Nyctophobia

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"Scotophobia" redirects here. For the hatred, fear or envy of Scotland, or people or things from the country, see Anti-Scottish sentiment.

Nyctophobia (from Greek νυκτός, nyktos, genitive of νύξ, nyx, "night"[1] and φόβος, phobos, "fear")[2] is a phobia characterized by a severe fear of the dark. It is triggered by the brain’s disfigured perception of what would or could happen when in a dark environment.

Despite its pervasive nature, there has been a lack of etiological research on the subject. The fear of darkness (nyctophobia) is a psychologically-impacted feeling of being disposed from comfort to a fear-evoking state. The fear of darkness or night has several non-clinical terminologies—lygophobia, scotophobia and achluophobia. Nyctophobia is a phobia generally related to children but, according to J. Adrian Williams’ article titled, Indirect Hypnotic Therapy of Nyctophobia: A Case Report, many clinics with pediatric patients have a great chance of having adults who have nyctophobia. [3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ νύξ, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus
  2. ↑ φόβος, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus
  3. ↑ Mikulas, William L. "Behavioral Bibliotherapy and Games for Treating Fear of the Dark." Child & Family Behavior Therapy 7.3 (1985): 1-7.
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