The clowns often produce various sensations and emotions in us. We usually associate them with fun and endearing moments; pure entertainment from when we were children and enjoyed their occurrences.

However, for a small percentage of the population, the figure of the clown is associated with negative and unpleasant sensations , to the point that they feel real fear. This is what is known as ‘ coulrophobia ‘ or fear of clowns.

Fear of Clowns: The Role of the Subconscious in Coulrophobia

Clown phobia is often closely related to latent emotional causes in the person’s subconscious, so there is no simple treatment to cure coulrophobia. However, there are different treatment methods and techniques that can help those who suffer from this fear with a good rate of improvement.

Symptoms of coulrophobia

The visible part of the clown phobia is the panic, the fear and the anguish of the phobic in the presence of the clown image. Although this fear is often perceived as ridiculous or funny by others, the subject who experiences clown phobia can trigger severe anxiety attacks in the situations described.

Other symptoms associated with fear of clowns are:

  • Feeling of intense fear
  • Tremors
  • Anxiety
  • Tachycardia and irregular heartbeat sensation
  • Difficulty in breathing

Causes of clown phobia

The causes responsible for this irrational phobia are several, and each case is unique. Most people affected by coulrophobia report having experienced a negative personal experience around the figure of a clown. However, most experts in clinical psychology and phobias maintain that the fundamental cause is to be found in the imaginary created by the media (TV, cinema, series) about clowns.

The figure of the clown has been commonly used in horror films as a technique to cause fear to the spectator. Thus, the filmmaker creates a very effective cognitive dissonance, using a figure commonly associated with entertainment and fun as the opposite: a sadist or a psychopath, thus surprising the audience.

There is also a great consensus among mental health professionals that one of the main causes of coulrophobia is due to the characteristics of the make-up used by clowns. The bright colours, the exaggerated eyes and smiles, the red nose, are shocking stimuli for a child’s mind, and can even be frightening, in the same way that some children are also afraid to sit on the lap of Santa Claus .

The fear of clowns, therefore, may have one of its origins in the mistrust generated by the histrionically made-up face, which does not allow the authentic facial expression to be glimpsed.

Treatment for coulrophobia

Many parents choose to try to prevent their children from being afraid of clowns in situations where there are clowns, such as birthday parties . This may seem a reasonable measure if the fear is very intense, but the truth is that clowns can appear in other different contexts. The best treatment to overcome coulrophobia is the one that a professional in psychotherapy can elaborate based on a good diagnosis, to adapt the remedy to the causes of the irrational fear.

The most common techniques and methods of treatment for clown phobia usually include psychological therapy , which through habituation, allows people with phobia to gradually come into contact with the cause of the fear (clowns, in this case), so that the bad feelings gradually diminish.

In the course of psychotherapy based on desensitization , the distress experienced should diminish. The first sessions usually revolve around discussion and reflection on the fear, and later on we begin to see images related to the object of phobia: clowns. If the treatment is successful, the patient should be able to feel comfortable and not suffer any of the symptoms of coulrophobia even in the presence of clowns in the same room. The desensitisation process enables people with clown phobia to gradually become familiar with their fear and eventually become desensitised to the phobia and overcome it.

Bibliographic references:

  • Durwin, J. (2010). Coulrophobia & The Trickster . Trinity.

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