Fear may be an innate quality in humans, as people tend to feel scared of certain things to varying degrees and may appear irrational, such as being afraid of the dark. Even though darkness itself is not inherently dangerous, approximately one in nine adults in the United States is afraid of the dark. Why do people fear the dark and are there ways to overcome it? Experts have provided detailed explanations.
According to a report from the website IFLScience, if you feel fearful when you see a spider, or start breathing heavily at the thought of being stuck in an elevator, you are not alone in these responses.
Melissa Norberg, a clinical psychologist at Macquarie University in Australia, stated, “Over 70% of people have some form of irrational fear.”
However, irrational fears are different from phobias. Norberg explained that by definition, a phobia often causes distress or interferes with a person’s life. Fear must be irrational or greatly exaggerated to be classified as a specific phobia.
For example, if you are afraid of snakes, you may think you have ophidiophobia, but if you live in an environment without snakes, you may not actually have a phobia because snakes do not affect your daily life.
Nevertheless, if you move to a new environment with snakes and avoid certain activities out of fear of encountering them, your life is affected, and you may fit the definition of ophidiophobia.
It is evidently normal for people to react fearfully to animals, as our ancestors would not have survived if they had not avoided lions. However, phobias are different. Norberg said that overall, research does not support the view that our fear of certain things is evolutionarily beneficial. It is more likely a learned behavior.
By definition, phobias are irrational. Even though you may feel a genuine threat in the moment, objectively, you are not in any real danger. However, it can be challenging to convince yourself of this fact.
Norberg pointed out, “When people experience clinically significant phobias, they are not just afraid of objectively dangerous situations but also irrational situations and stimuli.”
For instance, some people are afraid to touch a plastic cockroach. Despite knowing it is fake and safe, their brains seem to struggle to believe it.
Regarding the fear of the dark, Norberg explained, “People find darkness frightening because it eliminates one of our senses, increasing the uncertainty of the situation. Many people feel uncomfortable dealing with uncertainty.”
Like other phobias, some fears related to darkness may be the result of conditioned responses. Norberg said, “In some cultures, children often sleep alone, and darkness may be associated with a sense of separation for young children. The combination of solitude and darkness may lead children to see darkness as problematic.”
The standard treatment for phobias is exposure therapy, which involves facing your fears, and it is considered more effective than other therapies.
She suggested that exposure therapy includes confronting the feared stimuli in a non-threatening manner and understanding that there is no actual need to fear them. So, for those afraid of the dark, they would have to enter a dark room alone at night without any monsters, ghosts, criminals, or dangerous animals. Repeat this process until you are convinced that darkness is not dangerous.
If this seems too frightening, a gradual approach can be taken. Norberg mentioned that one could first enter a dimly lit but not completely dark room.
She advised that during exposure therapy, individuals should ask themselves, “What do I believe will happen? How likely do I think it is to happen? If it does happen, how bad could it be?”
After completing the therapy, it is important to immediately ask oneself, “Did the feared outcome occur? If it did, how bad was it? How likely do I think the feared event will happen in the future?”
She noted that these questions can help people learn several things: (1) Worries rarely materialize. (2) Outcomes are often not as bad as anticipated. (3) They can cope if the feared event does occur.
However, the key to the success of this therapy is to continue facing the fear of the dark each time an opportunity presents itself. Norberg emphasized, “If there is a chance to face the darkness where there is objectively no harm, then go for it!”
She added that if you only face the dark in a therapist’s office, that may be the only place where you are not afraid, which would not significantly help you overcome your fear of the dark.