How can I overcome my fear of the dark?

I want to lucid dream so much, and I remember about 4-5 dreams a night, so I'm sure I can accomplish it.

It's just that I have an immense fear of the dark. I'm completely different at night, the smallest things seem to make me jump.

As a result of this I don't think it's realistic to think I could handle SP. I get panicky when nothing is even there, I don't know how I would react if my mind started throwing creepy hallucinations at me.

If anyone has any advice on how to get over this, it would be appreciated immensely.

Do you have a favorite song? If you do, play it in your head while in the dark. It should calm you down. It works really well for me, I hope it works for you.

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Originally Posted by -Blakren-

Do you have a favorite song? If you do, play it in your head while in the dark. It should calm you down. It works really well for me, I hope it works for you.

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I've tried that, it works, but just until the song is over, so it's not all that huge of a help.

I'm the same way. I usually wait until the sun rises before I give WILD a shot.

If you have a TV in your room, put it on and put it on mute (don't want dishwasher detergent commercials in your dreams) so you can just have the light in the room.

Or, you can just turn the lights on. I have a remote by the bed that does this, so it may be a problem if you have to get out of the bed to turn on the lights.

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Originally Posted by mini0991

I'm the same way. I usually wait until the sun rises before I give WILD a shot.

If you have a TV in your room, put it on and put it on mute (don't want dishwasher detergent commercials in your dreams) so you can just have the light in the room.

Or, you can just turn the lights on. I have a remote by the bed that does this, so it may be a problem if you have to get out of the bed to turn on the lights.

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Well I feel incredibly stupid now.

I never considered inducing a WILD while the sun was up. If I entered SP during the day I would probably just end up laughing at whatever my mind threw at me.

Thanks! That really helped.

Who knows, maybe this'll help!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xx8HwFpxv54

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Originally Posted by Pastulio_

Who knows, maybe this'll help!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xx8HwFpxv54

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I'm an avid Maiden fan, so of course that's always welcome :D

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Originally Posted by Scarhand

If anyone has any advice on how to get over this, it would be appreciated immensely.

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i used 2 be afraid to, but this was unacceptable to me, so i forced myself to be in the dark, i walk outside at the dead of night, never use lights in my home when it is dark.

by forcing myself to confront my fear it went away....kinda..... i still feel "safer" with a blanket over my body and i lock my door so i can tell myself no one can come in and harm me without breaking down the door and in turn waking me up.

above all else rember the only thing diffrent from night and day is the absents of light nothing more, it all looks the same.

something else to try...... walk outside with a flashlight but do not have it on when u c something strange.... scary...... stare at it, from personal experience i know it will only get worse, then boom flash that bitch with the light and relise its all in ur head.

The only thing to fear is fear itself

I'm the same way. I can LD perfectly fine with some light on, I've never found it to be a problem to sleep with the room lit enough for me to be comfortable. And I don't use just a night light, I usually have some sort of very bright light on, often a fluorescent lamp. It has not stopped me from enjoying lucids. I rarely experience SP but I've learned that it's not scary at all. I don't think you should even worry about this! The more you worry and dwell, the more awful it will be just because you expect it to be so. SP is an incredible experience, and can be the gateway into a lucid. Enjoy yourself!

You could try what I've done sometimes, which is to gradually turn down a light until it is pretty dark in your room, bit by bit and night by night. Also, when you turn the lights off your eyes are still not ready to see in such dark. If you give them some time, you'll be able to see better in darker lighting conditions so you won't need as much light if it's causing a problem, and it won't seem as scary a few minutes later as it does right when you turn off the lights.

Also simply through LDing I have overcome a lot of my fears of the dark and etc. Mainly because I know that if I see something scary, it means I'm in a lucid. It has really helped me overcome an what I viewed as an embarrassing problem, so hopefully it can help you as well :) Maybe if you focus on DILDs until you have found a way to conquer the fear, WILDing will be easier?

Tons of thanks to both of you guys!

I too think that the best way to overcome my fears is to face them gradually.

On another note I got close to a WILD this morning, but my family ended up distracting me since I did it when the sun came up.

If you have an iPod you can just make it repeat your favorite song over and over.

But I know what everyone is talking about now, about how scary sleep paralysis hallucinations can be.

Before, I had never experienced any visual hallucinations during SP, only really loud buzzing that frightened the hell out of me while at the same time my mind was being pulled out of my body, this was very scary.

But it was nothing compared to what happened the other night. I smoked weed the other night and I just lay in bed letting my mind wander. I've never had visual hallucinations during sober sleep paralysis, and still haven't but this night I began to have very vivid visual hallucinations which was probably a result of the THC in my bloodstream combined with the sleep paralysis.

Anyway, I was having kaleidoscopic vision, and it was all like rotating fractals, really weird looking stuff, it was amusing at first. But then everything took a turn for the absolute worst.

I saw what I interpreted as suffering souls from Hell gasping for help, unsuccessfully. Then I felt like God was sending me to Hell, and my fate would be the same as theirs. I really wanted to go into a WILD, but I was scared that I would instead be sent instantly to Hell to never return. As I thought about these frightening things, the painful gasps of the suffering souls became more and more prominent.

I became so terribly horrified that I decided that a WILD wasn't worth losing my soul over, so I shook off the sleep paralysis as fast as I could before it could get a complete hold of me, and escaped the grip of Hell. I was so shook up after that, i just wanted tomorrow to come. So I jerked off to help myself feel a little better and get rid of some energy and stress, and then I went to sleep.

Moral of the story, don't smoke weed and enter sleep paralysis if you aren't experienced with sleep paralysis or if you are a religious person who believes in Hell or if you are easily frightened in general.

But if you want to overcome your fear of the dark, you should spend a few minutes every night walking around in the dark exploring your surroundings, touching objects, and telling yourself, "It's just the same as it is during the day, except there is no light reflecting off these objects into my pupils to allow me to see them."

I have found that the world is much less scary if viewed from a scientific perspective as opposed to a religious/mystical/superstitious perspective. If I had done that that night, I probably would have been able to have the most vivid lucid dream of my life.

I had a crippling phobia of dogs a while ago, and dealt with that by looking after one who I had known since he was a puppy for a weekend. Similarly, I have a phobia of needles, but I got a blood test today and now I feel happier with them.

You can get over fear by getting used to what scares you. Take time, get used to the dark. You'll be ok.

Thanks guys, I was kind of doing that last night, walking around tellingmyself it's the same as daytime just harder to see.

I have the same fear. xD

What I do is trun on the lights and TV and sleep. :\ But I'll try to sleep without either.

Or jsut one :D

I keep the T.V. on sometimes until I'm about ready to fall asleep. I can never sleep with it on, though it does help me get tired.

Interesting question. I think I can add something to this conversation. I used to be completely and totally scared of the dark. We're talking lay in the bed pull the covers up to your head and shake scared. Until I was about 16 years old. I didn't really tackle it so to speak, it resolved as the result of something else. For me, and I suspect a lot of people, fear of the dark is fear of the unknown. I had a great trouble in my life doing anything I didn't know the outcome of. In overcoming that, I overcame my fear of the dark as well. Ironically I'm quite the opposite now. I sleep in a room of perfect black. Blackout curtains, nothing with an LED like a clock or a surge protector light or anything. A blanket is placed over the crack in my door right before I lock it to seal the tiniest amount of light from the hallway. Duct tape is placed over the status light on the fire alarm in my room so it makes no light. Perfect darkness is an experience. I can't say for sure if it would help but you might try putting yourself in a similar situation with someone you trust completely there with you. Someone who you know without a doubt would protect you from anything an everything, in the dark or not. All you have to do is tell them to turn on the light and they will. Of course that assumes you have such a person you can trust like that. If you do you are lucky, I don't, not someone close by anyway. In regards to lucid dreaming, as mentioned above you don't have to WILD in the dark, and WILD isn't the only way to lucid dream, it just seems to be the most direct.

I used to imagine monsters of all sorts waitng in the dark waiting to grab me and eat me up. im over that now but there is still something about darkness that is unnerving.

The problem with trying to sleep in the light is that it inhibits melatonin production, afaik. My advice: get over your fear by spending a bunch of time in the dark. It should become more comfortable with time.

I have the exact same problem!

Sometimes i can't even fall asleep because i hear like people breathing, or talking to me next to my bed, things i can't see. So i can't sleep without keeping the light on.

But since i'm very good at visualizing things, i sleep under my blanket, close my eyes and visualize my room becoming an entirely other world and i make up stories in my mind, i visualize so much things that i end up forgetting that i'm in my room, and that's also the way i get to do LD's , i dream about all the stuff i was imagining...

I've been following everyone's advice, and I'm doing MUCH better now.

Thanks you all so much!! :D:D

I use to wet my bed @10 years of age over this fear of the dark.:eek:

I started watching more action movies and horror movies, put myself
in the role of the man who fights back.

Try and put your EGO in the way to say"this is nothing because i'm a warrior"


NOTE:Most experts believe are fear of the dark comes from are prior evolutionary ancestors who use to hide from preys at night time in fear of being hunted.

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Originally Posted by Scarhand

I want to lucid dream so much, and I remember about 4-5 dreams a night, so I'm sure I can accomplish it.

It's just that I have an immense fear of the dark. I'm completely different at night, the smallest things seem to make me jump.

As a result of this I don't think it's realistic to think I could handle SP. I get panicky when nothing is even there, I don't know how I would react if my mind started throwing creepy hallucinations at me.

If anyone has any advice on how to get over this, it would be appreciated immensely.

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I have had intense fear of the dark during my Childhood, cause in the dark I allways saw alot of movement and felt that someone was about to enter my room and me not able to see it cause of the darkness. My youth has been one big Psychedelic trip of seeing "shadow figures", hearing voices (not like ACTUAL voices, but like Thoughts that didn't seem to be my own) and seeing alot of "Snow" (swarming dots of light in midair).
Very rarely I have such feelings again.

I have used a couple of things to diminish my fear of the dark.
-The following reasoning:
You may be affraid of the dark 'cause you can't see potential enemies comming, BUT these potential enemies are not very likely to spot you either becauseof this darkness: Darkness means the safety of being unseen.
-If the Dark in your room freaks you out, leave a light on.
-As soon as you flick your bedroomlight off, Close your eyes.
-Realise that a House is a blessed thing that provides shelter from harsh weather and cold and keeps unwanted folks out. Homeless people sleeping on the streets WOULD have a reason to fear the dark. The safety of a house.

I phreaked out too first time I experienced SP and the following "Falling" sensation. Also I have been quite terrified by "Old Hag". I have simply refused to let these phenomena freak me out and let them happen. Now I am fearless of all of these strange pre-dream phenomena.


Remember: there couldn't possibly be a safer place than in your warm bed in your stone house. And most horrible things happen in broad daylight.;)

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Originally Posted by SKA

-Realise that a House is a blessed thing that provides shelter from harsh weather and cold and keeps unwanted folks out. Homeless people sleeping on the streets WOULD have a reason to fear the dark. The safety of a house.

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Great point!! That's helping me so much! I'm nearly over my fears by now.

Leave a light on, assuming that you can still fall asleep with a light on.

Just try to get over your fear of the dark before attempting to WILD. SP has a wide range of feelings and some of them can be fairly scary if you're not used to it. Of course other times you barely feel anything at all.

Haha! I know exactly where you're coming from. I wouldn't dare WILD in the dark. I know that it's not real, but still...
Try to keep something that's lightly distracting, such as listening to light music in headphones. It's better than those bumps in the night causing you to be wide awake.

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Originally Posted by Dash

Haha! I know exactly where you're coming from. I wouldn't dare WILD in the dark. I know that it's not real, but still...
Try to keep something that's lightly distracting, such as listening to light music in headphones. It's better than those bumps in the night causing you to be wide awake.

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Wouldn't light music keep me from doing a WILD?

I have never succesfully WILDed, but I have gotten partway there and experienced SP. And I have never had visual hallucinations. Not even very much audio. All I get is the "falling sensation" that freaks a lot of people out. I actually love it. It's fun.

The point is, everyone's different. You might not ever experience visual hallucinations during SP. :)

not so long ago I got my fear of dark back. It wasn't that I couldn't sleep of it I just didn't like being in a dark room. but it all past away when me and my class went on "practic"(instead of spending the first two weeks of summer siting at class like the other schools, we go to some other city for a week to draw stuff and the other week we draw stuff somewhere near the school. we call that "practic" :D) we lived in some other schools dormitory and in the 5th floor :P I lived alone in room for two and at night I would leave the curtains open just for fun. and if I woke up at night I would look at the stars. and once I woke up at 3 am and wanted to watch the sun rise, but I fell asleep :D. and my fear just dissapeared because I started thinking that the "dark" and the "night" are such beautifull things and I shouldn't be afraid of them and now I'm not afraid anymore :boogie:

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Originally Posted by Leixor

For me, and I suspect a lot of people, fear of the dark is fear of the unknown. I had a great trouble in my life doing anything I didn't know the outcome of. In overcoming that, I overcame my fear of the dark as well. Ironically I'm quite the opposite now. I sleep in a room of perfect black.

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:eek: now when I think of it now that I'm not scared of the dark, I'm usually excited about the unknown :lipssealed:
I usually love to do something at night with other people at summer camp too...
and I'm not afraid of heights or anything else if I don't want to :P
and I like sleeping as dark as possible too :roll:

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Originally Posted by Ivi942

:eek: now when I think of it now that I'm not scared of the dark, I'm usually excited about the unknown :lipssealed:
I usually love to do something at night with other people at summer camp too...
and I'm not afraid of heights or anything else if I don't want to :P
and I like sleeping as dark as possible too :roll:

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For me it's really more of a fear of being ALONE in the dark. If I'm with friends I'm pretty OK for the most part.

I get semi-afraid in the dark. I have a lamp by me that I leave on until I'm under my blanket, a huge ass fan that drowns out 98% of the overall noise, a radio with classical music on very loudly, socks, and ear plugs that block about 75% of the overall noise.

I also keep totally wrapped up in a comforter.

I dunno, that works for me pretty well.

I'm terrified of the dark... Got a real phobia of Aliens.
For me, I just snuggle myself into the blankets tightly, it seems to work pretty well xD

It's normal to fear the dark because cave men did. Just think to yourself that everything in your room is exactly the same as in the day. You could try leaving your tv on at a low level volume all night, that helped my friend.

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Originally Posted by Dreamhope11

It's normal to fear the dark because cave men did. Just think to yourself that everything in your room is exactly the same as in the day. You could try leaving your tv on at a low level volume all night, that helped my friend.

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:shock: how do you know that cave men feared the dark?

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Originally Posted by Altasi

I'm terrified of the dark... Got a real phobia of Aliens.
For me, I just snuggle myself into the blankets tightly, it seems to work pretty well xD

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I so hear you on the alien phobia thing. I try to pretend they don't, but they scare the crap out of me. I had nightmares for a year straight when I was little about aliens, and to this day I start panicking if I see on on the like scifi channel :( Signs was a blast :roll: Watching movies like Mars Attacks really helps though, if you haven't seen it you should :D

Shift because they couldn't see anything and thats when they got hunted by lions, tigers etc.. So the instinct is passed through generation to generation.

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Originally Posted by Dreamhope11

Shift because they couldn't see anything and thats when they got hunted by lions, tigers etc.. So the instinct is passed through generation to generation.

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But has that been scientifically proven?

Our most developed sense is that of sight (relatively). In the dark, a human being is helpless. If something attacks him (a snake or panther), he won't be able to defend himself. So fear of the dark was a nature's way of ensuring man didn't unnecessarily risk his life. Now a predators strike is usually accompanied by a sudden loud noise. So fear boosts man's reflexes/attention and prepares him for flight. Even when man becomes too frightened to move, he becomes harder to see (if camouflaged or in dim light) owing to the fact that moving objects catch the eye better than still ones - which is again a necessity because moving prey and predators are more important than still plants and rocks.

So yes the fear of the dark is completely natural..
How can you scientificly prove any human instinct??

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Originally Posted by Dreamhope11

Our most developed sense is that of sight (relatively). In the dark, a human being is helpless. If something attacks him (a snake or panther), he won't be able to defend himself. So fear of the dark was a nature's way of ensuring man didn't unnecessarily risk his life. Now a predators strike is usually accompanied by a sudden loud noise. So fear boosts man's reflexes/attention and prepares him for flight. Even when man becomes too frightened to move, he becomes harder to see (if camouflaged or in dim light) owing to the fact that moving objects catch the eye better than still ones - which is again a necessity because moving prey and predators are more important than still plants and rocks.

So yes the fear of the dark is completely natural..
How can you scientificly prove any human instinct??

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Precisely, I'm simply saying don't make factual statements if you can't actually prove them.

Thats like saying the moon tastes like cheese, you can't prove it wrong untill someone actually tastes it!

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Originally Posted by Dreamhope11

Thats like saying the moon tastes like cheese, you can't prove it wrong untill someone actually tastes it!

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That's why they invented the scientific method, and why falsifiability is so integral to scientific experimentation. Until it is proven false, there is always the chance that a hypothesis is correct. But to state it as fact is ridiculous no matter how much supporting evidence, especially with the limited amount of research we are able to do on cavemen :tongue: