Pediophobia or the fear of dolls is not uncommon. The article will discuss the causes of its occurrence, signs and ways to overcome fear. Pediophobia is a type of neurosis in which a person is panicky afraid of dolls. Such a pathology is part of such a concept as automatonophobia (a feeling of horror in front of figures that resemble the outlines of people). With the voiced fear, the pediophobe is afraid of literally all dolls, from porcelain to modern models of toys.
The causes of pediophobia
In some cases, you can observe a child's tantrum or an outright panic of an adult who sees a doll. Psychologists explain this reaction to a completely harmless object as follows:
- Watching films … Not every product of the film industry pleases the viewer with romantic scenes and a happy happy ending. For thrill-seekers, such "masterpieces" are specially produced, from which sometimes the blood freezes in the veins. Among horror films, monster dolls occupy a leading place along with killer sharks and vampires. After watching even individual episodes with such "cuties", some people become pediophobes.
- "Wrong childhood" … This expression belongs to the legendary Sigmund Freud, who wrote a fairly large number of works on this subject. Fear of dolls can begin even for the most innocent reason, when parents severely punish a child for a broken expensive toy.
- Critical situation … In some cases, during stress or an act of violence against the victim, there is not a single living soul nearby that could come to the rescue. Only a silent doll observes the tragedy taking place before her eyes, which is later imprinted in the memory of a person. With a repetition of such stress in the minds of people, a kind of slide show takes place in the form of a return to the past, where a dumb witness of the incident will be associated with a dangerous object.
- "Infernal" dolls … Some manufacturers of these products try to make their products the most visually horrifying. Someone was frightened at one time by the first talking dolls of Thomas Edison, who is also known as the creator of the phonograph and the light bulb. However, his beauties did not have a repulsive appearance, but instilled fear solely because of their innovation. "Infernal" dolls look so threatening that they can then give a sleepless night to the one who sees them, which will then develop into pediophobia.
- Fear of voodoo dolls … There are many rumors and speculations around this ominous symbol. Even a sober-minded person will not dare to keep such a toy at home if he has a family and children. Some sorcerers and shamans have created a fetish out of a voodoo doll that is definitely notorious.
- Rejection of falsehood … Empty eyes, synthetic hair, and artificially bendable knees and arms of dolls themselves do not evoke feelings of fear or disgust. However, at the same time, I recall a plot from the famous film "The Thorn Birds", where little Maggie adored her beautiful doll Agnessa. What horror the child came to when she accidentally saw the insides of the doll.
Note! Pediophobia is, first of all, obsessive fear. Consequently, the nature of its formation lies in the subconscious of a person, which is quite easy to adjust.
Manifestations of fear of dolls in humans
People who are afraid of dolls behave absolutely adequately in everyday life. They calmly visit all public places, but in some situations they begin to change just before our eyes:
- Avoiding dolls … A pediophobe will never visit a department that sells items for children's amusement in his life. It will also be the tenth side bypassing playgrounds and entertainment centers for toddlers. People with a similar problem will buy anything for their child except dolls.
- Unexplained anxiety … If the poor fellow did not manage to avoid visual contact with the object that frightens him, then he will literally start winding himself up. In consciousness, separate fragments of memories from unpleasant contact with the doll will begin to appear, which will only increase the feeling of anxiety.
- Panic attack … After bringing himself to a state of heightened excitability, the pediophobe begins to either aggressively or demonstratively behave. His only desire will be to leave the danger zone at the most active pace.
- Psychological stupor … Not all people have a violent temperament, so their reaction to the doll can be exactly the opposite of the panic sounded above. Pediophobes with a similar disposition of character simply freeze at the sight of a child's toy in the form of a small human copy.
- General deterioration in health … Any stressful situation with a fear of dolls can cause dizziness and bouts of nausea. At the same time, a person has difficulty breathing and even in especially difficult cases, coordination of movements is lost.
Rating of famous scary dolls
In order to study the voiced mental illness, experts conducted a survey among people who are pediophobes or have a tendency to develop such a neurosis. Among their greatest fears, they named the heroes of television films, highlighting six of their most frightening monster dolls:
- 1st place. "Children's games" … The cult film about the Chucky doll is known to a large number of people. The soul of the killer cannot find peace, so it possesses a toy, the owner of which is a little boy. Pretty soon he begins to realize that his Chucky is a revived evil monster. Parents do not believe their son until the city is overwhelmed by an avalanche of brutal murders.
- 2nd place. "Master of the Puppets" … Four psychics became interested in a certain person who announced the possibility of infusing life energy into inanimate objects. It was he who created five dolls in the form of Driller, Leech, Pinhead, Blade and Jester, who began their bloody crimes.
- 3rd place. "Demon's toys" … In this horror movie, a higher evil spirits revived all the items in the warehouse. After the perfect sacrament, the toys began a real hunt for people.
- 4th place. "Doll" … The family of the protagonists, at first glance, seemed to be a conservative and quite prosperous unit of society. However, the newly arrived nanny was simply shocked by the fact that her new ward is an ordinary big doll. In the future, she begins to understand why parents treat the artificial model of a boy as a living person.
- 5th place. "Lovely Dolly" … In the early 90s, a dubbed horror film was released, in which the owner of a toy factory became the protagonist. After an accident in an archaeological site, an evil spirit possessed a beautiful doll, which was then presented to the daughter of the owner of a warehouse for children's entertainment.
- 6th place. "House of Wax" … A company of young people decided to brighten up their leisure time by going to the famous championship. However, not everyone returned from this trip, because they had to meet a devilish master who made wax figures from living people, and his brother-maniac.
If we pay attention to the plots of the dubbed horror films, then the fear of dolls in some emotionally unstable persons becomes quite understandable. To a person with an iron psyche, such a product of the film industry will seem more funny than shocking and frightening. However, children and suspicious people sometimes literally take everything that they see on the screen.
Famous pediophobic personalities
Some stars are afraid to voice their fears out loud, because this information is immediately picked up by the "yellow" press. However, not all celebrities hide their skeletons in the closet and sometimes speak frankly about their phobias:
- Emily Blunt … The famous actress, whom viewers know from the films "The Wolf Man", "The Wild Thing" and "Young Victoria", is one hundred percent pediophobic. Any inanimate copy of a person leads her to indescribable horror. The state of panic begins in the actress at the sight of figurines, sculptures, mannequins and dolls. She explains her phobia with one incident from her childhood, when, during a visit to friends of the family, young Emily saw sculptures of gnomes in their yard, which frightened her very much.
- Chad Michael Murray … The American actor fell in love with the audience after the release of films such as "The Faculty", "The Lone Ranger" and "House of Wax". He announced his dislike for porcelain dolls after numerous visits to his grandmother. The elderly woman was an avid collector of such toys, but the actor was horrified by the empty stare of the porcelain beauties.
- Sarah Michelle Gellar … Domestic viewers know the blonde beauty from the movie "The Curse" and the series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." The famous actress is insanely afraid of cemeteries and all the attributes that are associated with them. During the filming of the series about the destruction of bloodsuckers, she forced the director to create a props instead of a real graveyard. However, the fear of dolls, which they say, is no less a fear of Sarah.
- Ashton Kutcher … The famous American actor is the ex-husband of Demi Moore. His ex-wife has a huge collection of figurines that look like living things. Ashton once asked his soul mate to open a museum and place dolls there, which they scare him so much. Walking through his wife's gallery, he then argued that a sleepless night was guaranteed for him. It seemed to Ashton that some of the pieces from the collection were constantly watching him and were very aggressive.
Ways to deal with the fear of dolls
Almost all mental pathologies, if they are not associated with a severe mental disorder, are treated according to the same scheme.
Medication for pediophobia
In case of acute attacks of panic, which recur periodically, it is necessary to urgently consult a doctor.
The most common course of therapy offered by specialists is the following methods of drug intervention in the human body:
- Phytotherapy … If the patient is not allergic to drugs, then the gifts of nature will help him in the fight against pediophobia. Peppermint in the form of teas, infusions and oils based on it perfectly calms the nervous system. Alcohol-based tinctures from hawthorn, peony and valerian are also very popular among the population. Dill, aged on vodka, will help you calmly spend the night without nightmares and dreams, where killer dolls are wielding. However, it should be clearly remembered that an overabundance in the body of the same hawthorn often leads to heart problems, and the abuse of valerian - to inhibition of the reaction in humans.
- Preparations of the benzodiazepine group … Such treatment is carried out exclusively under the strict supervision of the attending physician. Medicines of this kind are considered by some people to be drugs, which is definitely not true, because at their core they contain exclusively psychoactive substances. After consulting a doctor, he can prescribe taking drugs such as Valium, Nitrazepam, Xanax or Galcion.
- Antidepressants … If a person is clearly aware of the problem he has, then he may lose interest in the world around him. Realizing all the ridiculousness of his phobia, he simply goes into a prolonged depression. In this case, a specialist can advise him on a course of treatment with "Afabozol", "Doxepin" or "Sertralin".
Help of psychologists to get rid of pediophobia
With the help of pills and tablets, you can dull the negative thrill of seeing dolls. However, the problem should be looked for in the subconscious, so the specialist will conduct the following course of treatment for pediophobia:
- Conversation … At the first meeting with the patient, the psychotherapist organizes a heart-to-heart conversation in order to get an overall picture of the person's pathology. Using the “question-answer” method and questioning, the doctor can really coordinate further work with the pediophobe.
- Behavioral therapy … It is very often used in the treatment of autism, but in the fight against the fear of dolls, it also proved to be excellent. First, the general condition of the patient is assessed, and then the principle of minimal invasion is introduced, in which the influence on the human psyche is strictly dosed. The basis of the sounded system is the method of self-observation and homework given by the psychotherapist.
- Anti stress therapy … With this treatment, the main goal is to rid the pediophobe of negative thoughts. In the process of blocking the anxiety state, the muscle tension of a person is relieved, which is an important factor in the conduct of general therapy. With relaxation music, the patient is taught to breathe correctly and control the state of his nervous system.
- Exposure therapy … For any manifestation of fear, experts recommend taking a course of the sounded technique. During such a session, a person is introduced into a stressful situation for him, where he is in it until the bitter end. Knowing that there is an experienced psychotherapist nearby, the patient begins to understand the illusory nature of his fears.
- Hypnosis … With the consent of the pediophobe, he is introduced into a trance for in-depth study of the problem that has arisen. In many cases, one conversation cannot be enough, because the person himself may not know why he is so horrified at the sight of a harmless object.
How to get rid of the fear of dolls - watch the video:
A phobia in the form of a fear of dolls is not a delusional state of an inadequate person, but a newly acquired form of psychosis. It is possible, with a sounded pathology, to close within four walls, where there is a one hundred percent guarantee not to meet with an object that scares. However, life is too good to be wasted in fear of harmless dolls. Therefore, it is necessary to say "no" to illogical fears and start restoring your state of mind.
