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The fear of the dark is a common fear among children and to a varying degree is observed for adults. The pathological fear of the dark is sometimes called nyctophobia (from Greek ???, “night” and f?ß?a, phobia), scotophobia, from s??t?? – “darkness”, or lygophobia, from ???? – “twilight”.
Some researchers, beginning with Sigmund Freud, consider the fear of the dark as a manifestation of separation anxiety[1]. In the 1960s scientists conducted experiments to discover molecules responsible for memory. In one experiment rats, normally nocturnal animals, were conditioned to fear the dark and a substance, called scotophobin that was apparently responsible for remembering this fear was extracted from rats’ brains. Subsequently these findings were debunked.[2]
The fear of the dark is heightened by imagination: a stuffed toy may appear a monster with many teeth and bulging eyes in the dark. Nightmares contribute to the fear of the dark as well: after waking up because of a nightmare the child may refuse to go to bed without lights on. Fear of dark is a phase of child development.[3] Most observers report that fear of the dark seldom appears before the age of 2 years.[4] Fear of the dark is not fear of the absence of light, but fear of possible or imagined dangers concealed by the darkness.[5]
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