With his big red nose, his multicolored make-up and his extravagant outfit, the clown marks the spirits during childhood, by his comic side. However, it can also be a scary image for some people. Coulrophobia, or phobia of clowns, is now widely reported in novels and films.

The word “coulrophobia” comes from ancient Greek, coulro uiga acrobat on stilts ; and phobia, fear. Coulrophobia thus designates the unexplained fear of clowns. Classified as a specific phobia, this fear of clowns comes from a single source of anxiety related to the clown, and cannot come from another phobia.

Like any phobia, the subject may feel, in the presence of the object of fear:

• taʻavale;
• digestive disorders ;
• faateleina le tata o le fatu;
• afu tele;
• possibly anxiety attack;
• panic attack ;
• stratagem undertaken to avoid the presence of the clowns.

There are several reasons that can explain the phobia of clowns:

• The impossibility of decoding the face of a person, perceived then as threatening: this is the most “rational” reason, because in connection with the fear of the appearance, archaic in the man, and considered as a reflex survival. It signifies an inability to analyze others because their features are hidden by makeup or a mask, which is seen as a potential danger;
• A traumatic fear experienced in childhood or adolescence: an event experienced in the past can mark so much that one develops a phobia, often unconsciously. A disguised relative who scared us at a birthday party, a masked person at a party, for example, can cause coulrophobia;
• Finally, the impact that popular culture transmits through films on scary clowns and other masked characters (Joker in Batman, the murderous clown in Stephen King’s saga, “that” …) is not insignificant in the development of this phobia. This may concern more adults, and without directly developing a phobia, maintain an already present fear.

As is often the case with phobias, it is advisable to seek the origin of the fear. One of the following techniques can be used for this:

Faʻataʻitaʻiga faʻapitoa o amioga (CBT)

There is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to overcome it. With a therapist, we will try here to confront the object of our fear, by performing practical exercises based on the behavior and reactions of the patient. We thus become familiar with the object of fear (the clown, the image of a circus, a masked birthday party, etc.), by desensitizing the fear.

Polokalame neuro-gagana

NLP allows for different approaches to treatment. Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) will focus on how humans function in a given environment, based on their behavioral patterns. By using certain methods and tools, NLP will help the individual to change their perception of the world around them. This will thus modify his initial behaviors and conditioning, by operating in the structure of his vision of the world. In the case of a phobia, this method is particularly suitable.

EMDR

Ae mo le EMDR, o lona uiga o le le lava ma faʻamalosia e gaioiga a le mata, e faʻaosofia ai lagona faʻaosofia e faʻatautaia e gaioiga o mata, ae faʻapea foi i mea faʻalogo poʻo lagona faʻaosofia.

O lenei metotia mafai ai ona faʻaosofia se faigata neuropsychological auala o loʻo iai ia tatou uma. O lenei faʻaosofia e mafai ai ona toe faʻafouina taimi na oʻo ai o se faʻalavelave ma e leʻi faʻaaluina e o tatou faiʻai, lea e mafai ona avea ma mafuaʻaga o matua le mafai faʻailoga, pei o phobias. 

Hypnosis

We can start early to desensitize a fear, especially in children, who have perceived a feeling of insecurity in the presence of clowns or masked people.

Fear is, for them especially, a lack of experience vis-à-vis the situation encountered: it is then a question of gently facing situations experienced as stressful, without rushing or fleeing, by gradually desensitizing the traumatic experience. .

In some cases, the fear of clowns may subside without special treatment after childhood. For others, who will keep this phobia in adulthood, will be able to choose a behavioral method in order to remedy it, and why not, to watch films about scary clowns, in order to differentiate between “bad” fictitious characters. , and clowns encountered in the past or in everyday life, of the order of the comic and amusing character.