Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

Nyctophobia: Imagination and Interactive Process

Good Essays
341 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Nyctophobia: Imagination and Interactive Process
Nyctophobia is a fear very common in young children. This phobia can also be present in adults. Nyctophobia is the fear of darkness and it often passes as a child grows. There are causes of this phobia and treatments to help the child over come it. This illness has symptoms that can help you detect if you have nyctophobia. There are not many known causes to why this phobia has developed in children or adults. Two known factors that cause children to develop Nyctophobia are television and movies. Telling scary stories, especially if told while in the dark, can cause this phobia to occur also. Parents should try to prevent their children from watching scary movies or hearing scary stories to keep their child from having this phobia. There are not that many treatments for nyctophobia but some do exist. Psychotherapy is a treatment. All this is is an interactive process between a person and a qualified mental health professional. Hypotonic therapy can also help to get rid of this phobia. Those two treatments above are usually used for the most severe cases of nyctophobia. For the less severe a simple night light can help. Symptoms for this phobia vary. Some are palpitation (rapid beating of the heart), chest pain or discomfort, choking or smothering sensations, dizziness or lightheadedness, feelings of unreality, tingling in the hands and feet, hot or cold flashes, sweating, and trembling. These symptoms all fall in as either a physical, emotional, and/or mental reactions. Those who suffer from nyctophobia generally experience fast heart-beating, sweating, hard time breathing and overwhelming fright. The extremity of the symptoms depends on how severe the subject’s case of nyctophobia is. Nyctophobia should be taken seriously. Even though this phobia affects most children who have vivid imaginations, this does not mean that a child with a non vivid imagination is not as risk. People with this phobia are lucky that there are treatments to get rid of it. However, there may be people who will die with this phobia.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Explaining Phobia

    • 1099 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Phobias are very common. The Association of Psychiatry defines phobia as an excessive and persistent fear of a specific thing (American Psychiatric Association, 2012). Sally, who has a dog phobia since she was in second grade because of a negative experience has anxiety when she meets someone and is asked to go to a new place where she does not know if there is a dog present or not. To explain Sally’s phobia and how it was developed theories are used on how or why she developed the fear of dogs. Phobias can be explained by classical conditions, operant conditioning, and observational learning. Overcoming phobias can be done with extinction and cognitive theory.…

    • 1099 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Millions of Americans suffer from phobias and addictions. Classical conditioning and Operant conditioning are psychological processes in which a person learns. Webster defines a phobia is an irrational fear towards a situation, object or thing, which in turn becomes a strong desire to prevent or avoid it. Common phobias include claustrophobia a fear of tight and closed in spaces, necrophobia is a fear of dead things in general however it is used to describe the fear of corpses. People who suffer from these and other phobias go to extensive lengths to avoid these things in question, when a sufferer cannot avoid the situation they will become overwhelmed with anxiety during the encounter or said activity. Many people have phobias from traumatic experiences that have taken place at different points in their lives. Phobias can also be caused by life experiences. If someone experiences a traumatic house fire they can develop the unreasonable fear of fire. This occurs when similar conditions are displayed or fire is present in certain situations.…

    • 755 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fear Vs Phobias Essay

    • 972 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Nearly everyone in the world is scared of something, for example mice or needles. For many people these are minor fears. A fear is a rational response to a situation that possibly poses a threat to our safety. It is normal to experience fear in a dangerous situation. Sometimes these fears can be very serious and interfere with day to day life and create anxiety. This is called a phobia. Phobias are said to affect 11% of the Australian population.…

    • 972 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Systematic Desensitisation

    • 11148 Words
    • 45 Pages

    Specific phobias are among the most common psychological problems (Kessler et al. 2005); however, specific phobias are seldom the primary reason that individuals seek treatment (Brown et al. 2001b). Because specific phobias are rarely the focus of clinical attention, there is a common—though in many cases mistaken—perception that specific phobias are straightforward and uncomplicated. In addition, because the fear associated with specific phobias is typically limited to the phobic stimuli and rarely associated with pervasive anxiety outside of the phobic situation, some believe that specific phobias are necessarily less severe than other anxiety disorders. The clinical picture of specific phobias, however, can be very different. Individuals with specific phobias can incur serious life impairment, such as failure to obtain necessary medical care, interference with social activities, and lost time and reduced productivity at work. In some cases, the impairment is comparable to that seen in other mental disorders (Wittchen et al. 1998). In addition, phobias are sometimes associated with complex symptom profiles, including physiological symptoms, extensive coping and avoidance behaviors, and unhelpful or distorted cognitions. Therefore, a thorough assessment using multiple methods is important to evaluate the idiosyncrasies of each client’s presentation. The purpose of this chapter is to review the elements of a comprehensive, evidence-based assessment and treatment plan for specific phobia. It will provide an overview of diagnostic and clinical features of specific phobia, review the empirical status of commonly used assessment and treatment methods, and conclude with recommendations for assessment and intervention.…

    • 11148 Words
    • 45 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Have you ever been on top of a large building and were too afraid to look over the side? Have you ever climbed a really tall tree and were too afraid to climb down? I have, when I was younger I climbed a really tall tree and when I got to the top I looked down, I was too afraid to climb back down. What I was experiencing was a fear of heights know as acrophobia. Acrophobia (n.d.) according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is an abnormal dread of being in a high place: fear of heights. I believe that most people become a little scared when it comes to heights. There is nothing wrong with having acrophobia to an extent. It is a defense mechanism our bodies use to stop us from walking off cliffs. The problem is when a natural instinct becomes paranoia. For example, someone who has acrophobia would be scared, nervous, and or panic inside a safe environment like a skyscraper.…

    • 940 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Greg Ruth states in the “Why Horror is Good For You” “Fear is not the best thing in the world, of course, but it’s not going anywhere and we are likely forced to meet it in some capacity, great or small, each and every day.” It is evident that if it’s going to happen so often might as well be a normal thing. In the article “Scary Tales” by Jackie Torrance it states “Children need to be frightened. We all do. It’s an emotion that was given to all of us and it should be exercised.” It can be concluded that fear being an emotion given to everyone makes it normal. Admittedly it’s easy for people to consider that their fears are not normal and just dumb however research shows that an abundance of people share the same fear with…

    • 686 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Catcher In The Rye

    • 459 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Phobias: Is an unreasonable yet strong fear of a certain objects, class of objects or situation. Nearly half of all people report having phobia. Common phobias include fear of crowds, darkness, heights and animals such a snakes or spides. Phobia sufferers experience fear and a strong desire to escape whatever they encounter the phobic object or situation. Most people are able to aviod the object of their phobia cause personal distress or when aviodance of it interferes with a person’s ability to carry out normal activities, mental health professionals classify it as ‘ Anxiety Disorders “. These sufferes may need specialized treatment to overcome their phobias.Many phobias have a special names.The fear of heights is ‘‘Acrophobia”. Agoraphobia is the dread of open…

    • 459 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Medical News Today describes a phobia as “an irrational fear, a kind of anxiety disorder in which the sufferer has a relentless dread.” (http://www.medicalnewstoday.com, 2013) Phobias can interfere with a person’s work, social, and daily life.…

    • 1332 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Once, when I was five, my older brother had to watch over his friend’s pet tarantula. My older brother had the brilliant idea of showing me the spider and letting it crawl on him. Whenever I saw him I’d think of a gigantic and disgusting spider appearing randomly near him. He kept it in the cage most of the time, but since I was young I let my fears get the best of me, even if it was defanged. Many people suffer from irrational fears like being afraid of the dark, a certain animal, or even open spaces.…

    • 482 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Some people may even enjoy having a strange phobia, not forgetting that some fears that clients have are realistic but it is the reaction to the situation that can be addressed. Symptoms of a phobia include excessive or unreasonable fear, recognising the fear is excessive or unreasonable, the trigger of phobic response always causing anxiety and avoidance in whatever causes the phobic response. Physical and emotional reactions to a phobia include; shallow breathing and increased heart rate at just the thought of the possibility of encountering the phobia, anxious and tense, shame, embarrassment and possibly…

    • 2002 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Child Development Midterm

    • 1217 Words
    • 5 Pages

    A psychoanalyst believes that fears are from experienced events or the fear is a symbol of something that happened in the past. So if a child was afraid of the dark maybe the child was left at a young age and is afraid of being alone.…

    • 1217 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Describe Specific Phobias

    • 1543 Words
    • 7 Pages

    If you had a specific phobia, which are the most common, it could be a fear of heights, for instance, where you would have to plan things in your everyday life which others take for granted. It could be that your journey to work means you have to get on a bus causing fear of having to sit alone or speak to a stranger. You may have to cross a bridge or maybe climb stairs or take an elevator to a higher floor to your office which would trigger fear of heights. You would have to consider whether you could cope with your phobia if you couldn’t do those things on a daily basis. The fear is not always of the actual object but of some terrible outcome such as being knocked over by a car or falling from a…

    • 1543 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    My paper

    • 624 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Specific phobias: A specific phobia is an intense fear of a specific object or situation, such as snakes, heights, or flying. The level of fear is usually inappropriate to the…

    • 624 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    central idea: to inform people about the different types, causes and effects and the treatment of phobias…

    • 626 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Theories Of Emotion

    • 943 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The affected person tends to avoid direct contact with the objects or situations and, in very severe cases, any mention or imagery of them. The fear is very be disabling to their daily lives even in jobs and in hobbies. The fear or anxiety may be activated by the presence and the anticipation of the specific object or situation. Anyone who encounters that of which they are phobic will show signs of fear or express mental or physical discomfort. It can result in a horrible panic attack. In many adults, the person may logically know the fear and understand it is unreasonable but still find it difficult or impossible to control the anxiety. This condition can significantly impair the person's mental and even physical…

    • 943 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays