Last Updated on February 20, 2023 by Mike Robinson

What is Scotophobia?

Scotophobia is an irrational and extreme fear of the dark. It means staying away from places and situations that are dark. Scotophobics experience fears just by thinking about darkness.

Dark spaces or situations without light are examples of situations that can cause a person to become more alert or cautious. This is part of the development and evolution of the human species. As a result, we may feel some degree of anxiety when in dimly lit areas.

Experiencing anxiety does not imply the presence of scotophobia or a phobia of darkness. So, getting nervous or scared in dark places can be a normal and adaptive way for people to learn about themselves.

 For instance, when you go to bed at home, you get into bed and turn off the light. As an adult, you are expected not to feel anxious or scared in this situation.

Why Are Adults Not Afraid in the Dark?

Now, why do adults in situations like this not feel anxious? The solution is straightforward because people are rational beings, aware they are safe despite the darkness.  People do not need to be able to see potential threats because we do not associate our homes with danger when it is dark.

Some adults may experience anxiety in the dark.

However, if we change the situation, we will see how darkness can be highly unpleasant for adults. If the darkness appears in the middle of the forest when we are lost, our reaction may be very different. In this situation, being unable to see becomes a threat. A person in the middle of a forest cannot control what’s happening around them. They feel unsure and probably need the light to stay calm.

Thus, we see how darkness is an element that in itself can cause fear, nervousness, or anxiety because it implies a reduction in the survival capabilities of the human being.

All these fears we discussed in principle are normal, not scotophobia.  A specific anxiety response is present in people with phobias of darkness. This is a psychological change that needs correcting.

The dominant trait is the extreme demonstration of the fear felt in dark circumstances. There are other crucial components as well.

What Happens to Children?

Children may experience fear even though they are at home, which is a safe place if left alone with the light off. Children may be more vulnerable because of their limited logic and exposure to these situations. 

Children usually connect their homes with a sense of security. However, the absence of light or company may be enough to startle the child and cause them to feel uneasy.

Determining Factors for Scotophobia

For scotophobia to be present, the person must react with fear when exposed to darkness. But not every fear response is caused by a phobia like this one.

For someone to have scotophobia, they must have an intense fear of the dark. But scotophobia doesn’t have to be present when a person reacts with extreme anxiety to being in the dark.

Differences Between Scotophobia and Normal Fears

To be able to tell the difference between scotophobia and simple fear of the dark, the following conditions must exist:

1-Disproportionate fear

First, the fear produced by the situation of darkness must be disproportionate to the threat or danger of the situation. This can mean “extreme fear,” but more importantly, it means that the reaction doesn’t match the severity of a situation. The situation is not dangerous or threatening for the person. 

Additionally, fear must happen in all situations with darkness, but they are not particularly dangerous or threatening.

2: The individual cannot explain their anxiety responses.

The second main sign of scotophobia is that the person who has it can’t explain or make sense of their fear and anxiety. A person with a fear of darkness knows that his fear and anxiety about darkness are excessive and irrational. They know that their fear response does not match a real threat.

Also, the person can’t control his fear or even change how bad it is. So when they’re in the dark, their fear and anxiety come on without them being able to stop them.

Therefore, the person avoids dark situations at all times to prevent feelings of fear and anxiety.

3-The fear is persistent

Lastly, to be able to talk about scotophobia, this pattern of being afraid of the dark must last for a long time. That is, a person who has intense fear only once, can’t control it, and doesn’t match up with the danger of the situation does not have a phobia of the dark.

 Scotophobia is a permanent and constant fear. Therefore, a person with this disorder will automatically react with fear and anxiety whenever in the dark.

Symptoms of Scotophobia

The fearful reaction of scotophobia results from changes in how the body, mind, and behavior work.  In terms of the body’s physiology, being in the dark triggers a whole set of responses caused by the increased activity of the autonomic nervous system (ANS).

This increase produces a series of symptoms. The most typical are:

• An increase in the heart rate.
• Increase in the pace of breathing.
• Sweating
• Muscle tension.
• Loss of appetite and sexual drive
• Dry mouth.
• Weakened immune system.
• Upset stomach and headaches.

As we can see, these physiological anxiety symptoms are the body preparing for action (to react to a threat). This blocks unnecessary bodily functions in an emergency (digestion, sexual response, immune system, etc.).

 Mentally, the individual may exhibit various beliefs and ideas about dark situations and their capacity to handle them.

 The individual might start creating self-verbalizations or images about the negative aspects of the dark. Including devastating interpretations of the physical symptoms, he encounters in this kind of situation. At the behavioral level, avoiding darkness is the most frequent response.

 As a result, a person with scotophobia will try to avoid any situation involving darkness. If they find themselves in one, they will take all reasonable steps to leave the area to prevent anxiety symptoms.

Causes for Fear of Darkness

Seligman’s Preparedness Theory can interpret scotophobia. This theory says that phobias result from things that have actually been threats to the species as it has evolved.

This theory says that scotophobia has a genetic component because the evolution of the species may have made people more likely to be afraid of something (darkness), which may have been a threat to human survival.

 However, the general belief is that other factors are involved in developing a particular phobia in addition to the genetic component.

 Accordingly, direct conditioning from specific experiences, vicarious conditioning from learning through observation, and acquiring fears of darkness through verbal communication are significant contributors to the scotophobic condition.

Best Treatment Options

Specific phobias are considered psychopathologies that can benefit from psychological treatment. Therefore, psychotherapy is the primary treatment option for scotophobia.

Pharmacological treatment is not always as effective when an anxiety occurrence only happens in a few specific circumstances. Patients can go long stretches without evoking the phobic response.

However, scotophobia can be more crippling and harmful than other specific phobias like blood or spider phobia. The characteristics of the feared stimulus, darkness, is why this is true.

People are very likely to be exposed to darkness every day. Therefore, someone with scotophobia may struggle to avoid situations of darkness. Consequently, their avoidance behaviors may interfere with their ability to go about their daily lives.

People with this anxiety disorder should see a psychotherapist because psychological therapy can completely eradicate the phobia. Cognitive behavioral therapy has proven to be the most successful psychotherapy in treating scotophobia-related issues.

Cognitive behavioral treatment

This treatment for the phobia of darkness has two main components: exposure and relaxation training. The process works by gradually exposing the individual to darkness in small increments of time to start. Then increase the duration for each exposure. 

The main factor that keeps scotophobia active is the negative thoughts about the dark. So when the person is frequently exposed to darkness, they begin to be able to interpret darkness as not being a threat.

Also read: Agoraphobia: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatments

On the other hand, relaxation training reduces the anxiety responses we have seen previously and provides a state of calm so that the person can be exposed to darkness more easily.