Have you ever seen a ghost or felt the presence of spirits around you? The supernatural world may be alien to you and you may not feel any fear, but the truth is that these types of paranormal events inspire fear and even terror. This is the case of spectrophobia or fear of ghosts, a disorder that can turn your life into a horror movie and, like all phobias, reduces your quality of life. And also like all phobias, spectrophobia can be overcome. With the help of our dictionary we will tell you what their causes, symptoms and treatment are.
What is spectrophobia?
Spectrophobia is the fear of ghosts, spirits, or specters. In general, to all those beings that can appear in paranormal contexts. And the truth is that we are not going to assess the existence of ghosts because the fear of them does exist as well as their corresponding phobia.
A fear becomes a phobia when it is irrational, generates a high degree of anxiety and conditions the life of the person who suffers from it. It could be said that it is not usual to meet a ghost and that it is not as if you have, which are everywhere. But it is that a ghost, a spirit or a spectrum can also be anywhere.
People who suffer from spectrophobia tend to avoid places like cemeteries or special dates like Halloween. But the darkness of the night is also conducive to the appearance of these supernatural beings. The wind hitting the window, a creak on the steps of the house, a draft that slams a door shut… These are situations that can cause real terror.
The problem of spectrophobia
We can sense an added problem that does not occur with other phobias. When you, it is a specific situation; when you are afraid of an animal, it is something you can see; even when you are afraid of feelings like loneliness or falling in love, they are stimuli that you can easily identify. But the same is not true of ghosts.
You don’t always see a ghost, a spectrum, a spirit. You can notice their presence by a suggestion and this can happen at any time. However, it is not something that you can say emphatically that you having seen it. This complicates both the identification of the phobic disorder and its treatment. How do you deal with a ghost?
Symptoms of fear of ghosts
Spectrophobia manifests itself with the. Feeling sick, numb muscles, excessive sweating, rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, or dizziness. The fear is so intense that it can lead to an anxiety crisis or a panic attack. But there is still more.
Because this phobia of ghosts also presents psychological symptoms in the form of obsessive, irrational, distorted or catastrophic thoughts. Fear wraps the mind in a succession of terrifying ideas about ghosts and about the danger that these beings entail, which, by the way, no one is sure if they exist or not.
Doubt makes the person who suffers from this phobia begin to think that something is wrong with their mind, that something is not working well and they and have low self-esteem. And when irrational fear takes over, everything else falls apart. Reason must be recovered, but first we can try to understand the reasons that can lead a person to suffer from spectrophobia.
Why are you afraid of ghosts?
It should be clarified that it is not necessary to see a ghost for all the typical reactions of phobias to be triggered, that is, both the anxiety symptoms and the avoidance response. It is enough that someone tells you a ghost or spirit story or that you see it on television. And we would also like to insist on how difficult it is to avoid exposing yourself to a stimulus of this type. A ghost can appear at any time, place or situation.
And where does this fear of ghosts come from? Well, culturally they are not our favorite beings. It is true that there are spirits that appear to favor you as fairy godmothers, to protect you, but generally all these supernatural beings cause fear due to their ignorance and incomprehension.
Literature and movies do not help to see ghosts from a friendlier perspective, so the danger associated with them can even be logical. What is not logical or rational is that they produce that fear in the form of a limiting phobia that drastically reduces your quality of life.
And, of course, we cannot rule out the most common reason for the development of spectrophobia: conditioning by traumatic experience. It’s tempting to think that it’s not very likely that anyone has ever had an experience, traumatic or not, with a ghost, but here again, their actual presence is not necessary to believe in their existence.
As with other phobias, sometimes the cause or origin of the fear is surprising and there is no direct relationship with that person’s past or childhood. In these cases, a previous anxiety disorder is reached that causes a fear to become an irrational fear or terror. There are many cases of phobias that appear precisely because of the fear that causes a prolonged state of anxiety.
Spectrophobia Treatment
Despite being a complex disorder, spectrophobia can be overcome. To do so, you have to put yourself in the hands of a psychology professional, since phobias also have a very important component of anxiety and entail obvious emotional exhaustion.
The star treatment for phobias is Cognitive, also used to overcome problems such as anxiety and depression. This therapy works first with thought that distorted thought that makes the person see ghosts as a very dangerous stimulus. When we feel danger, our anxiety kicks in, and when that danger isn’t even real, anxiety boils over.
Psychologist helps to dismantle those irrational thoughts about ghosts and spirits and from there you can start working on your behavior. Avoidance is the goal. Stop feeling afraid of ghosts and stop avoiding those situations in which you assume you can find them. How do you manage to change avoidance behavior?
Generally, Exposures used. A therapy that should always be done under supervision because it is a gradual approach to the stimulus that triggers the phobia. In the absence of real ghosts, the therapist will expose the person with spectrophobia to different situations or images to verify that the danger is not such, that nothing is happening.
Any treatment to overcome a phobia must be accompanied by relaxation Techniques. The and breathing exercises are a safe investment to avoid relapses in the future and to face therapy with less anxiety.