Clinophobia (fear of sleeping): causes, symptoms and treatment

Clinophobia is an irrational phobia whose sufferers feel an unjustified fear of sleeping or the act of going to bed.. This fear can manifest itself as a specific response to resting in bed or, more generally, to falling asleep in any context.

• Related article: "Types of Phobias: Exploring Fear Disorders"

What is clinophobia?

This phobia is also often called "oneirophobia" or "somniphobia", although they have distinctive nuances. The term clinophobia refers to the fear of going to sleep, and comes from the Greek klinein (bed) and phobos (fear).

Although the fear of going to sleep is not usually a well-known or studied disorder, we are facing a really common phobia that affects people of any age and from any social background and cultural.

As with the vast majority of phobias that human beings suffer from, those affected by clinophobia are aware that their fear of going to sleep is unjustified and causes them anxiety irrational. Nevertheless, they cannot manage these psychological and physiological sensations that their brain produces in response to fear, so they enter a vicious circle.

If this phobia is not treated and persists over time, the person may begin to worsen both physically and psychologically, and their well-being may be seriously endangered.

Causes

As usually happens in most phobias and fears, clinophobia starts from certain events in the individual's learning. The associations that the person makes with their environment give rise to their learning history, and in the case of These patients may have associated certain negative sensations with the behavior of sleeping or going to bed. bed. This generates fear, anxiety and ends up leading to the phobia.

Several traumatic events in childhood can end up leading to this phobia. As an example, a child who wets the bed (enuresis) can develop clinophobia by relating these two events that cause low self-esteem and unpleasant sensations: going to bed to sleep and involuntarily urinating during sleep.

In adults, having nightmares, bruxism, restless legs syndrome, some type of sleep disordered breathing, and other psychological and medical conditions, can also generate clinophobia.

However, the truth is that the most frequent cause of clinophobia is linked to chronic and serious problems of insomnia. Also as a result of the psychological association, those affected link the fact of going to sleep with the bad psychological experience of having insomnia, a situation that causes anxiety and hence avoidance.

Symptoms

The symptoms of this phobia usually appear when going to sleep, or already being in bed, trying to fall asleep. Anyway, there are cases in which the simple idea of ​​sleeping can generate anxiety and nervousness.

The most frequent symptoms are agitation, nervousness and discomfort in the moments before going to bed. In more serious cases, those affected may suffer great anxiety and even panic attacks.

In remote cases, some patients have reported that during nervous breakdowns associated with clinophobia they may experience symptoms such as heightening of their senses, even affirming altered states of awareness.

As in any phobia, the fear and anxiety are the two most frequent symptoms. Nausea and dizziness, agitation, muscle tension, hyperventilation, hot flashes, tremors, oral dryness, vertigo, sweating, confusion... In severe cases, the affected person may be afraid of losing control or even dying while they are asleep.

Of course, patients also experience decreased quality and quantity of sleep, and this may phobia correlate with medical problems, such as insomnia, apathy, decreased quality of life... In this sense, it should be noted that insomnia can be both the cause of the problem and a consequence derived from the phobia.

treatment and therapy

Clinophobia is a phobic disorder in which a series of persistent symptoms appear, linked to fear and anxiety., as well as the effects they generate on the quality and quantity of sleep. Therefore, it is also common for it to be associated with insomnia problems.

In this sense, the different therapeutic approaches seek to combat the phobia from different sides. We are going to know some of the most frequently used forms of therapy and tools for the treatment of clinophobia.

1. Techniques to manage anxiety

People who practice relaxation techniques. Some are really simple and have great effects on anxiety management. Both breathing techniques Like other techniques proposed by psychologists, they have had a special interest in this area.

2. psychoeducation

If the patient knows perfectly the psychological and physiological mechanisms that are behind his fear irrational, it will be easier for you to understand the ways within your reach to reduce your discomfort and your fear.

With this tool, the patient is able to understand the causes of the phobia, how it has been generated, what factors limit their ability to overcome it and a good number of psychological tips to manage it. With this objective, the patient must have all the relevant information related to clinophobia.

3. systematic desensitization

Another effective technique for treating specific phobias is systematic desensitization. It is a combination of relaxation techniques with the gradual approach to the object, situation or context that causes the phobia.

This technique helps to be able to go to bed without the presence of anxiety and the bad feelings that used to be associated with that behavior.