Personal Fears/Phobias

The above piece was a quick experiment I conducted after reading through different cures for my personal fear i.e. fear of darkness. I'm the sort of person who sleeps with a night lamp and turns the light on before entering a room. My inherent fear of darkness has messed a lot with my mind since childhood and I feel it is time I understand and work with it. In the above test, I locked myself outside  in the middle of the night with a mere two candles and decided to see how long I could survive in the space without freaking out. Although I was very familiar with the space as it's the garden attached to my flat I couldn't survive there for more than 5 mins. and it wasn't the cold weather to blame for it!

A breif intorduction to my Fear:

Nyctophobia, or fear of the dark, is one of the most common phobias in children. In many cases, childhood nyctophobia passes as the child matures. In older children and adults, however, nyctophobia can be crippling.
Nonetheless, most people retain a bit of fear of the dark throughout life. This fear may be evolutionary in nature, as many predators hunt at night. Consequently, darkness is a frequently used element in horror movies and halloween events.
For example, at Universal Orlando's Halloween Horror nights 2008, Nyctophobia is presented in a unique way.The event'd theme is phobias and in the presented scenario, a photographer fears not only the dark but the images that are captured in his camera flash. He is forced to confront the images he sees in a technique called " Total Immersive Phobia Exposure Therapy"

Symptoms:
If you have a phobia of the dark, you are likely to become nervous in any darkened environment  You may sleep with a nightlight. You might be reluctant to go out at night. You will experience an increased heart rate, sweat, shake and even feel ill when forced to spend time in the dark.
If your nyctophobia is severe, you may attempt to run away form dark rooms and avoid being outside at night. You might become angry or defensive if anyone tries to encourage you to spend time in the dark.

Treatments:
In the Halloween Horror Nights scenario mentioned above, the photographer is physically restrained and forced to confront the images in his camera's flash. This is an extreme interpretation of an actual phobia technique also known as flooding. However, a mental health professional would never restrain the client and force him or her to participate. The client remains in control during real life flooding sessions.
Treatment for nyctophobia is often drawn fro the cognitive-behavioural school of therapy. Anti-anxiety medications may also be prescribed. The goal of therapy is to challenge your fearful beliefs about the dark and help you replace negative self-talk with more positive messages.
ref:http://phobias.about.com/od/phobiaslist/a/nyctophobia.htm