Phasmophobia is the fear of ghosts. The word originates from Greek word ‘phasmos’ which means ‘supernatural being/phantom’ and phobos which means ‘deep dread or fear’. Another word for it is Spectrophobia, which originates from ‘specters’ or ‘reflection’. Many people, young and old alike, fear ghosts. This fear is deeply ingrained in us right since childhood fuelled further by TV shows as well as religion and culture.
For people having extreme fear of ghosts, life can become downright miserable. Many refuse to step outside after dark, or sleeping alone or turning out the lights. Halloween is an especially scary time of year.
Causes of Spectrophobia
Anticipatory anxiety, fear of the dead or unknown (or things which go ‘bump in the night’) are mainly responsible for triggering Spectrophobia. This is fuelled further by movies, scary folktales, religious/superstitious beliefs and news or media reports about supposed ‘ghost sightings’.
The amygdala, a part of the brain secretes a chemical that triggers fear. The brain simply does this as part of its defense mechanism. For example, a child might have been spooked out by siblings or friends, as a result of which, they tend to recollect those fearful events each time they are left alone or in the dark.
TV shows, Hollywood movies, culture or religions also steep in our fear of ghosts. Ghosts are portrayed as evil entities that injure, harm or have violent tendencies. Stories of ghosts taking away and murdering children or pets, finishing off one’s life savings or destroying households also trigger Spectrophobia.
Many scientists believe that Phasmophobia is actually the fear of our own death or things to come. The concept of ‘returning dead people’ haunting a household might sometimes be triggered by stress which comes from the belief that someone they are close to is about to die.
Symptoms of Phasmophobia
Phasmophobia can be quite debilitating in that; the affected person suffers from many physical, social and emotional symptoms.
- Heart palpitations, stress and anxiety or panic attacks are common in such cases.
- Children, for example, might start to scream, cry or wet their beds.
- Lying awake at night, hallucinating, jumping at every sound one hears are few of the most common symptoms of fear of ghosts.
- Many sufferers show impaired performance at school or work. Lack of sleep increases their stress and inability to concentrate. They tend to have mood swings, or might appear irritable, angry or start crying over small issues. They also appear needy, depressed, clingy, shy, withdrawn, nervous, and high strung, easily startled or hyper-aroused.
- Poor social life is common as their relationship with peers or family members may be strained.
- The health of such individuals also suffers and their likelihood of getting diabetes, hypertension and heart disease increases. Muscle tension, aches and pains, gastrointestinal distress in the form of nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, headaches etc is common. Increased perspiration, skin blotchiness and rashes are other symptoms of Spectrophobia.
- Insomnia, dizziness, fainting, increased urinary frequency may also be observed in patients.
- Many patients express fear of dying, of going crazy or of imminent disaster.
Fear of ghosts is often accompanied by other phobias like fear of mirrors, fear of photographs, fear of shadows and fear of the dark.
Treating and overcoming the fear of ghosts
Often, individuals with Phasmophobia avoid getting treated for their condition, since they do not believe/admit that their fear is disabling enough, at least during daytime. In case of phobic children, parents feel that the child will outgrow the fear of ghosts with age.
Parents must play an important role in treating their child’s fear of ghosts. They can help the child feel brave through make believe, role play or positive tales of heroism and bravery to help the child cope with its fear. For this at-home therapy to become successful, it is vital that parents themselves portray confidence. It is important that they do not show anxiety whilst trying to help the child overcome its anxiety.
Adults with Phasmophobia must try to understand their fear. They can list down situations which trigger the fear and rationalize it by writing down their response as well as ways in which they can change the response each time. It is important to get support from friends and family and assure oneself that the fear of ghosts is absolutely common and that they are not alone in suffering from it.
Talking about one’s fear is also a therapeutic way of dealing with Spectrophobia. Online or offline forums, as well as professional psychotherapists or hypnotherapists can help the individual deal with Phasmophobia.
This is very good information for my project. This helped me so much and I made an A+ on it. Thank you very much Jacob! 🙂
Hi, Jacob! Thank you for making this. Lately, I have been extremely afraid, like something huge will pop out of the shadows and kill me, and making it hard to sleep. I will jump at my own foot steps, scream at something, then realize there was nothing, I will hallucinate at a normal point in life, like doing homework and there will be a tall black figure in the corner, but when I blink, it is gone. I am also very introverted and push myself away from society. I realize what is going on now, and I will look into it. Thank you!
Are you serious? I have always wondered the real effects of phasmophobia, I am doing a project on it and I’m very interested, please tell me
I am terrified of ghosts, the dark, staircases, intruders, and statues.
I haven’t always been afraid of these things except for statues,
Statues are always horrifying.. I have nightmares about the statue of liberty.
My daughter just turned 1 and the fears started when she was born. I recall having similar fears when my son, whose now 10, was born and it lasted until around age 2.
I’m not sure why I become so afraid of these things when I have a baby but I know its related.
Good article! Like most people, I was scared of ghosts as a child. My mother would spray some air freshener around the room and pretend that it was “ghost repellent.” It always calmed me down. These days I only get scared after watching a particularly scary horror film 🙂
I do have a sort of mental exercise I use whenever I start to get afraid of made up, supernatural terrors. I picture the Earth, then the Solar System, and then the Galaxy in my mind’s eye. I try to remind myself that life on Earth is just a thin layer of pond scum growing in a puddle of water and O2, on a dust mote, in a sunbeam, rotating through an infinite, expanding universe. How scary is a ghost or a demon compared to the reality of our situation?
Hi I’m doing a project, do you know where I can find any true personal stories?
Hello Jacob, I am making a game based on someone who has the fear of ghosts and this has helped me think out the way he acts and thinks. I’ll be sure to reference this in the credits of it. Thank you, tons, for making this. It really helped me out!
Dear Jacob
First of all, I want to thank you for your endeavor. The case that you just mentioned in this article is what I have lived with since I was 4 or 5 years old. I am at my 30s and this fear is still coming after me. This, as you said, stopped me from being independent. I treated some of my fears such as insects phobia but I am also trying to sort this main one out too.
I have this fear. I have to sleep with a pillow over my head to mute sound and my vision. It’s miserable. I think I need nerve pills.
Amazing in depth article.
I suffer from this phobia and you’ve got everything spot on!
Do you know so much from research or personal experience?
Hi James
Thanks, I’m glad you liked it.
I have never been afraid of ghosts myself but I can definitely relate to what real fear feels like as I used to suffer from fear of death.
Hey Jacob I’m doing an ELA project for our fears and I need to know your last name Jela answered my question on when it was written. I don’t want you to think I’m a creep our teacher needs the full name to know it’s a reliable source. So far it’s excellent, but my assignment is due tommorow so please respond quickly. Thanks.
Bobby
Hi Bobby
Thanks for your interest in my site.
My surname is Olesen – I hope you make the deadline!
Hello Jacob, I’m using this “fear of ghosts” article for my research paper. My problem is I need to quote you. So I already have your surname but I also need the year that you published this article 🙂 thank you please reply asap. 🙂
Hi Jela
I’m glad you find this article helpful. It was written and published 2014/06/19.
Have a nice weekend.
hello im trying to write an article about ghosts