Although each of us may experience some sleep-related problems from time to time, sleep disorders include much more advanced and long-term forms of such problems. Although its name is not heard much compared to other types of sleep disorders, another type that affects life as much as they do is somniphobia, which is defined as the fear of sleep itself.
Insomnia, also known as insomnia, sleep paralysis, also known as nightmares, and much more. There are many sleep-related ailments that have serious effects on our health, but fear of the act of sleeping known as somniphobia, perhaps one of the interesting ones. clinophobia and hypnophobia in everyday language, also referred to as fear of sleep This phobia causes the person to be afraid of falling asleep, and as a result, he cannot sleep even if he is very tired.
Somniphobia should not be confused with the fear of not being able to sleep.
Because people with somniphobia don’t have thoughts like “What if I can’t sleep and I can’t gather my energy… What if I’m sleepy and I’m very tired tomorrow…”, so what they are afraid of is not being able to sleep. Fear of people with somniphobia, are directly likely to fall asleep. Even if they feel very tired and go to bed, ironically “I hope I don’t fall asleepThey have a fear of “. You would have to keep drinking water.
Fear of sleep is common in people with anxiety disorders.
In addition, people who already have a sleep disorder are more likely to develop somniphobia. In addition, common features of people with somniphobia include frequent nightmares, having experienced a trauma in the past, and fear of death.
One of the most important reasons associated with the fear of sleep is is the fear of losing control. People with this phobia They are afraid of movements that are beyond their control while they are asleep.. These include fears of walking in their sleep and hurting themselves or their environment, saying/doing humiliating things, not being able to protect themselves from situations such as fire, earthquake or burglary, dying in sleep, seeing a traumatic memory or a recurring nightmare in a dream.
It is necessary to pay attention to some symptoms that may indicate that you have a fear of sleep.
Among these, there are movements such as increased anxiety near sleeping at night, making various excuses to prevent going to bed, using drugs, alcohol or substance to make it easier to sleep, and trying to stay up as late as possible and make it easier to fall asleep.
In addition, these people sleep-related environments and conditions are also starting to become anxiety-inducing factors over time.. For this reason, the person avoids anxiety in situations such as going to bed at night, being in a dark and quiet environment, and starts to fall asleep in noisy and light environments, in places such as sofas or balconies, without even taking off his work clothes.
Somniphobia is a serious condition that needs to be treated with a cognitive behavioral therapy approach with a specialist.
Although it can be supported by drug therapy, It is important to identify and address the underlying core fear associated with sleep. Even if it increases anxiety, care should be taken to be in an environment suitable for sleep at bedtime, activities that will disturb sleep before sleep should be avoided as much as possible, and it should be analyzed whether an action can be taken to eliminate the main anxiety factor. Of course, it is extremely critical to get support from a psychiatrist, as it is very difficult for a person to do these things alone.
The aspect that distinguishes somniphobia from other phobias is that it is another type of treatment. exposure therapy not yielding successful results. While it is observed that the repetitive encounters with the fear element cause depersonalization and thus reduce the severity of the phobia over time, such a situation does not occur in sleep phobia.
If you have symptoms that suggest you have somniphobia, instead of self-diagnosing and treating, Don’t forget to see a psychiatrist.
resources: Sleep Health Solutions, Exp. Dr. Nihan Coskun, HealthLine