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Who's afraid of the dark? Plenty of people, both children and adults. But when does uneasiness at night or when the lights go out shift from something that's unpleasant to a clinical phobia?
While data doesn't exist specifically on how many Americans suffer from fear of the dark specifically, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) notes that an estimated 12.5% of Americans will experience some sort of phobia, defined as a fear of something that actually poses little to no danger, at some point in their lives.
Licensed clinical psychologist Kevin Chapman, Ph.D., founder and director of the Kentucky Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders, explains everything you need to know about nyctophobia - what it is, where it comes from and how to deal with it.
What is nyctophobia?
Nyctophobia, also sometimes referred to as scotophobia or lygophobia, is fear of the dark - either the presence or anticipation of it, as well as what you can't see through it. Sounds that can't be traced can also contribute to that fear, according to WebMD. Derived from the Greek word for night, anyone can experience the phobia, but it's especially common in children. It's one of the most common phobias among children, and may manifest through a child asking their parents to stay with them at bedtime or to check under the bed or in the closet for monsters. While most outgrow it by the age of 13, not all do.
Anxiety is the primary symptom of nyctophobia, but that can also show up physically as sweating, increased heart rate, shortness of breath, dizziness, nausea and other symptoms associated with anxiety and panic disorders in general, per WebMD.
"Nyctophobia causes significant personal distress and impairment in functioning," Chapman says, noting that the impairment "usually reflects that one or more aspects of the individual's life is disrupted in some way, such as not being able to sleep in the dark, drive in the dark or not being able to be in social situations that involve darkness."
How do you discern between an actual clinical phobia of the dark versus being a little creeped out to walk around in pitch-black at night? Chapman notes that the major difference is whether someone experiences "significant distress" and/or actual impairment to continue whatever they were going to do.
"A non-clinical fear does not disrupt one's functioning," Chapman notes.
Can nyctophobia be cured?
The good news is that nyctophobia, as with other types of phobias, are "among the most treatable mental health conditions in a relatively short amount of time," Chapman says.
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a type of psychotherapy that aims to change unhelpful thinking patterns, according to the American Psychological Association (APA). One of CBT's main tenants is facing fears, rather than avoiding them, and practices such as exposure therapy - spending time in dark rooms during the daytime and gradually working your way up to total darkness - can teach the person with the phobia that they're safe despite their brain telling them otherwise, WebMD notes.
Nyctophobia won't just go away on its own, though, experts note. "Avoidance behaviors may provide temporary relief but always backfire and contribute to the maintenance of a phobia," Chapman adds.