It is when the concern crosses over from being an inborn protective mechanism to disrupting everyday life that it is designated a phobia.
Causes
Nyctophobia, also referred to as scotophobia, achluophobia, and lygophobia, may be evolutionary in nature, as many predators hunt at night. The fear may not be related to darkness itself but unknown dangers hidden in the darkness (which is why horror and suspense movies often use darkness as a way to scare viewers). Some psychoanalytic writers believe that fear of the dark may be related to separation anxiety from a primary attachment figure, a phenomenon that is detailed further in a 2014 analysis on attachment and fear arousal published in the journal Psychoanalytic Dialogues.
Symptoms and Diagnosis
Symptoms of nyctophobia vary from person to person and according to the severity of a particular case. In general, symptoms of nyctophobia include:
Becoming nervous in any darkened environmentBeing reluctant to go out at nightExperiencing physiological symptoms, including an increased heart rate, sweating, visible shaking, and even feeling ill when forced to spend time in the darkNeed to sleep with a night light
Symptoms of more severe cases of nyctophobia include:
Attempting to run away from dark roomsBecoming angry or defensive if anyone tries to encourage you to spend time in the darkCompulsively staying indoors at night
Nyctophobia has some diagnostic criteria that are common to all phobias, which distinguishes them from simple fears.
Treatment for Nyctophobia
The goal of therapy is to challenge fearful beliefs about the dark and reduce the severity of symptoms one experiences due to that fear. The treatment plan your therapist suggests for you or your child may include:
Exposure to the dark in small, incremental, non-threatening doses in a process called desensitization (this should only be done under professional supervision)One-on-one talk therapyLearning relaxation techniques, such as deep breathing
