Lygophobia- Fear of darkness
One of the more common fears in people which generally tends to begin and end in childhood is the fear of the dark. Not knowing what is out there and the various sounds that are happening around us can cause a considerable amount of discomfort for an individual. I say that this begins and ends generally in childhood as this is the type of fear that a person tends to “grow out of “. However, it is possible for a person not to grow out of this fear. There are several reasons why this might be the case. Having experienced a particular trauma in the darkness can be a causative factor to this fear. Also, people who do not like to be alone may also experience an extreme fear of the darkness as the darkness represents loneliness.
The fear of darkness is known as Lygophobia. It is also known as nyctophobia, Achluophobia and Scotophobia. This can be a particularly embarrassing phobia for adults to talk about. Despite Lygophobia is not nearly as uncommon as sufferers think.
Hypno-Psychotherapy can help sufferers to overcome this issue using techniques such as regression to determine where the fear began and look for ways to help the client to rationalise the situation and to move forward.
