Why so many Aussie adults are afraid of the dark
Does being home alone at night make you nervous? Take comfort in the fact that you’re not the only one.
According to a survey of 1000 Australians conducted by Philips Lighting, 72 per cent of adults are afraid of the dark, with the garage labelled the scariest room in the house, followed by hallways and loungerooms.
For a third of people, the fear of the dark is so intense that they do not feel safe in their homes at night.
Clinical psychologist Corrie Ackland told news.com.au the adult fears are not dissimilar to childhood fears of the dark.
“You just can’t see what’s there so the mind races and gives many suggestions of what could be there ... The childhood version is monsters, but even in adulthood we might still fear intruders or other things that can hurt us when we’re asleep and vulnerable,” she said.
“Things like movies, that give negative associations of the dark, prime the brain to think it’s more likely that situation will arise,” she added.
When we’re fearful, two things happen every time to our bodies.
“The first one is this immediate physical activation a lot of people would recognise as an anxiety response. Increased breathing, increased heart rate, you might be a bit shaky — basically, the body is preparing to escape,” she explained.
“At the same time, the brain is racing to get more information about the situation.”
However, it’s important that people realise the difference between fears and clinic phobias.
“Fear is a normal response to an actual threat in our environment, but phobias step beyond that and may be irrational concerns,” she told news.com.au.
“Phobias are extreme things that make us go a long way out of our way to avoid those scenarios. Then there are subclinical fears, like a fear of darkness, where there might not be a danger, but we’re not feeling comfortable and we might avoid it.”
While many Aussies may fear the dark, the actual number of people with clinical phobias of the dark is more likely closer to the 10 per cent mark.