A sticky enveloping cold horror, squeezing the heart ... Many are familiar with the sensations that give rise to the fear of the dark. From what and when does this feeling arise, and most importantly, how and is it possible to get rid of it?
Childhood fears
A teenager’s fear of darkness is most often a childhood fear. They arise even at an early age, during periods of special insecurity. It can be generated by a loud sound in a dark room, and the movement of curtains, and the creak of the bed. This probably comes from the fact that the darkness is not clear, frightening. And it is not known what the enemy is and where he is hiding ... And what is not visible is especially scary, because the child’s imagination is limitless.
Actually, if something definite in the darkness scares you - a wolf, Babai or someone else, this is a rather simple situation, which is easy to handle. But if the cause of the horror is not clear, it rather suggests that the child is afraid of surprises. He needs at least minimal coverage, just to not be alone with his fears, otherwise it begins to seem to him that there is no salvation, danger is everywhere. In such cases, the child often cries, tries to detain parents in the room or come to them.
How to help
First of all, parents need to understand that the fear of the dark is a frequent occurrence, which means that many have already gone this way. Of course, each child is unique, but the treatment methods are more or less universal.
Like other diseases, this is easier to prevent than cure an existing disease. There are a number of ways for prevention, and for getting rid of fear.
The most common treatment is to portray fear. The resulting image must be destroyed: crumple the sheet, burn it in the presence of a child. Cut off all the terrible tentacles, tear off their paws, do everything so that the child sees that it is not difficult to cope with his fear.
If there is a character who caused fear of the dark, you can fight him with "his own weapon." To do this, you need to take as a basis a fairy tale or a story about it and redo it in such a way that the rest of the characters easily deal with the villain and celebrate it.
It will be clearer for kids if one of the toys will "guard" them. A teddy bear that does not stay up all night will drive away the most terrible monsters from the child. The main thing in this situation is for the baby to choose his "bodyguard", because you do not know exactly which animal will better cope with the monsters of the child.
It is useful to play blind-glasses or hide and seek in a darkened room - in such a situation, children can go a little further than fears usually allow. During the struggle, a great solution would be a flashlight, which can be turned on at the slightest sign of "danger." This will help the child fight fear, because he knows that he can “save himself” at any moment, and this gives him the courage to stay in the dark a little longer.
Prevention
In order not to think about how to get rid of the fear of darkness at an older age, you can try to prevent its appearance in childhood. You won’t be safe from everything, but nevertheless it is necessary to exclude the main reasons:
- Pay attention to the fact that the child is watching on TV. Based on the degree of sensitivity of the child, you need to give or close access to certain cartoons or movie scenes.
- It is necessary not to play active games in the evening, not to read new stories, not to watch new cartoons.
- In the nursery, but at night, toys should be removed so that in the dark they do not seem like terrible monsters.
- In no case should you laugh at other people's fears, cowardice, because ridicule can lead to a child hiding his problems. This in turn leads to increased fear, which will be very difficult to get rid of.
Culture of darkness
The attention of scientists, philosophers, philistines has long been attracted by darkness. Darkness, darkness, blackness are interesting in that they can find shelter in anything, including evil.
Western poets associated darkness with depression, danger, gloom. Most religions mention darkness in connection with something bad. For example, in the Bible, darkness is one of the types of Egyptian executions. In addition, this is a place of "crying and gnashing of teeth."
In the Qur'an, darkness awaits all sinners. Thus, for religion, pitch darkness is the ending awaiting sinners, a peculiar analogue of hell and complete evil.
Fear
The fear of the dark in medicine is called necophobia. Most often it manifests itself in childhood, however, there are not rare cases when throughout life there is a fear of darkness in adults. Psychology claims that such perennial insoluble problems can develop into a phobia.
As a result of observations, it becomes clear that although adults may be afraid of the dark, they still try to deal with this feeling. However, they try to turn on the minimum lighting at night, do not leave the house in the evening and at night, do not use transitions without light and use other tricks to help control the fear of the dark. In adults, this is carefully hidden.
However, in rare cases, necophobia can develop into a mental disorder, the treatment of which requires the help of specialists. Sometimes even methods require the patient to be hospitalized.
Causes of occurrence
In order to know how to overcome the fear of the dark, you need to know what caused it. The causes of this disease have been studied by scientists from different countries for several centuries. The result of these studies was a list of the most obvious reasons, but it is unlikely to date it is complete.
- Genetic predisposition. Scientists believe that any fear can be inherited. Nyctophobia is no exception - it is often at the genetic level that it is transmitted to descendants.
- The limited capacity of the body. A significant part of the information a person receives through vision. It is in this way that the brain learns about the danger and how it can be avoided. But if darkness thickened around, then a person is deprived of the opportunity to learn about what surrounds him. And this helplessness is the cause of fear.
- The unknown. Since in the dark it is impossible to assess the degree of danger and find ways to eliminate it, the person is tormented by the unknown. And it is precisely the desire to avoid this that makes a person evade meeting with darkness.
- Past. We all come from childhood, so various incidents at an early age can lead to the fear of darkness in adulthood. For example, scary stories about a dark room, punishment in a room without light - do you have any reason to get scared in childhood?
Treatment
No disease can be ignored, as is the fear of darkness in adults. The treatment will not be the easiest, but it is worth it. If you feel that the disease is running, it is better to consult a specialist. However, sometimes you can try to solve the problem yourself
1. Decision. Do your business regardless of fears. If you need to enter a room without light, you should do this. Scared to go out in the dark? Get a dog and then willy-nilly in the evening you have to walk with her. Fear will recede, and walking with a friend is not so scary.
2. Evaluation. Just imagine what the action will be. So, stepping into the dark, you need to know that the flashlight will turn on first, then you need to open the door, get to the car, etc.
3. Make a decision. Just decide that the time has come to stop being afraid. The time of fear has passed.
4. Analysis. Carefully consider where fear comes from, how real it is, how real the danger. It is necessary to imagine how you can get rid of it. Fear, defeated mentally, becomes much weaker.
5. Training. Courage also needs a "charge." You can overcome your phobias gradually. For example, to start at dusk do not turn on the light, going into the twilight. Then you can gradually advance in a dark room: turn on the light a second later than yesterday, allow yourself to go into an unlit room for a couple of moments, etc.
Conclusion
So why is man so afraid of the darkness for centuries ? What is lurking in its gloomy depths? Perhaps this is just the original fear of death, destroying the very concept of life? The sages of the Ancient East said that the most terrible evil is happening in daylight, and the most terrible darkness is in the soul of an evil person. And instead of constantly being afraid of the dark, it’s better to light a tiny candle.