Don’t you like the color black or do you panic?
For many people it is unthinkable, but chromatophobia or fear of colors exists. This is the case of melanophobia, a disorder in which the color black acquires the leading role and the character of extreme danger. It is true that we are facing a color that is culturally associated with the fatal, but it does not seem enough to develop a phobia. Or if? We tell you everything about melanophobia or fear of the color black in our dictionary of phobias .
What is Melanophobia
Melanophobia is the fear of the color black. Sometimes by extension this term is used to refer to racist behavior, but in most cases it is a phobic disorder in which fear arises before a certain color: black. The complications and limitations that arise in the lives of people who suffer from this phobia are evident .
Being afraid of the color black means fleeing or avoiding this color, something that is not always achieved. How do you avoid black? You can avoid it in your own home, you can always dress in bright colors, but when you go outside, outside the walls of your own world, encountering the color black is completely unavoidable.
What are the symptoms of melanophobia
It is an irrational and inordinate fear that begins with nervousness. That anticipatory anxiety of knowing that you are going to have to face a supposed danger and that it causes you the usual symptoms such as dizziness, shortness of breath, rapid heart rate , vomiting … And they can reach the dreaded panic attack when the situation becomes uncontrollable.
Because there is more. It is one thing that the person suffering from melanophobia cannot avoid feeling panic at the color black and quite another thing is that they are not aware that their fear is irrational. Why do you suffer from this fear? The feeling that something bad is happening in your mind and especially the feeling of incapacity, make self-esteem problems appear .
Causes and consequences of melanophobia
The symptoms are typical of any phobic disorder . However, the consequences of melanophobia go further, since the limitations are many. People with a fear of the color black are involved in a circle of emotional problems, social isolation and work disabilities that can turn their life into hell .
The next question is, how can someone develop this color black panic? If in most phobias we find the origin in a traumatic experience, it is difficult for us to imagine a situation in which this is possible with the color black. Although everything can be in the world of phobias.
We can more easily locate the origin of melanophobia in an anxiety disorder that creates unfounded fears in the face of the most surprising situations or stimuli. Nor can we ignore the cultural factor in this disorder, since black is associated in many cultures with death , the sinister or fear itself.
How to overcome melanophobia
Any phobia can be overcome, but it is not advisable to try it on our own. Especially if we are talking about a gradual exposure to that stimulus. Overcoming a phobia goes through a psychological treatment that will take time, it cannot be done overnight or only with medications.
Thus, the psychologist will choose the most appropriate treatment, which in most cases of phobias is cognitive behavioral therapy . It works well, so well that it manages to modify both the distorted thinking that makes you see black as a danger and the avoidance behavior that fear leads you to.