don't understand.

The night is like an opaque box that hides many secrets.

We cannot use our eyesight to make sure that there is nothing terrible nearby, which is why we are afraid.

Monsters, witches, baboons and other fictional tormentors that mothers used to scare us in childhood, and now horror films continue to do so.

Quite real villains, which are really full in our hectic time.

We are so fond of broadcasting about them from TV screens and in documentaries, and in fiction, and in various programs, and even in news stories.

It would seem that with such serious factors impossible stop being afraid of the dark, but I guarantee you that for every poison there will be an effective antidote.

As you already understood, we replace the fear of something quite specific with the general “I'm afraid of the dark”.

I gave several common reasons, if you recognize your own in one of them, then heed the following tips.

If you are already afraid of the dark, because you are sure that villains will break into you at night, then it would be wiser to protect yourself, and not tremble with fear under the covers.