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Brain Physics » Phobias » hey, i have a question and i hope i get an answer for it, i visited a psychiatrist and he couldn't help me...The problem is that i got raped 2 years ago, and because of that now i have a phobia of darkness and i can never sleep at night..Would u plz help?

hey, i have a question and i hope i get an answer for it, i visited a psychiatrist and he couldn't help me...The problem is that i got raped 2 years ago, and because of that now i have a phobia of darkness and i can never sleep at night..Would u plz help?

Submitted by best_yaya Wed 09/22/2010

It seems likely that what you are actually suffering from is post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Sexual assault is one of the most common causes of PTSD, and symptoms can include fear of things that remind you of the trauma, fear of being around other people, fear of going out alone, and fear the dark. In addition to phobias, PTSD causes people to be jumpy or hypervigilant, anxious, and even depressed. You may have a lot of different symptoms in addition to your fear of the dark that you have not connected to your trauma.

The good news is that once you get proper treatment for the PTSD all of those symptoms will go away. A psychiatrist will usually only give you medicine, however you actually need a type of therapy that focuses on overcoming the trauma. I recommend a type of therapy called “prolonged exposure.” Find a therapist who offers this, as this is the gold standard (you may have heard people recommend EMDR, but there is less research to support this as an effective method).

Best of luck,
Dr. Williams

Monnica T. Williams, Ph.D., Clinical Psychology
No Cost OCD Treatment: http://www.ocdproject.org

 
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