Some colours arouse irritation, dislike and intense fear in some people

Rahul was a successful individual who enjoyed his life to the full. His only quirk was that while his car stopped at the traffic lights he could hardly keep his eyes open. The red light was insufferable for him. That meant that unlike other things in his life, driving was a big no-no.

Sapna, a housewife, finally went to a doctor to rid herself from the fear of a particular colour. After repeated counselling, she decided that she was ready to fight it out. It was then that the doctor took out a piece of paper containing her dreaded colour.

Sapna was out of the cabin in a minute. Both Rahul and Sapna are victims of an uncommon phobia or intense fear of some particular colour.

Though extremely rare, there are enough cases that go on to prove that some people do suffer from an irrational fear of some specific colours. That colour may arouse intense dislike, irritation to the eyes and physical discomfort.

The word, ?phobia?, is technically used to describe irrational, disabling fear that is a mental disorder and commonly misused to describe hatred of a particular thing or subject.

Doctors say it is a specific disorder and can always be overcome with proper treatment, but it takes time.

Each year, this phobia causes countless people needless distress. To make matters worse, most colour phobia therapies take months or years and sometimes even require the patient to be exposed repeatedly to their fear factor. Colour phobia or fear for a particular colour is known by different names.

Some call it chromatophobia or chromophobia. The problem often significantly effects the quality of life. Especially, since common colours are sometimes difficult to avoid.

Causes: Like all fears and phobias, colour phobia is a protective mechanism of the unconscious mind.

Generally, the specific colour triggers a specific memory, feeling or emotion that arouses fear in the minds of the individuals. The phobia is usually linked to a past experience. Childhood experiences that have left a mark on the patients? minds may be refreshed when he or she sees the colour. There could be an unlikely event, failure or emotional trauma that is linked to the colour or the patient may associate himself or herself with it.

Experts feel there might have been an event linking colours and emotional trauma.

While the original catalyst may have been a real-life scare of some kind, the condition can also be triggered by various other events as well. The actual phobia manifests itself in different ways.

Some sufferers experience it almost all the time, others just in response to direct stimuli.

Everyone has their own unique formula for when and how to feel bad. Rather reaction to a particular situation for fear for any particular thing differs from individual to individual.

While the original catalyst may have been a real-life scare of some kind, the condition can also be triggered by myriad or various circumstances that any person might have faced during his lifetime.

Symptoms: Some very typical symptoms are palpitation, perspiration, nervousness and avoidance of the particular colour or situation.

?This is an irrational fear so people might do anything to stay away. So any kind of phobia has to be dealt immediately, otherwise, if left unattended it may develop into something serious in the long run. Another symptom is that people tend to stay away from the object of fear,? says a leading city based neuro-psychiatric consultant.

Some people develop defence mechanisms, so they can deal with the fear more rationally but for others it becomes a little more difficult to overcome fear and these are the cases which needs to be dealt with carefully.

Cure: Both psychotherapy and medicines are available to deal with any kind of fear. Moreover doctors, too, believe that drugs do not ?cure? colour phobia or for that matter any other phobia completely.

At best they temporarily suppress the symptoms through chemical interaction.

?Yes, it can be cured through medication, but it takes time. In some cases, both medical and psychological treatment is needed while some cases can be cured with just one type of treatment,? says doctors.

Any kind of fear can be reduced, removed or modified but it cannot be cured for lifetime. It can recur at any time in the future if exposed to the same circumstances or situation.

Doctors feel that the best way to cure the phobia would be communication.

?There is a wide communication gap between doctors and patients. People hesitate to go to a doctor as they are not aware of the seriousness of the problem or are hesitant due to many other reasons. But if there is an increased awareness, then such problems can be solved in a better way,? said a leading city doctor.

Nilanjana Ghosh Choudhury