Fear of sleep (hypnophobia): causes, symptoms and treatment

Some people believe that terrible things can happen to them when they fall asleep.

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

Some phobias may not be a big problem for the sufferer, since the presence of the phobic stimulus is unusual. However, other phobias are really incapacitating, as is the case of the fear of sleeping, which is a very common phobia. 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 characterized by the sufferer's irrational fear of a stimulus (situation, object, animal, etc.). One of its main symptoms is extreme anxiety and the avoidance of the feared stimulus by the affected person as a consequence of the discomfort he/she suffers.

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, since this act is necessary for human beings and provides many health benefits. People who do not rest properly see their quality of life and well-being, both physical and mental, deteriorate.

Sleep phobia usually occurs at any age, when the person has to go to bed, thinking that he/she may die during the night or because of the nightmares he/she 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 requires 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 may 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 stimulus that originally does not provoke it, called neutral stimulus.. After both stimuli are presented together and as a consequence of the unpleasant experience, the neutral stimulus, now a conditioned stimulus, can elicit a fear response, called a conditioned response.

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

• To learn 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 the development of this disorder, it can also be caused by vicarious conditioning, which is a type of observational learning. You can go deeper into this concept by clicking on 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 human beings throughout history. 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 aware of what is happening to them but unable to overcome the phobia, often without professional help.

Symptoms

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

Cognitive symptoms include fear, anxiety, catastrophic thoughts, confusion and lack of concentration. In terms of behavioral symptoms, the person experiences a strong need to avoid the feared stimulus in order to reduce 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 fortunately 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, which are gradually withdrawn as treatment progresses.

As for psychological therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy is the treatment par excellence. This therapeutic method uses different techniques such as relaxation and exposure techniques, both of which are very useful in treating this pathology.

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

Related articles:

• Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy: what is it?
• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): principles and features