It may not be uncommon to find individuals who have Phengophobia the subject of questions related to whether they might be a vampire. The reason this is true has to do with the fact that they fear daylight. They much prefer to enjoy life after the sun goes down.
This fear usually has very little to do with an affinity for night creatures. There is just something about sunlight that is problematic for those who live with this fear. Maybe the sun is too bright – maybe too much of the world is exposed by sunlight – maybe there are just too many people outside when the day is in full swing.
What Causes Phengophobia?
There are relatively few people who suffer from this phobia and some experts believe the fear may actually stem from other loosely related fears. For instance a strong social fear may make darkness a preferable existence simply because it allows the phobic personality to limit encounters with others.
Another associated fear could be open spaces. At night it may be less likely you can define open boundaries allowing the fear to be diminished in the darkness.
You might also have a fear of bright lights that make daylight a nearly unbearable time except perhaps on cloudy days.
Perhaps the most prominent mark of a phengophobe is an incredible sense of dread during daylight hours. These individuals may insist on heavy drapes to keep out sunlight from streaming into their homes. They may be inclined to move to a dark basement on bright days. They will shop at night and may not have a large circle of friends.
Other symptoms include…
- Air hunger
- Trembling
- Sweating
- Weeping
- Elevated or irregular heartbeat
- High anxiety
- Feeling faint when exposed to daylight
Those who have this fear may feel strongly compelled to apologize for their behavior. They may be embarrassed, frustrated and have a profound sense of humiliation, but on their own they are nearly powerless to control their reaction to the fear they are experiencing.
How to Overcome Phengophobia
Therapy sessions may likely be required to learn the truth about your fear and to help you understand if there may be other fears that may be the real reason for the fear you are experiencing. As with most fears there is usually an underlying reason as to why this fear has been chosen as the outward expression of inner unfinished business.
What I mean by this is there may be other issues that need to be dealt with first. Often when these issues are addressed the outward fear is minimized and can be addressed by the individual who fears.
As with every other fear one of the most compelling reasons to address the anxiety is that the fear will generally grow large enough that it will require other object to fear. It can become very easy for the phobic personality to find that there are many more things to fear than there is time to dedicate to the fear.
The fear of daylight is also referred to as:
- Fear of sunshine
- Daylight fear
- Phengophobia
