Nyctophobia
Hello everyone, today we'll introduce you to one of the ten most common phobias in the world - nyctophobia. Nyctophobia is an extreme fear of the dark.
Across the United States, about 9% of adults have had a specific phobia disorder in the past year. More than 12% of adults have had a specific phobia in their lifetime. In general, women are more likely to get specific phobic disorders, but anyone can get them.
Kids usually outgrow nyctophobia by adolescence, but not always.
Nyctophobia is very common, especially among children.
Some researchers estimate that nearly 45% of children have an extreme fear of darkness, and it's one of the most common fears among kids between 6 and 12 years old.
People suffering from nyctophobia are often afraid to be alone at home at night and can fall asleep only when the TV is on, which creates the effect of the presence of other people in the house. Such people experience panic attacks when the lights are turned off or when entering a dark room.
Nature of fear
The fear of darkness and night is often associated not only with the fear of the unknown but also with the fear of attack or death.
The emergence of nyctophobia is usually facilitated by the individual characteristics of a person's nervous activity: excessive emotional sensitivity increased susceptibility, vulnerability and impressionability. Fear of the dark can be explained by mechanisms formed as a result of evolution. People were afraid of the dark time of the day because in the dark they were poorly protected from predators.
The primary way to obtain information about the world around us is both then and now through sight. The absence of light makes this control much less possible.
Solution - VRET
The PsyTech VR team has developed training that will help people overcome nyctophobia. With the help of a VR, a person immerses himself in virtual phobia training and works out his fear.
You can train in VR using self-guiding courses from the comfort of your home
OR
with a specialist - the doctor will have access to your training in real-time, and will guide you through all the training!
This world needs a virtual bridge that will comfortably lead phobia patients from mental visualization to real-life situations of fear, and here comes the PsyTech VR.
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Learn on the platform education courses on how to train phobias in VR
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Train in the virtual environment using a Meta Quest headset, and put the fear assessment after each training session, or use VR telemedicine to watch the VR interface of your patient in real-time
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Discover real-time statistics of training on the platform, and view insights from bio-feedback as we've synced Fitbit Sense / Fitbit Charge 5 to let you know about health indicators during training!