Nyctophobia or fear of darkness - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages Children as young as 2-3, may be afraid of sleeping in a dark room, entering a dark place or being alone in the dark. However, even senior citizens as old as 65-70 years can live in a continual state of anxiety especially during the night in spite of living in a crime-free area (Thobaben, 1997). This shows that the fear of darkness, is prevalent amongst all irrespective of age or gender
People suffering from nyctophobia have a wide variety symptoms. The only common symptoms includes fearing going into the dark or being surrounded by darkness. Besides these, individuals suffers from different physiological and psychological. Common symptoms includes anxiety, breathlessness, anxiety, perspiration, rapid heart beat, trembling and dizziness. In some cases these may even become severe leading to unconsciousness and fits.
Like most phobias, nyctophobia also has multiple causes. Basically, the phobia has been associated with psychological foundation however accprding to research conducted by George Devereaux, neurological conditions also have an effect on onset of the phobia (Devereaux. 1949). According to Devereaus, in the dark, the predominance of the peripheral rather than the dominance of the diurnal macular vision plays a pivotal role in perpetuation of the fear.
Heredity does not play a very major role in causing the phobia. However, if a parent has nyctophobia he/she may create a phobic atmosphere in the house which has an impact on other members as well. Even though some twin studies have shown that phobias may have some genetic impact yet some other studies have shown that the influence of environmental factors was much more.
In most cases children are not treated professionally since most of the children gradually come out of the problem. In case of children, parental guidance and counselling is enough to help the children ...Download file to see next pagesRead More