What it’s like to have them and what to avoid this Halloween
Sweating. You feel your heart beating, like someone is walking inside your chest wearing steel-toed boots. Faster. Sweat drips from your hairline. And breathing. Everyone else is breathing normally, but you’re breathing loudly. And quickly. And can they hear you? You might puke. Your eyes can’t focus. You need to leave and you don’t know why. But this happens every time you see a spider. Or take off in an airplane. Or speak in front of an audience. You have a phobia—an irrational fear—and you are not alone.
Halloween festivities often bring out the things that scare some people the most. Thanksgiving leftovers are long finished, photogenic leaves blow off of the trees, and a cold autumn wind brings out cobweb decorations, fake blood, and clown masks as October comes to a close. The scariest experience of the season for some, however, is having an uncontrollable conflict within their own mind.
“…agoraphobia is a term that encompasses fears of places that are deemed difficult to escape.”
Phobias are classified as being byproducts of anxiety and panic disorders and can be broken into three major categories. Though haunted houses are meant to be kitschy and fun with their powdery fake fog and dark rooms, someone with a form of agoraphobia will shriek cries of legitimate terror if dragged through by friends. Characterized by an intense fear of public places, agoraphobia is a term that encompasses fears of places that are deemed difficult to escape.
Participating in a costume contest can be a live scene of horror for someone who experiences any familiarities with social phobias, as these fears bloom within people who cringe at the thought of a situation that may result in embarrassment or the negative judgment of others.
“…a costume contest can be a live scene of horror for someone who experiences any familiarities with social phobias…”
The third type of phobias—specific phobias—are described as intense fears followed by the sight or experience of something that poses little or no actual danger. Things such as snakes, loud noises, garlic, needles, and forests at night (just to name a few) are enough to take control of a person’s composure and send them into a convulsing fit of panic. Included on that list of specific fears is the black and orange holiday itself, Halloween.
“…intense fears followed by the sight or experience of something that poses little or no actual danger. Things such as snakes, loud noises…”
Samhainophobia is the fear of Halloween. Like Tim Burton’s stop-motion Jack Skellington, Halloween for some people is a weary nightmare, as the cultural theme shifts to all things spooky. Many bearers of Samhainophobia avoid sleeping alone during the weeks of plastic skeletons and zombies. The most influential trigger thought to develop Samhainophobia within a person is trauma experienced in relation to the holiday. Just the sight or mere mention of a wart-covered witch or empty-eyed ghost is enough to send a person’s mind into an anxiety-inflicted flight response as an involuntary protective measure against more trauma.
“Samhainophobia is the fear of Halloween.”
There are, of course, methods of overcoming these things; regardless of whether you experience a branch of agoraphobia, social phobia, or any other specific phobia. Psychotherapy and medication are the most effective forms of treatment for severe cases, but many people choose to confront their fears in an effort to desensitize themselves from the anxiety. This can be done systematically, taking small steps into confrontation, or by jumping right in the middle of the fear and flooding oneself with it as a way to prove survival. Anxiety-reduction training, such as breathing control associated with meditation, is highly recommended before trying these techniques. If you’re still spooked by jack-o-lanterns and bat cut-outs, hang in there! November is just around the corner.
Photo courtesy of Golly G Force CC 2.0