The top 10 Halloween phobias – and how to handle them

It's that time of year again; the shops are filled with frightening costumes, carved pumpkins and fake creepy crawlies.

For some people this celebration brings up joy and excitement but for others it can set off their fears and phobias, including Samhainophobia – Halloween phobia (yes, it really does exist).

There are a number of causes of a fear of Halloween:

Religious beliefs: Fearing Halloween due to its connotations with evil. Like my mother, who really didn’t like Halloween for this reason.

Social phobias: Trick-or-treating, knocking on doors and talking to strangers can create fear in some children. Especially if they have had bad experiences, like being told to get off the doorstep.

The main causes of a Halloween phobia, however, are the number of fear inducing activities associated with October 31:

1. Arachnophobia – Fear of Spiders

Spiders is one of the biggest phobias with 55% of women and 18% of men having this fear.

If somebody has a fear of spiders it tends to stimulate feelings of disgust and repulsion, which trigger a fear response in them. It is believed that this is formed around us having an aversion to creatures that look alien and have fewer similarities to humans. Or even a fear of being harmed by a spider.

A spider phobia can also be triggered from your parents. For example, if you watched your mum jump up and scream when she saw a spider, it's then likely to create a phobia in you.

2. Ophidiophobia – Fear of Snakes

It’s said 1 in 3 people have this fear, and as with spiders it's often linked to the fear of being harmed or the rather alien way they look and move. It’s thought it could be linked to our evolution where we are hardwired to avoid these types of creatures.

3. Necrophobia- fear of anything to do with death

For example, coffins, graveyards, bones, and corpses etc. Unfortunately, if your phobia is triggered by representations of death then Halloween is definitely a difficult time for you.

This phobia can also be triggered by a traumatic experience, for example attending the funeral of your grandparents or the pain of bereavement.

4. Maskaphobia - fear of masks or costumes

Like many other fears, this can be created by a past negative event such as been scared as a child by someone in a costume.

It can also come from a fear of the unknown, such as not being able to see a person’s real face. Seeing somebody with a fixed unchanging expression can also create a phobia of masks. Halloween costumes are often made to be scary, so it's no surprise that people can be frightened by them and that this fear can stay with them in later life.

5. Nyctophobia – Fear of the Dark

While this one is more common among children (most children grow out of it as they get older), there are still many adults affected by a fear of the dark.

This fear can be created from not being able to see what's in the shadows or not knowing how to find your way out if you get scared or trapped. It can also come from our primitive brain that tells us that we need to avoid predators in the night.

Horror movies also like to use the darkness to create fear, and this just reinforces the fear.

6. Astraphobia – Fear of Thunder and Lightning

This phobia is also more common in children, as the fear of loud noises is said to be one of only a few phobias that we are born with. And avoiding very loud sounds is connected in our primal mind to help us avoid danger.

7. Hemophobia - Phobia of Blood

Having a fear of blood is quite common; it’s linked to our fear of pain, injury or death. This phobia can be strong if you had an injury in the past or watched somebody else go through the pain. It can also be created from watching horror or crime movies as a child.

8. Selenophobia- Fear of the full moon

his phobia isn’t that common and luckily a full moon isn’t that likely on Halloween. However, that doesn’t stop it being used as a shortcut to symbolise the spooky. It is also often linked to werewolves in movies and the belief shared by some that the moon can affect emotions; the idea of the lunatic (the word is even derived from ’luna’ – the moon) are all factors in creating this phobia.

9. A phobia of things that go bump in the night: ghosts, Wiccaphobia- fear of witches, Kinemortophobia - fear of Zombies - the list is endless!

As humans we are wired to fear the unknown and the idea of supernatural creatures we cannot stop or even see, creates fear in us. That’s the point of a good ghost story! But, in some people this fear can be debilitating.

10. Lachanophobia - fear of vegetables

Having a carved-out pumpkin is another Halloween essential. But it’s not the carved-out face that creates the fear for some people it’s the vegetables themselves.

The cause of this fear normally stems from childhood experiences of being forced to eat vegetables and being repulsed by them or even feeling sick from them. The good news is, there are plenty of things that you can do to fix your phobia.

I find the most effective methods with my clients for removing any of these phobias are treatments that involve cross lateral stimulation and self-soothing, such as eye movement processes or processes that find the cause of the fear and scramble the old triggers, such as the rewind process, time line methods or clinical hypnosis.

The first step though is to find the starting point of your phobia: When did I first create this fear? How old was I? And what was happening at the time? What is it I need to believe to feel this fear?

Once you have done this then changing your Halloween phobias will be a lot easier.

Happy Halloween!

Christopher Paul Jones, aka The Breakthrough Expert, is a therapist based in Harley Street who specialises in helping people let go of their fears, anxieties and even their phobias; from a fear of public speaking to anxieties around work, Christopher has helped hundredss of people ‘let go’ and get their lives back. He even cured his own morbid fear flying, to the extent he was able to take a sightseeing flight through the Pyrenees – strapped to the oustideof a helicopter!

Web http://christopherpauljones.net/ Tweets by ‎@breakthruexpert Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ChristopherPaulJonesTheBreakthroughExpert/ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherpauljones?trk=hp-identity-name YouTube: www.breakthroughexperttv.com