Samhainophobia - You? Your pets?

[Guest guest]

Samhainophobia is the term for an intense and persistent fear of Halloween.

 

" Samhain " is a word with Celtic roots meaning " summer's end " and refers to the

festival held at the end of the harvest season in Gaelic and Brythonic cultures.

Principally a harvest festival but also having aspects of a festival of the dead

and departed! [the harvest of the grim reaper!]. The Christian equivalent of

this original pagan festival is " All Saints Day " on November 1st, and the

evening before Halloween [originally spelled Hallowe'en] is the shortened form

of All Hallows' Evening.

or " All Hallows " Eve.

 

Samhainophobia is the over-egged result of the negative emotional-mental arousal

power of ghostly images, sounds and thoughts, which can be considerable, not to

mention the expectation of all those scary unsolicited calls from

" Trick-or-Treat " callers!

 

Related phobias that can manifest particularly at this time of year are

wiccaphobia (fear of witches), phasmophobia (fear of ghosts) and coimetrophobia

(fear of cemeteries).

 

Phobic symptoms include: breathlessness, sweating, nausea, dry mouth, shaking,

palpitations, mental confusion, fear of dying or becoming mad or losing control,

dissociation [sense of detachment from reality], panic attacks.

 

A standard treatment for these phobias consists of a desensitisation - a

gradually-escalating exposure while in a safe and relaxing environment. You can

download suitable MP3 sound-effect tracks to your PC, see:

www.Amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B001E6SINA/sunflowerheal-21

Of course, you might want to use this range of sound-effects in the opposite way

- to liven up an otherwise dull kids' or adults' party!

 

FIREWORK PHOBIA IN LIVESTOCK & PETS

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Similar desensitising sound tracks for " bonfire night " and other

fireworks/firecracker parties are also available. A webpage of sounds and moving

flashes is online here:

http://www.stress-counselling.co.uk/ADMIN/fireworks.htm