Halloween isn't fun for everyone

Halloween is usually a time when people get together, go to parties, dress up and have fun. Many people love the arousal of excitement of Halloween, but not for people with fears and phobias.

Fears, phobias and the Halloween season

There are many phobias related to Halloween. Phobias usually develop from a stressful time during childhood or through watching and learning phobic responses from someone else.

All phobias are an anxiety response, resulting in irrational thoughts and behaviours. There are simple phobias like the fear of spiders and more complex phobias such as a fear of social situations such as going to a Halloween party.

The fear triggers the body's survival response in which people either want to run away or fight the fear. This puts stress on the body and can result in many changes to the body including panic attacks, digestive problems, and muscle tension. The person with the phobia just wants to take back control but doesn't know how.

What phobias might be triggered during Halloween?

Here are some phobias that people might experience related to Halloween:

• Dreading Halloween can develop into samhainophobia (the fear of Halloween). So the build-up to Halloween is just as awful as the day.
• Maskaphobia. This is the fear of masks or costumes. Because people dress up a lot for Halloween it becomes difficult for people with this phobia to avoid the stress. Similar to maskaphobia is coulrophobia which is a fear of clowns. During Halloween evil clown faces and costumes can cause fear in many people.
• Arachnophobia. This is the fear of spiders and is probably one of the most common phobias that lots of people know about. During Halloween shops hang cobwebs and spiders everywhere so even simply going shopping can trigger panic in some people. Find out more about arachnophobia, what causes it, and how hypnotherapy can help. 
• Haemophobia. This is the fear of blood. Even though people who fear blood know that the makeup used at Halloween is fake this can still trigger fear in some people.
• Necrophobia. This is the fear of anything to do with death. People may think of loved ones that they have lost or things related to death trigger a phobic response. Items could be coffins, tombstones, or people dressed up as corpses.

How to overcome phobias and fears

But the good news is that people can be helped to rid themselves of their fears and phobias with the help of hypnotherapy and counselling using several different techniques. Hypnotherapy can help you to reduce and overcome many common phobias, including arachnophobia, emetophobia (fear of sickness/vomit) trypanophobia (fear of needles), and aviophobia (fear of flying). 

So if you have a fear or phobia there is no reason to continue suffering during Halloween and beyond. Get the support you deserve, take back control, learn to relax and feel so much better. Get in contact now to find out how hypnotherapy can help you.

*People with severe anxiety states are advised to see their doctor for a health check.