Clowns tend to be associated with children’s situations, which entail positive emotions linked to fun and entertainment. However, they have also been represented as a figure that produces terror. This perception is the one presented by people with coulrophobia, a phobia of clowns, who experience authentic terror and fear when faced with the image of the clown. In this Psychology-Online article, we will show you Clown phobia or coulrophobia: symptoms, causes and treatment. If you are interested in this curious phobia, keep reading this article!
What is a phobia of clowns called?
The phobia of clowns It’s called coulrophobia and is part of the so-called anxiety disorders. Specifically, within the specific phobias or simple. Simple phobias are characterized by an irrational and intense fear of an object or situation, in this case clowns, mediated by irrational thoughts associated with said phobic stimulus. Specific phobias share three components: the activation of our system, catastrophic or anxious thoughts, and avoidant behaviors. They are explained below:
- Activation of our system: This activation produces the appearance of the physical symptoms of the disorder itself, such as tachycardia, sweating, etc.
- Catastrophic or anxious thoughts: There is a tendency for the person to associate a catastrophic thought with the feared stimulus, for example, people who fear flying may think that the plane will fall, which leads to anxious thoughts.
- Avoidant behaviors: the person tries to avoid the phobic stimulus as much as possible, presenting anticipatory anxiety when they know they must be exposed to it.
Origin of clown phobia or coulrophobia
The causes of clown phobia or coulrophobia are multifactorial. Specific phobias can be initiated by very different factors, but generally they are initiated by living experiences, usually traumatic, that have caused an irrational fear of clowns due to irrational thoughts that have been associated with them. These experiences do not necessarily have to be experienced by oneself, they can be observed in other people. On the other hand, these irrational beliefs They may have been established through erroneous information transmitted by other people, without the need for the person to have experienced or observed it.
Symptoms of clown phobia or coulrophobia
Although the phobic stimulus is different in the different forms of presentation of simple phobias, symptoms associated with specific phobia disorder they are the same. Therefore, the symptoms of clown phobia or coulrophobia are the following:
- Presence of a or intense anxiety by a specific triggering stimulus.
- The phobic object or situation almost always provokes an immediate fear or anxiety reaction.
- Person seeks with all its efforts to avoid or actively resisting the object or situation.
- The fear or anxiety presented generates a response disproportionate to the real danger posed by the trigger.
- The presence of fear and anxiety is persistent, normally lasting six or more months.
- It generates clinically significant discomfort, as well as social, occupational and other areas of the person’s life deterioration.
It is necessary that in simple phobic disorder, the typology of phobia of the phobic object or situation is specified, which can be situational, animal, natural environment, etc.
If the person is directly exposed to the feared situation, they may suffer a .
Treatment for clown phobia or coulrophobia
For the treatment of clown phobia or coulrophobia, it is recommended to use . Any intervention considered effective in the treatment of specific phobias must include the exposure technique, because it allows habituation to the phobic stimulus. For its execution, the person who suffers from clown phobia establishes a set of situational hierarchies together with the therapist, which he must face in a stepwise manner from lowest to highest intensity. The exhibition can be carried out “in vivo” or in imagination, that is, the exhibition can be carried out in reality. For example, for a person who is afraid of elevators, the final objective will be to ride in an elevator or “in imagination” where the person is asked to imagine the agreed hierarchy.
In treatment for clown phobia or coulrophobia, it is important that you do not jump from one hierarchy to the next until the previous one no longer generates anxiety. Therefore, given the high anxiety experienced, it is also recommended that relaxation techniques between the presentation of one hierarchy and the next or in the same one. Here you can see.
On the other hand, we must keep in mind that thoughts play a fundamental role in phobic disorders, because a set of irrational thoughts are established around the phobic stimulus. Therefore, it is advisable to use the cognitive restructuringwith the aim of restructuring these negative thoughts associated with the phobic situation or object into others more adapted to reality and healthy.
It is advisable in the treatment of phobias to use anxiety control techniques, due to the high levels that occur. Some techniques for coping with anxiety could be relaxation or breathing techniques, such as diaphragmatic breathing or .
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
If you want to read more articles similar to Phobia of clowns or coulrophobia: symptoms, causes and treatmentwe recommend that you enter our category.
Bibliography
- American Psychiatric Association. (2014). DSM-5. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Barcelona: Masson.
- Aragonès, E. (2013). Addressing phobias. FMC, 20, 347-350.
- Barlow. (1997). Treatment of specific phobias.
- Beck, A., Emery, G & Greenberg, R. (2014). Anxiety disorders and phobias: a cognitive perspective. Bilbao: Desclée de Brouwer.
- Sassaroli, S & Lorenzini, R. (2000). Fears and phobias: causes, characteristics and therapies. Barcelona: Paidós.