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Surely most of you remember the terrifying clown from Stephen King’s novel and later movie ‘IT’. Fiction has used this figure, originally a funny being to entertain children, as a character for its horror films, since many children and adults are afraid of clowns. However, there are people who not only have an angry fear of this figure, but their fear goes further, causing them to not be able to lead a normal life if they see someone disguised as a clown on their way. Then, this fear is called a phobia and it should be treated by a mental health professional, provided that the person who suffers from it can lead a life as normal as possible, overcoming this great fear and understanding, in most cases ,
Coulrophobia: possible origins and symptoms
The person who suffers from clown phobia may not be able to distinguish when he began to feel this great irrational fear of this figure. The most common is that the phobia begins during childhood, perhaps during a negative experience of the child in front of a clown, either in a live performance, an encounter in the street during a party or carnival or through television or cinema. Be that as it may, after this negative experience, the subconscious of the child or the adult will have shared that every person dressed as a clown can consequently bring an equally or more negative experience, so it is likely that in their presence they feel uncomfortable or react in an irrational way due to that strong fear.
Thus, you will be able to identify that you suffer from Coulrophobia or that a person you know has this phobia if in the presence of a clown, either face to face or through cinema or television, the person is restless , uncomfortable, closes her eyes, tries to leave the room, or breathes irregularly. All this is caused by fear and in the most extreme cases of the phobia the person could even suffer tachycardia, due to a possible panic attack in the presence of the clown, or run away aimlessly, which could also become very dangerous if you find yourself in the middle of the street.
may cause restlessness, discomfort, or irregular breathing
The unconscious way of acting caused by phobias is what makes them so dangerous, because the people who suffer from them may not be aware of the danger they may suffer due to the fact of being afraid of something that perhaps does not represent or is not as bad as you imagine, causing you to end up hurting himself or herself more with this intense dread, than the same object that causes this phobia.
How to treat Coulrophobia
The person with Coulrophobia may feel a bit ashamed of their phobia, since regardless of how old they are, they may have been teased because of this fear. Clowns are usually held as endearing characters in the minds of most people, as they appear in many children’s programs, movies, circuses and even birthday parties and street fairs, livening up the atmosphere and giving balloons to the little ones.
Therefore, for many it is incomprehensible that someone can have extreme dread of this figure. However, you should have a little more empathy, because everyone fights their own battles in life and we cannot always know the reason for this phobia. You just have to try to understand how the other person is feeling and help them whenever possible. In this case, the most advisable thing is to let an emotional health professional, such as a psychologist or psychiatrist, determine what is the cause that causes this fear to help the patient to be able to cope with the phobia, so that he can carry a life as normal as possible and eliminate the discomfort that can cause fear to clowns.
It should be borne in mind that many people suffer from Coulrophobia, especially children, and this is due to the extreme makeup or outlandish clothing of clowns, which has been the subject of many novels, films and chapters of television series of terror or of murders, so it is normal that in some people the negative part of this character has taken a toll. In particular cases, this phobia may be caused by a bad experience on a personal level, that is why it is important that the person suffering from Coulrophobia always go to a mental health professional, since they can help you better than anyone. People around her should understand and support her, so that she can overcome her fear of clowns, no matter how old she is.
