NYCTOPHOBIA: SYMPTOMS, CAUSES, TREATMENTS - ARTE - 2024

The nyctophobia (fear of darkness) is an anxiety disorder, specifically a type of specific phobia in the night or dark fears. Phobia is a disorder characterized by the presence of clinically significant anxiety in response to exposure to specific situations or objects.

Nyctophobia is a disorder characterized by the presence of clinically significant anxiety that is produced by situations in which it is night, it is dark or there is insufficient lighting.

Symptoms

The fear or anxiety that occurs in these situations is disproportionate, maladaptive and the person suffering from nyctophobia is not able to explain their fear in a rational way.

In addition, this problem is usually very disabling since anxiety usually causes an automatic avoidance of the feared situation. If a person with nyctophobia is exposed to the feared situation without avoiding it, they will immediately present a response of anxiety, fear or panic attack.

Therefore, you will systematically avoid situations in which there is no light or it is very dark so as not to present anxiety. However, as soon as darkness falls and situations in which there is no light are practically inevitable, so a person with nyctophobia will often present anxiety states.

This anxiety will cause you a lot of discomfort and will prevent you from living in a calm and satisfactory way. But don't worry! Nyctophobia is a problem that can be managed and can be overcome if the appropriate actions are taken and effort is invested in achieving it.

How to overcome nyctophobia?

1. Don't settle for your fear

The first step to be able to overcome the fear of the dark is to realize that it is not rational and that it does not make any sense to continue with it. It is very likely that you already know perfectly well that your fear is irrational and disproportionate but it is not about knowing it but about convincing yourself.

You may think very often that your fear does not make any sense, that it does not happen to others and that it would be normal not to have it, but still you are unable to control your phobia when the light disappears…

Well, we are going to work so that your rational brain, which works perfectly and detects the fear of the dark as disproportionate, wins the game over your emotional brain that invades your body with anxiety every time you are in the dark.

The goal is for you to be able to control your emotions when fear takes over. To do this, what you have to do is constantly test your idea about the dark.

Make a list of all the evidence you have against the phobia, for example:

• What reason do I have to be afraid of the dark?
• Has the dark ever hurt me?
• Why are people at night in the dark and nothing happens to them?
• Does the dark pose any threat to me?

Ask yourself questions like these to gradually acquire rational ideas about the dark that are incompatible with your phobia. The goal is to make as long a list as possible that will help you think rationally about the dark.

2. Find your main support

Once you are clear that your fear of the dark is irrational and that you must change it, it is convenient that you look for those people closest to you that you want to help you overcome nyctophobia.

If you have people by your side who help you calm down when you are in the dark, collaborate with you to identify the phobia as irrational, and throw you a cable to complete the 10 steps that you will have to follow, everything will be easier.

It is recommended that the people who are going to help document what is nyctophobia and how it can be treated.

If they do, they will be able to help you in a more adequate way, they will know better how to refute your idea of ​​fear about the dark and they will better understand the reason for your fears.

3. Give your body rest

Another thing you have to do for your well-being and to be in a better situation to combat your nyctophobia is to give your body rest.

People who are afraid of the dark and are used to sleeping with light to avoid the dreaded situation, tend to feel tired and exhausted since their rest, lacking darkness, is much less restorative.

Sleeping in the dark and resting properly is vitally important to our well-being. In order to give you the rest you need and eliminate the light while you sleep, you can introduce a type of light in your bedroom that allows you to adjust its intensity, so that when you sleep you reduce it as much as possible.

4. Get used to it gradually

Likewise, the previous exercise should also help you gradually get used to the dark. To do this, the most practical thing is to gradually eliminate the luminosity of your house. For example, reducing the intensity of light in corridors and rooms.

The most useful thing about this technique is that it allows you to gradually expose yourself to the dark without feeling any discomfort. If right now you lock yourself in a room that is totally dark, your anxiety will appear suddenly, fear will take hold of you, and you will surely run out of it since the discomfort you will feel will be unbearable for you.

However, if this afternoon when you return from work the light bulbs in your house are a little lower than usual, you may not even realize it and you will be able to bear it without problem.

Maintain this lighting and after a few days lower the lighting slightly again. You see doing this exercise periodically so that your habituation to the dark is gradual.

It is recommended that the change in lighting intensity be carried out by your family members since this way you will be less aware of the new situation and you will get used to it more easily.

5. Imagine the darkness

The next step you will have to do is expose yourself to the dark but not directly, but with your imagination. By doing it this way, the anxiety you will feel will be less intense and you can control it more easily.

To do this, lie down on the bed or somewhere where you are comfortable and relaxed, close your eyes and begin to imagine dark situations.

Feel how you begin to notice that anxiety appears but at the same time you see remembering the thoughts about the irrationality of that fear in order to manage it. Do this exercise whenever you can to get closer to the dark and overcome your fear.

6. Stay in dark places

Once you are able to adequately expose yourself to darkness through your imagination, you will be ready to expose yourself live. In this case, it is that through controlled situations, you stay in dark places and try to control your anxiety.

To do this, choose a place known to you and that transmits security to you, such as a room in your house. Close the blinds and lights so that the darkness is total or almost total, and try to stay in that situation as long as possible.

When you enter the dark space, anxiety will begin to manifest itself, but your goal is to try to control it by repeating words that give you peace of mind and that reinforce the idea that your fear is irrational, for example:

• "There is no real threat in this situation."
• "I'm in a dark place but nothing is going to happen to me."
• "It doesn't make sense for me to be nervous because nothing bad is happening."
• "The room is the same as this morning, the only thing that changes is that there is no light."

7. Relax

As the main symptom of your problem is anxiety, it is essential that you know how to relax.

Perform relaxation exercises daily and especially before exposure practices so that, when you are in dark situations, you are more relaxed and your anxiety does not appear so easily.

A very useful exercise that you can do is the following.

1. Breathe deeply with your diaphragm, noticing how the air moves in and out of your belly.
2. In each inspiration you take, repeat a word or phrase that transmits tranquility such as “everything is fine” or “I'm calm”.
3. At the same time, imagine a landscape that transmits calm and serenity
4. If you want, you can play a relaxation song in the background with the volume low.

Do this exercise for about 10-15 minutes.

8. Make a behavioral contract

To strengthen the previous steps, it is very useful to make a behavioral contract. The behavioral contract, as its name suggests, is a contract that will specify your behavior regarding nyctophobia.

However, like all contracts, you must do it with someone, you cannot make a contract yourself. So, choose one of the people you have chosen in point two to help you throughout the process to overcome nyctophobia, and make the contract with him.

In the behavioral contract you can specify anything, but the ones that are usually most useful are the following.

• The intensity of the light in the rooms of the house: For example, during the first week they will have an intensity 4, during the second week

  intensity 3, during the third and fourth intensity 2, etc.

• The intensity of the light with which you sleep (in the same way as the previous step).
• The number of imagination exercises you will do in a week.
• The number of live exhibitions you will do during a week.

You must agree between the two of all these aspects, write them and sign them so that, later, you will comply with all of them. This will strengthen your commitment and motivation.

9. Look for positive emotions

An effective technique so that anxiety does not appear when you are in the dark is to try to make other types of emotions appear. To look for those positive emotions, what you have to do is very simple: do things or look for stimuli that are pleasant for you.

You can listen to music that you like while you are in a dark place and look for the positive emotions that the song conveys to you. You can also be in the dark (or semi-dark) while talking with a family member or friend, while watching your favorite television series or reading a book.

The goal is for you to be able to pay no attention to the dark and focus on the other stimuli that produce positive emotions.

10. Change your idea of ​​darkness

Finally, the final goal that you must achieve with all the previous steps is to change your idea about the dark.

You have imagined dark situations and you have managed to control your anxiety, you have been in places without light and nothing bad has happened to you, you have managed to feel positive emotions when there was no light and more and more you believe that there is no point in having this fear.

You have to do a new analysis exercise about what darkness is and realize that you don't have to fear it, since it is something totally normal.

References

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4. VE Horse. (1997). Manual for the cognitive-behavioral treatment of psychological disorders. Vol. I. Anxiety, sexual, affective and psychotic disorders i Vol. Clinical formulation, behavioral medicine and relationship disorders, II. Madrid: XXI century.