The connection between fear of darkness and loss of control

By M.Farouk Radwan, MSc.

The fear of darkness

Why would someone fear the dark?
I once met a strong middle aged man who was so brave to fight any other man who challenges him but he used to fear dark rooms! "i can beat 10 strong men but i don't feel comfortable in dark places" said the man.

Apparently courage and fear of darkness are not always connected. Of course a coward will fear everything including darkness but a brave man might also fear darkness as well.

So how can this mystery be explained?
The answer is simple: some fears or insecurities take other forms in such a way that a person who fears one thing can end up fearing a completely different thing.

In my article understanding the subconscious mind's symbols i explained how the fear of a certain situation like socializing can appear in a different form such as agoraphobia.

In such a case the mind remembers what it fears when it encounters another situation that is not related to the first one.

So what does all this has to do with fear of darkness?

The connection between fear of darkness and loss of control

Fear of darkness can be another form of fear of loss of control. Because people can't see anything in a dark room they feel that they lost control over their environment.

For a normal person this loss of control is quite acceptable but for a person who has a wound that is related to loss of control the situation will be unbearable.

In such a case the mind of that person will try to scare him using images of ghosts, thieves or evil spirits in order to let him escape to another place that has more light.

By doing so the subconscious mind of the person would have fulfilled the goal of making him feel in control once again. In other words the fear of darkness in this case had one goal which is making the person escape to another place that he has more control over.

Why do some people strive to be in control

Now the important question you should have asked yourself is: why do some people feel uncomfortable when they are not in control?

The answer can be found in the childhood of those people. If during their childhood they constantly felt that they lacked control over their lives then they will develop a wound that would force seem to seek control at any cost later on.

If for example a child was always bullied by his friends then he might feel that he doesn't have control over his life and as a result he might fear darkness when he becomes an adult.

The same thing would happen if that child saw one of his role models losing control over his life. In other words if a child found that his father or mother are losing control over their lives, by becoming alcoholics for example or by failing to finance the experiences of the family, then that child will grow up with that same wound as well.

To summarize it all, the fear of darkness can be nothing more than the fear of loss of control taking another form.

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