Featured Fear: Chromophobia (Fear of Colors)

 I hate wearing white. Sometimes I hate wearing pastels. I will usually pick a black shirt if it's an option, though I wouldn't say I'm afraid of other colors. There are those, however, who find that their disinterest in colorful clothes goes far beyond wanting to look a bit thinner or coordinate with their jeans. In fact, for some it may be such an intense dislike - - a fear - - that a handful of brightly colored M&M's might cause a full-blown panic attack. I'm speaking of course about Chromophobia (also known as Chromatophobia).

For sensitive readers, the following image may be traumatic, and I apologize in advance.

There's a story this reminds me of, though for the life of me I can't quite remember or find the title. An artist tried to paint a man who may or may not have been a vengeful spirit / vampire and couldn't get the right shade of red in his cheeks and lips, so she kept grinding the paint into the canvas until she became frustrated and used her own blood. The color took for a moment or so, and then she used even more blood when it faded, driven to using more and more until she lay dead on the floor. Color is symbolic in so many ways, in cinema, in art, and it's a powerful tool for those of us who can see it. When we think about how certain colors can evoke dark moments in stories, it's much easier to relate to this fear. Often, the fear of colors focuses on one in particular for a person who was traumatized at one point in their life. Maybe what stood out was the shade of their mother's dress, the bright yellow of a fluorescent light, or the monochromatic design of a room that dominates that memory.

Sometimes I start reading about these fears with a judgmental lens until I come to understand why they may happen, and I'm never disappointed. Hypersensitivity can even play a role in chromophobia, especially those with related mental struggles. Cultural ties to certain colors can weave fears so deep that the fear of a certain color is a superstition shared amongst an entire group or town. There are so many complex reasons behind this fear, it's hard to know where to begin with treatment options.

Exposure therapy doesn't seem to be quite as common as with other phobias, due to the fact that it's virtually impossible to avoid one color for very long, but CBT is fairly popular. Getting to the root of a fear, working it out, and linking the irrational mind with the rational.

All that being said, Alter (a short film group featured on Youtube) has a fantastic film called 'Chromophobia' and I couldn't help but share it with you, the readers. I suppose red might very well be the worst color of them all.