Fear of broken dolls?

Question

my friend is very scared of broken dolls even though she's an adult...she's been scared of them since she was a little kid...everytime she sees one she automatically runs or screams or hides...she wont try to get over her fear...how can she stop being scared of them? also does this fear have any phcycological meaning?

Answer 1

I think that this is a fear that she can live with.

How often does she come in contact with a broken doll?

While some fears can hinder your every day life, this is not one of them, and I don't really think that there is anything that you or your friend needs to be worried about.

Answer 2

Ok...breaking this down. What part of the fear disturbs her the most, because this is a compound thing? Is it the fear of dolls, or of the brokenness? I'm only asking because chances are the treatment would be different depending on what gets to her the worst.

--If it's really just dolls she is scared of, that is a classic phobia--pediophobia (*not* to be confused with fear of children, which would be pedo-phobia)--and can likely be worked on in much the same fashion any other phobia can be: she goes to a therapist, they work together with behavioral strategies to help her cope with the fear and panic reactions first, then *gradually* work on desensitizing her to exposure to the feared object.

I've had a prior phobia of dogs before and it works out much the same way. You learn how to control the reactions first, then you slowly expose yourself until you have a *different* reaction to the feared thing....not that I'll ever *like* dogs, but they don't terrify me anymore.

--If the fear is more of "brokenness" then the problem is slightly more complicated. *Everyone* has, to some degree, a fear of "people" who seem "broken", and this does extend to "fake people" like dolls and toys as well. The theory behind this is commonly referred to as the Valley of the Uncanny, and yes, it is a Freudian theory, but one of the few that has been proven in studies (mainly in Japan, in the late 1990s) where people have bothered to crunch the numbers and do the statistics.

Basically the idea is, people with an ordinary Valley of the Uncanny, they have a positive regard for simple "fake people" (toys) and for complex ones (think sci-fi robots), but somewhere in the middle, the sense of "brokenness" or "wrongness" overpowers that, leaving the person with an impression of "Zombie" or "Monster"....

Where it gets complicated is that different people have different curves when it comes to their Valley. Some people naturally are creeped out by *anything* artificial that looks human. Others have a high tolerance for anything that is humanoid yet fake. And other people, particularly those who are prone to *autistic spectrum symptoms*, have a tendency to *confuse* persons and objects altogether....they regard objects as people, or mis-recognize people as objects.

Point is....your friend *would* be right to freak out....over seeing a "broken Person", right? Someone who is injured or hurt? Okay then. ^_^ It might be a phobia, or, your friend might have a problem, under some circumstances, with confusing her person/object boundaries. And if that boundary is confused, it might be a natural thing (do autism and/or autism-like syndromes run in her family?), or it might be a by-product of *something else* going wrong, like post-traumatic stress, dissociation, or Schizotypal thinking (either full-blown schizophrenia or just the schizoid personality).

So yeah, if it's more the "brokenness" that is disturbing her, then it *could be* more than a simple phobia of dolls (or not--some people who are "creeped out by dolls" are that way naturally). It complicates things enough that it *would* take a professional to figure it out.

So yeah....sorry to say this, but you and your friend need to get offline, get off of Yahoo Answers, and seek professional help. This stuff is likely going to be way too confusing for us armchair amateurs--even those of us with some *experience*--to figure out.

Just saying....take care and stay safe.

Answer 3

Yes There Has To Be An Underlying Issue! NO SHE IS NOT CRAZY!!!! She may be afraid of broken relationships has her parents divorced when she was little? Did she lose an animal she has loved? This reminds her of something! She may never know herself! Maybe a counselor could help her out if she was really wanting to know! She will be fine in life!! Even if she does not never go to counseling! Leave Her Alone And Drop The Conversation With Her On This!!!!!

Answer 4

Well, like they always say, "The only way to get over your fears is to confront them."

So she should do just that.

Answer 5

what the **** is this?