Fear of Sleep (Hypnophobia): Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment

Phobias are very common anxiety disorders, and one of the main causes of visiting psychology centers. In addition to the classic phobias, such as the fear of flying (aerophobia) or the fear of heights (acrophobia), there are less common phobias, which you can learn about in our article "The 15 weirdest phobias that exist".

Some phobias may not pose a big problem for the person who suffers, since the presence of the phobic stimulus is rare. Now other phobias are really disabling, like This is the case of the fear of sleeping, which is called hypnophobia, oneirophobia and somniphobia.

In this article we will talk about this phobia and explain its causes, symptoms and consequences.

What is hypnophobia

Phobias are anxiety disorders that are characterized because the person who suffers it feels an irrational fear towards a stimulus (situation, object, animal, etc.). One of its main symptoms is extreme anxiety and avoidance of the feared stimulus on the part of the affected person as a result of the discomfort that he suffers.

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There are many types of phobias, as you can see in our article "Types of phobias: exploring fear disorders", and one of the most disabling is the fear of sleeping, as this act is necessary for the human being and brings many health benefits. People who do not rest properly see their quality of life and well-being, both physical and mental, deteriorated.

Sleep phobia usually occurs at any age, when the person has to lie down, thinking that he may die during the night or because of the nightmares he suffers. Extreme anxiety leads the subject to a state of panic and insomnia that can be highly detrimental to their health. In this sense, it is necessary to treat this phobia, which usually requires not only psychological treatment, in some cases also pharmacological. This pathology is serious, so it usually needs professional help.

Causes of sleep phobia

Regardless of the type of phobia, the causes of developing these pathologies are usually common. The emotion of fear is learned, and the phobia can appear due to an associative learning called "Classical conditioning". Therefore, phobias develop by the association of an unconditioned stimulus that elicits a reflex response of fear and another that originally does not provoke it, called a neutral stimulus. After both stimuli were presented together and as a consequence of the unpleasant experience, the stimulus neutral, now a conditioned stimulus, can elicit a fear response, called a response conditioned.

The first Classical Conditioning experiments with humans were carried out in the 1920s, when John watson caused a boy named Albert to develop a phobia of a white rat that he previously played with. This experiment could not be carried out today, as it would be considered unethical.

To know more about classical conditioning, you can read our article: "Classical conditioning and its most important experiments"

Other causes of this disorder

Although Classical Conditioning is the most common cause for developing this disorder, it can also appear from vicarious conditioning, which is a type of learning by observation. You can delve into this concept by clicking in this link.

Experts also conclude that phobias have a biological origin, since the emotion of fear has an adaptive function, and has been very important for the survival of humans throughout the story. Phobias develop by primitive associations (in the primitive brain) and not in the rational brain (neocortex). This is the reason why they do not respond to logical arguments, which makes patients with this pathology Be aware of what is happening to you but cannot overcome the phobia, in many cases, without professional help.

Symptoms

Phobias can appear before different phobic stimuli; however, the symptoms do not vary from one type to another. This disorder affects a person in different ways, both cognitively, behaviorally and physically.

As for the cognitive symptoms, fear, anguish, catastrophic thoughts, confusion and lack of concentration appear. With regard to behavioral symptoms, the person experiences a great need to avoid the feared stimulus to reduce, in this way, the discomfort. Finally, the characteristic physical symptoms are: headache, shortness of breath and hyperventilation, nausea or tension in the muscles, among others.

Treatment and therapy

Phobias are common disorders, but luckily they respond well to treatment. Psychological therapy has been shown to help patients, according to scientific studies. However, in the case of hypnophobia, drugs can also be administered that, as treatment progresses, are gradually withdrawn.

As for psychological therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy is the treatment par excellence. In this therapeutic method, different techniques are used, such as relaxation techniques and exposure techniques, both very useful to treat this pathology.

The best known technique to help the patient overcome the phobia is systematic desensitization, which consists of gradually exposing the patient to the phobic stimulus, but he previously receives training in coping strategies.

In addition to cognitive behavioral therapy, Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy work very well for the psychological treatment of phobias.