Afraid of the Dark? Fear Not!

(Nyctophobia Case)

by: Ma. Sharmine R. Ventura

Some of us is afraid in the dark. This is a kind of phobia called Nyctophobia or Fear of the dark. It is triggered by the brains disfigured perception of what would or could happen when in a dark environment. (Source: google.com) Some are scared of dark places because of the ghost or any un-earthly element’s that can possibly appear in the dark place. Despite its pervasive nature, there has been a lack of etiological research on the subject. Nyctophobia is a psychologically-impacted feeling of being disposed from comfort to fear-evoking state. It has several non-clinical terminologies- lyphobia, scotophobia, and achluophobia. It is a phobia generally related to children but, according to J. Adrian Williams article intitled; Indirect Hypnotic therapy of Therapy of Nyctophobia, a case report, many clinics with pediatric patients have a great chance of having adults who have nyctophobia. (Source: Wikipedia.org)

     

Why do we have this certain fear of the dark?
     I tried to ask ten of my classmate’s if they are afraid when they are in dark places. Five of them answered yes. The reason why they fear dark places? It’s because they are afraid of ghost.
      When we are young, we used to hear stories about white ladies, dwarfs, fairies, lost spirits, zombies and many supernatural beings from the elders. And, there are also a lot of horror movies we watch. Those things that we hear and see on the television, which are all coming out in times of darkness, brought goosebumps and cause us to fear during night time or when we are on a dark place.
      But do you know that those supernatural beings are only product of our wide imagination brought by stress?
      Yes, they don’t really exist. According to an article I’ve read while surfing the net, our mind is capable on playing trick. Just imagine yourself inside a room, alone and blindfolded with some howling and creepy sounds. Surely, you will get afraid and think that there’s some supernatural being inside that room. The article also stated that, perhaps, in some of us, that capacity of our mind is more pronounced and they are more susceptible to hearing things or seeing things or drawing interferences. It is our mind that creates the ghost, irrespective of whether they exist in real or not. In that respect, ghost can only be a figment of our imagination. (Source: google.com)

How to cure Nyctophobia?
     *Hypnotheraphy
-helps to re-program your sub-conscious “programs” that may be part of your.
      *Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)
-NLP is basically the study and practice of how we create our reality. From the NLP viewpoint, a phobia is the result of your programs or “constructs” that you have created that don’t work very well. With NLP, these contents are revealed and re-program so that the Nyctophobia is minimized and often eliminated. 
      Energy Psychology
-Energy Psychology is emerging as an excellent therapy for fears and phobias because in studies, it is shown to be rapid, safe, effective and long lasting. It is based on theory and practice that has been around for couple of thousand years. It has the same foundation or roots as acupuncture, except in this case there are no needles used. (Source: phobia-fear-release.com)

      These are only some of the treatment we can apply to cure Nyctophobia. If you browse the net, you can still found lots of available treatment you can possibly use.

      

      We are not actually afraid of the dark. The truth is, we are afraid of what would be inside the darkness. We fear darkness because we fear the things that might occur in its time. In order to overcome it, we must always have a relaxed mind, positive thoughts and a great faith.
      We all have our personal fear’s, but if we are brave enough to face those fears, surely we can passed it with flying color.