Fear of darkness in children Causes and treatment

¿Your son is afraid of darkness? ¿Delays the time to go to bed and say things like there is a monster hidden in your closet? Nictophobia or fear of darkness is one of the most common specific phobias in children. Between 6 and 12 years many children are afraid of darkness, something considered normal in those ages, but in some cases this fear can become phobia. A child can be afraid of darkness for many reasons but, generally, it is usually due to the natural emotion of fear. In this Psychology-online article, we will talk about the Fear of darkness in children: causes and treatment.

1. What is nictophobia or fear of darkness
2. Symptoms of fear of darkness in children
3. Causes of fear of darkness in children
4. Treatment to overcome the fear of darkness in children
5. What can I do so that my son is not afraid

What is nictophobia or fear of darkness

It's a Extreme fear of night or darkness that can cause intense symptoms of anxiety and depression. A fear becomes a phobia when it is excessive, irrational or interferes with the daily life of the person, in this case, the child.

Feeling fear of darkness usually begins in childhood and is seen as something normal in evolutionary development. Studies show that being afraid of darkness, often, is because we cannot see what surrounds us.

Symptoms of fear of darkness in children

The symptoms vary from one person to another depending on the severity of the case. The symptoms of nictophobia They are usually:

• Nervousness in a dark environment.
• Crying, screams, tremors.
• Decreased appetite.
• Sleep on a light on.
• Physiological symptoms include high heart rate, tremors, nausea, headaches.

The psychological symptoms They may be:

• Death thoughts.
• Fear of being attacked by ghosts and monsters.
• Check that there is nothing under the bed and in the cabinets repeatedly.
• Do not sleep just and try to stay awake all night.

Causes of fear of darkness in children

The fear of darkness and night usually begins between 3 and 6 years and is considered part of the development. At these ages. It is common to be afraid of ghosts, monsters, to sleep alone, strange noises ... when fear prevents sleeping normally. Causes anxiety or continues to adulthood, nictophobia can be considered.

Some Causes of fear of darkness in children are:

• A traumatic experience: Any traumatic or stressful experience related to darkness can be a reason for the child to be afraid of this. For example, if a child is punished in a dark room, there is very likely to develop fear of darkness. Similarly, another traumatic event that occurs during the night such as a violent act, abuse, getting lost or an accident can cause fear of this and sleep alone, since the child has bad memories and thoughts about darkness and his danger.
• An anxious caregiver: Some children learn to be afraid by observing their parents' anxiety about certain problems.
• An overprotective caregiver: Other children develop generalized anxiety if they become very dependent on their parents or caregivers, or if they feel helpless.
• Movies, horror books, ghosts .. , related to the absence of light can develop fear of darkness.

Treatment to overcome the fear of darkness in children

Some phobias do not necessarily need treatment, especially, if the stimulus that is feared is rare in daily life, such as snakes, but in the case of nictophobia it can affect the child's health and can lead to disorders such as insomnia.

You can consider the adequacy of Treatment to fear of darkness Yeah:

• The fear of your child generates anxiety.
• If your fear is excessive or irrational.
• If you avoid situations due to fear.
• These symptoms last 6 months or more.

The successful treatment rate for specific phobias is approximately 90%. Some treatment options are:

Exposure therapy

It consists of exposing the child to their fears repeatedly. For example, stay in a dark room until this situation does not trigger anxiety or panic.

Cognitive therapy

This type of therapy helps identify feelings of anxiety and replace them with other positive or realistic thoughts. For example, the child is shown information that being in a dark room. It does not necessarily have negative consequences. This type of phobias therapy is usually used as a complement.

Relaxation

Relaxation treatment includes deep breathing. It can help the child handle stress and physical symptoms related to the fear of darkness. In the following article, we show some relaxation exercises for children.

What can I do so that my son is not afraid

¿You do not know How to help your child overcome the fear of darkness and to sleep alone? Here we show you some tips:

Validate your child's fear

It is usual for a father when he sees his son badly, tell him that everything is going well. For example, when your child is afraid of darkness, we tend to say that everything is fine, nothing happens ... but this message does not match what your son feels, he is not right. Tell him that you understand his fear and explain the normality of being afraid of darkness can help him understand what happens to him. Tell him that darkness can be scary because we do not see what surrounds us and there plays an important role to complete what we do not see. You can tell you that when your imagination begins to work, light the light and thus verify that everything is fine.

Help him control

If your child thinks that there is a monster hidden in his room, instead of telling him that we will do something for the monsters to leave, we tell our son to tell the monster to leave. In this way, your child will feel in a position of control of the situation and, thus, feels that he has the power to control the situation.

Accessible light switches for your child

Allow your child to have accessible light switches make more control of the situation.

Healthy dinner before going to bed

Foods very rich in sugar or snacks in the afternoon increase brain activity. When a child goes to bed after having consumed sweets, his brain is more activated and can be stressed more with his fear of darkness than if he had eaten vegetables, cheese, dairy products ..

See television before sleeping can cause anxiety or stress

Anxiety is an overactivation of an adaptive response necessary for survival in a dangerous world, but this anxiety before going to bed can cause hours without sleep because the child is very affected by their fears and the stress caused by the Television, computer ... Therefore, before going to bed, the child should not be exposed to these activation levels.

Finally, remember your own childhood. Sometimes, the best information for our children are our own experiences.

This article is merely informative, in psychology-online we have no power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to Fear of darkness in children: causes and treatment, We recommend that you enter our category of emotional and behavioral disorders.