"Noctophobia is one of the most common childhood phobias. It is thought to stem from the decreased visual input we experience in the dark, leading to overactivity of the other senses, such as sound and touch." This can then trigger an imaginative response in children, leading to anxiety and fear.
Some children develop a fear of the dark without any specific reason. Others can point to a specific event, such as hearing a scary story, watching something scary on TV or living through a difficult experience, which started the problem.
Most kids will actually outgrow fear of the dark by ages 4 to 5, helped along with some specific strategies. But about 20% of kids will have a persistent fear of the dark. “It's not always so easy to unlearn those startled, anxious, fearful responses,” said Mabe.
All kids experience some type of fear throughout childhood, and fear of the dark is especially common. Fear of darkness usually starts between ages 3 and 6, when children are old enough to use their imagination but have not fully developed the ability to distinguish fantasy from reality.
If your child is afraid of the dark, they're not alone. “It's very common in children and adolescents alike,” says Thomas Ollendick, a distinguished professor emeritus at the Child Study Center at Virginia Tech who has dedicated much of his career to understanding fears and phobias in children.
Even though that sounds like a childish thing to believe, our fear of the dark is an evolutionary trait that we picked up to survive real-life predators stalking the night. Researchers have hypothesised that this innate fear stems from a point of human history when we were nowhere near the top predators we are today.
It's not easy on anyone but we've learned my family is not alone: research shows about 73 percent of kids ages 3 to 12 struggle with nighttime fears.
It is normal for young children to have fears of the dark and going to bed at night. Most children experience nighttime fears at some point during childhood.
If fears or worries are extreme or keep a child from doing normal things, it might be a sign of an anxiety disorder. Talk to your doctor if your child's fears: seem extreme or last past the normal age. cause your child to be very upset or have tantrums.
Dr. Basora-Rovira says there is no specific age that is “too old” for co-sleeping. She encourages parents to not begin practicing co-sleeping in the first place. And, if you are already co-sleeping with your child, to transition him or her out of your bed and into his or her own room as soon as possible.
Nyctophobia is very common, especially among children. Some researchers estimate that nearly 45% of children have an unusually strong fear of some kind. Fear of the dark is one of the most common fears among kids between 6 and 12 years old. Kids usually outgrow nyctophobia by adolescence, but not always.
Prehistorically, people would have been more at risk of being attacked by predators or by enemies when in the dark, he said. Through evolution, humans have therefore developed a tendency to be scared of darkness. “In the dark, our visual sense vanishes, and we are unable to detect who or what is around us.
Turns out that fear is pretty normal—experts say being scared of the dark is actually a fairly common thing among adults. According to clinical psychologist John Mayer, Ph. D., author of Family Fit: Find Your Balance in Life, fear of the dark is “very common” among adults.
We are born with only two innate fears: the fear of falling and the fear of loud sounds. A 1960 study evaluated depth perception among 6- to14-month-old infants, as well as young animals.
Being afraid of the dark is often associated with childhood, mostly occurring in children ages 6 to 12, according to the Cleveland Clinic. But it's not uncommon for the issue to continue into adulthood.
In some cases, the cause can be traced back to childhood, and in some, a trauma experienced in the adult years sticks on. The fear can arise from the anticipation of theft or medical emergency, or nightmares, or a frightening sleep paralysis episode, or phobias about rats lurking in the house.
Common fears include fear of the dark, burglary, war, death, separation or divorce of their parents, and supernatural beings (such as ghosts and monsters).
1. Arachibutyrophobia (Fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth) Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth. While the phenomenon has happened to everyone at one point or another, people with arachibutyrophobia are extremely afraid of it.