Sufferers experience undue anxiety even though they realize their fear is irrational. Because their fear often is grounded in superstitions, they may worry that breaking a mirror will bring bad luck or that looking into a mirror will put them in contact with a supernatural world inside the glass.
Psychology makes a distinction between catoptrophobia–a fear of mirrors–and eisoptrophobia, which is a fear of seeing your own reflection.
I suffer from this phobia, but strangely enough, not all mirrors affect me. The closest I can get to the feeling of this phobia is that I’m scared to look into certain mirrors, purely because of the fear that I’ll see something other than what I expect. Sometimes I’m scared to have my back to the mirror, and I can FEEL the hands coming out of the mirror at me, or feel the eyes from the mirror watching me. Is the phobia debilitating? Might be to some people, but personally I try to avoid having my reflection in the mirror, or avoid looking at the mirror.
Terry Pratchett, in his book Witches Abroad, discussed the idea that anyone looking into a mirror loses a part of their soul to the mirror, and I think this is also part of the phobia, that a part of me will be irretrievably lost to the mirror.
Much has been said about the mysticality and deception of mirrors in the past: Snow White, Narcissus, Stephen Donaldson’s “Mordant’s Need” series, and more recently Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” with it’s famous Mirror of Erised. Mirrors have always been seen to have some quality about them that makes them “otherworldly”, and occasionally, malevolent. And in many cases, the mirror is said to reflect not just what you see, but what isn’t there. Or maybe just a truth that we don’t necessarily want to face.
Recently, I’ve decided that I’ve had enough of the fear, because in the front of my mind I know it’s irrational (which is why it’s defined as a phobia–all phobias are irrational. So I’ve dealt with it like thus: I’ll stand in front of the offending mirror, look deep within it, and swear at it, daring the apparation that my mind fears so much to make an appearance. Yes, I suppose I’m scared that the mirror will call my bluff, but to date, nothing’s happened. And the more I do this (which is, I suppose, the hardcore way to go), the less I hope the fear will affect me. And I hope eventually that I can look into a mirror one day and laugh at how silly this all was.
Do mirrors affect you in any way? Or have you actually ever SEEN something in a mirror that wasn’t part of what was being reflected?
Good holy mother of satan’s left testicle!!
Fayyaad is my brother! You’re the first dude that I know that is also scared of mirrors. Always thought I was alone in this fear cue the voilion.
They always have freaked me out, especially when the lights are out in the room with a mirror…. good fuck does that freak me. Like you said, scared the other me is somehow going to grab and suck me in. Or that the evil me that I try hard to surpress will be seen to me or somehow escape.
I had a very detailed dream once in where I stared off into a mirror determined that it would not scare me, then it grabbed either side of my face and screamed in my face while pulling me slowly through!!!! I could feel the glass slicing me and the coldness of my reflections hands as it gripped tighter and tighter.
To answer Salmas question – Confrontation! You know you will be scared – so create a ritual to counter the fear (almost like chanting magic), or good old fashioned running.
p.s. Another fear I “had” was touching buttons, yes yes, feckin buttons on shirts etc. Still don’t like the feel of them but they don’t scare me (just feel weird).
On the issue of buttons, you’re alone there, my friend. But yes, I think we might as well be brothers for all we have in common!!
Well since you didn’t have the same fear of buttons I went seacrhing – turns out this is what I have.
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Koumpounophobia: Fear of buttons
The fear of buttons on clothing, known as button phobia or koumpounophobia, is an irrational phobia which is, perhaps surprisingly, a fairly common fear.
Most people who suffer from this phobia are convinced that they are the only ones in the world to suffer from such a strange fear, and they are often teased or taunted by others who do not understand or believe that they are telling the truth.
Irrational fears may be evoked due to traumatic happenings in early childhood, however, most people who do suffer from button phobia seem to admit that they have been afraid of buttons for as long as they can remember. For some people, the fear can also extend to all button-like objects, such as small coins, sequins and other small discs.
Types of buttons
Some people find that plastic buttons are worse than metal ones (like the ones on jeans) or that buttons with four holes are more fear or panic-inducing than those with two.
Degrees of severity
There are several degrees of severity to the phobia, ranging from cringing when others wear buttons and chosing not to wear buttons yourself to not wanting to breathe next to buttons in fear of inhaling one or washing your hands with soap for an extended period of time after any (accidental) contact with buttons. In some people, the sight of buttons may induce vomiting.
Some patients have found that hypnotherapy has been of help to overcome or make their button-suffering less severe.
Now that you mention it, I think my mum has this. She goes around covering all the mirrors in the house each evening. Like you’ll go into her room in the evening and find a big scarf draped over the dressing table mirror.
Funny you mention that, Faranaaz, because my granny does the same thing. She has a huge issue with any mirrors facing the bed and will insist that a room be rearranged to place the mirror in such a way that it’s impossible to see it from the bed. I always put this down to her many eccentricities but I think she may have this phobia as well.
The staunch catholics have this thing when someone dies they cover all the mirrors in the house for a period of time (have forgotten why).
And isn’t this similar to people believing that cameras capture their soul?
I’m tempted to say that we’ve been brainwashed by snow white and hollywood, but then … I know that there are some mirrors that dont show the truth – when we were in wherever (place where mr geek bungyed) there was this long mirror that elongated and thinned us out. Now i know that that’s not the truth!
I think our backgrounds influence how we are seeing mirrors. It was something that we were discussing yesterday after watching “the orphanage”. No-one knows for certain if there are otherworldy elements out there, and science cant prove it one way or the other. It’s all a matter of belief. Why should there be a right or wrong answer/ I enjoy the thought that there are other dimensions to our lvies. (oh, in the movie, mr man and producer doesn’t conclude whether it was real or ghostly. all his evidence points to one way or the other. Which is a great way to tell a story.)
I understand joe’s button thing – i dont pick up buttons that fell on the floor. But then, for me, it’s more a dirt thing. I have this thing about my hands and touching dirt.
hey – you forgot three classics in your mirror list: the picture of dorian gray (wilde) wherein the dude only aged in the mirror and the mirror showed his true side; and candyman the movie – where you say his name in the mirrror and he came out, with bees (he might have left the bee knees at home, though.; and alice through the looking glass.
interestingly, all three have different interpretations of what a mirror is capable of.
Sharon, you forgot “coprophobia” – fear of using public toilets. I remember you mentioned you are always frecked by public loos
Sharon – thanks for that! I did miss those two. Mirrors as a fear phenomenon appear quite frequently in fiction. Another one I missed is the Bloody Mary phenomenon played by teenage girls. Check the link: it’s utterly fascinating, and of course, utterly insane if you like that sort of thing. Precis: Teenage girls light candles around a mirror and chant, daring Bloody Mary (also Hell Mary and several other names) to come out. A good way to spend a night spooking the crap out of your friends.
Edit: Needless to say, I’m am NOT going to attempt the Bloody Mary game any time in this lifetime–it strikes WAY too deeply at the phobia I have.
Sharon – re the staunch Catholics thing – didn’t this happen in Constantine (the movie) as well? I seem to remember something about them covering all the mirrors except one, which was then used to trap a demon that was exorcised.
When I’m alone, and I look into a mirror, I sometimes have a fear of something appearing in the mirror that shouldn’t be there (again, I blame this on scary movies). Sometimes I do think I’ve seen something move quickly, but then it usually turns out to be one of my flyaway strands of hair.
Speaking of mirrors, i am terrified of mirrors. Once when i was younger, I actually looked into a mirror for so long until i started seeing my face slowly turn into a face of an older man and i think that since then, ive been scared to death of them.
Also, i have this fear of being attacked by someone or something when im asleep. how would i get over this fear?
please help!
I’ve been frightened of mirrors ever since we were told the ‘Candyman’ story by the older kids at school – that if you said certain things in front of a mirror he’d appear and kill you or something along those lines.
That week I wouldn’t even go upstairs because I knew mirrors would be there, and ever sinceI’ve been frightened of seeing something in them when I look in them –
Specifically, something stood behind me or my own face being warped or deformed. It’s ridiculous but it’s a genuine fear and I can’t have large mirrors in my bedroom because they frighten me to death at night.
As a child at my grandparents’ house there was a mirror in the bedroom and if I needed the toilet during the night I used to crawl along the floor to avoid walking past it in the dark.
It’s ridiculous and I know it is, but I can’t help thinking of the possibilities.
Also, Dorian Gray ages in a painting, not in a mirror, unless you’re thinking of a film version that I’m not aware of.
@katherine – yeah, thanks! it was a painting with dorian gray!
I have had a fear of mirrors since I’ve about eight years old. So now that I’m almost 25 it seems just stupid! I have gotten alot better though, I use to take my mirror off the wall at night and avoid looking in them. I have confronted my fear over the years and I basicly think I’m over it. But still at times I can feel the fear in me when I wash my face and have to have my head down by the sink still fearing that somone is going to grab me! It’s funny to think this all started a school when these older girls grabed me and forced me in the bathroom while they spun around in front of the mirror and did that bloody mary thing. I had my eyes closed the whole time and after that I started being terrified to be in a room alone with a mirror. I think it’s great that there are sites think this for people to talk about their fears… It makes the fears seems less powerful.
@ R. hinds: I can see how that experience would leave you with a fear of mirrors! I’m glad you’re getting over it, and thank you for sharing with us.
What about the movie mirrors!! helllo guys, its that movie were these mirrors kill u! like ur own reflection kills u..like there was this one seen where this girl was looking in the mirror and she turned and got into the bathtub but her reflection stayed on the mirror and she didnt notice it then her reflection grabbed her upper and lower jaw and started opening it real wide, and the girl in the tub was freaking out, her mouth was just opening and ripping and she didnt now y and couldnt stop it then she died from her jaw being completely ripped open
I am 15 and I have catoptrophobia, im doing a report about it. Mirrors freak me out! Even when I was in elementry school I never liked being infront of mirrors and looking into them. I am afraid that something I don’t want to see is going to show up, or something is gonna jump out at me. I think I developed this phobia by listening to the bloody mary story when I was very young. I can not look straight in a mirror at midnight or after. My heart races faster and I start having an attack. I can’t have my back turned on one either, when I take a shower I occasionally have to look out the curtain to see if anything is there. I remember even making my mom stay in the bathroom with me when taking showers.
Oh God!
Finally, I’ve found other people like me! O.o (according to the catoptrophobia-thing xD)
I have been afraid of mirrors for just a few years, but I can’t even remember when it started.. It’s weird.
It’s funny, because at day time, I have no trouble looking into a mirror, actually I kinda like it.
BUT when night come, and it gets dark, I’m so afraid of mirrors, and I can’t even walk by one, and definitely not look into one!
I can’t quite figure out why I’m afraid of it ..
The worst part is, that I have these 2 big mirrors in front of my bed. I can’t remove them or cover them with something.
It’s really, really scary, and I’m just so afraid >___.< )
I suffer from the same thing.. i have for quite some time, although today is actually the first day i’ve ever admitted it. Honestly, yes, i have seen reflections in mirrors of things that weren’t there… That was 4 days ago. Until then i had my fears under control, but now it is almost exactly as you describe, except i’m almost more comfortable if i am in the mirror’s reflection, but not always.
Ola Zoe
Speaking of mirrors, i am terrified of mirrors. Once when i was younger, I actually looked into a mirror for so long until i started seeing my face slowly turn into a face of an older man and i think that since then, ive been scared to death of them.
Also, i have this fear of being attacked by someone or something when im asleep. how would i get over this fear?
please help!f–
This is similiar to what happened to me.. But i know what it is, it’s part of my religious belief. You saw yourself in a past life, its not the ghost of some man that was watching you, it was you.
Steven-
Ola Zoe-
:S I’ve had the same thing happen to me… I saw my reflection change slowly into one of an old woman… I was meditating in my room and the computer screen had my reflection. At first I tried to stay calm and interally said “ok, go away now please”. and then I freaked out and ran XD
wellthis isnt about a mirror fear but you lot were sharing some weird fears and i have one that i havent been able to fine anywhere yet.
I have two fears, my first is pretty common and that is that i am petrified of bugs which i beleive is called endophobia.
my other which few people know about is a a fear of lines. like in an exam when i get a booklet to answer in for english and its all just lines.
i freak. i can barely stop my self from crying. its not the exam that i am scared of, i know that. but it does mainly affect me when i have a test. and it is the actual lines im afraid of.
im better with blank or grid paper.
so there you go. weird and wonderful brains we all have.
I was just searching if there’s a name for what I have… eisoptrophobia, which is not what I have. But catoptrophobia is exactly how I feel.
This is relatively new for me, and it seems to get worse in time.
Did your method ever work for you?
i saw a ghost like figure of a vitorian man with a gun.
Thnks guys now i know im not the only one…
Aw, this was a very nice post. In concept I want to put in writing like this moreover – taking time and actual effort to make a very good article… but what can I say… I procrastinate alot and under no circumstances seem to get something done.
It’s nice to know that im not the only person in the world that freaks out when i see a mirror. It all really started when i saw the movir mirrors. ive been emotionally scarred ever since.
I sort of have this fear but only when it is dark. Ever since me and my friend stayed in a hotel room one time when we were on holiday. We were standing in front of the mirror and he decided to take a picture of our reflections. He looked at the camera and instantly started freaking out so i looked at it as well and there was a face in the picture of the mirror right next to mine, one we did not recognize it was a very pale face. We smashed the mirror and i have ever since refused to look in a mirror while it is dark.
Well, at first I was glad to find something like this, but now after reading it and all the comments, I actually feel worse now. :l
I think my fear spawned from that BM thing too. My brother locked me in the bathroom with the lights off and started chanting. I was literally scratching and pounding at the door like my life depended on it, and I’ve been afraid ever since.
I actually have that fear of mirrors and I’m glad to know I’m not the only one. It doesn’t bother me if I’m out in public or visiting a friends house but at home, especially in my bedroom, I can’t stand having an uncovered mirror, especially at night or if I’m home alone. I have two full length mirrors but I keep them turned against the wall behind the door and take them out when I want to use them.
I’m not 100% sure why I have this fear but I think I’ll see something in the mirror that isn’t supposed to be there. I remember having a dream when I was a kid where I walked out into the living room, looked in the mirror, and my eyes were glowing. Stephen King has a story where there is a mirror that people see the reaper in and then they disappear. I think reading Through the Looking Glass as a child may have contributed to this fear.
I am also distressed over seeing reflections in a tv screen or window but like the mirrors only in my own home and at night. In a way they don’t always bother me because they aren’t as noticeable but sometimes in a way they are worse as the reflection is more likely to be strange and distorted.
A couple of other odd phobias are a fear of plugging things into an electrical outlet and a fear of spiderwebs. I also hate the sound of spiderwebs. People look at me like I’m crazy when I say that. When I rip them down with something I can hear them tear.
When I was five I had an experience with a glass-door in a dim basement, which scarred me for life.
I wish I could blame it on something like Twin Peaks or Poltergeist III, but those came later.
I’m not constantly afraid of mirrors though, most of the time they don’t bother me. It could be it gets worse when I get bouts of fear of being home alone. Like fecknusername’s mother I can’t face a mirror while asleep, I would either move it or cover it up, and I don’t like looking at mirrors in the dark. But I’m strangely drawn towards now. Like looking at things when you know you shouldn’t be looking at them
I’ve never had any other experiences with mirrors than just the one, and I think it might have been a hallucination or something. Around the same time I saw a king crab roughly the size of our house in the backyard in broad daylight. I have a vivid imagination, and I think maybe when you are a kid, you are just not that able to always make the difference between what you are thinking and what you are actually seeing; it really makes sense that it might be IMAGINATION’s fault that these situations turn into phobias.
Another funny thing is that I once broke a mirror, but nothing overly bad happened the following 7 years
I think I have this phobia. I tend to freak out with anything that reflects, and I mean anything; from mirrors, all the way to tiny pins. I can’t remember any early, childhood events that would cause this. Even now, I’ve never actually seen anything that would give me a reason to fear reflections/ mirrors. I always just blamed it on my paranoia issues. I watched “Mirrors” with my friends, against my will, about a year ago. It made the phobia so much worse!
You say you swear and call the mirror out? Haha, I usually do the opposite! I’ll go up to the mirror kind of slowly and say sorry, or please, or the occasional “Don’t you dare” when I’m really paranoid. I even make sure to say thank you. I guess it makes me feel like I’m on good terms with the mirror or whatever’s in it.
Imagination definitely plays a huge part in it all. I have a very big imagination! It never ceases to scare the crap out of me
By the way, the picture at the top of this page, it just about gave me a heart attack! Still paranoid to go to the top of the page!
There are very interesting comments on here. It in a way makes me feel a bit better.
I don’t like mirrors either! There’s s a myth that if you leave a mirror within seeing range at night, you will get sucked in. I first heard this when I was small, and I’m still a little paranoid about mirrors. It’s not really that bad, but if it’s at night, I won’t be able to turn my back on a mirror. It just seems like something with come out of the mirror and grab you or something. Or sometimes, I imagine seeing another person in the mirror that is ready to grab me, but there is nobody there.
I finally got over this phobia recently. It’s not like I had it for years, but I had it for months now. I’d tell you how I got it, but it’s a long story. I remember not being afraid of mirrors at all during the daytime, but I was afraid of almost all mirrors in dark places or at nighttime. I kept thinking something would come out the mirror to hurt me, or to just stare at me to scare me. I never really faced my fear, it just eventually went away. All I can say for those who have this ridiculous fear is to just face your fear or stop having an over-active imagination. Grab a chair, get some pop-cyorn, and stare into the mirror you fear the most in your household.
Ghosts aren’t real, my friends. And neither is Bloody Mary or other specific demonic creatures who reside in mirrors.
I have an intense fear of mirrors to, but mostly in the night, is there a name 4 that?
it’s been a couple of months since the last post, but given that this has been running since 2009…my contribution couldn’t hurt.
reading these comments have been so comforting…in a paranoid sort of way. i have a fear of looking into mirrors in the dark – i don’t have any within view in my bedroom, and if i have to go into the bathroom at night, i keep my head down toward the sink when i wash my hands so that i can’t look into the mirror above it.
when i was in high school i remember watching my face turn into someone else’s in the dark…i don’t know that that contributes to it…i’ve always been wary of things moving and changing in my peripheral view, mostly in low-lit situations, that i can’t see immediately. i used to call them my night terrors.
i thought it was a spoof. or something eccentric…but i feel a little better that i’m not alone.
DUDE! Your so mean! Why did you put that picture up there? I all most fell out of my chair when I saw that!
I am, or was (kind of still), afraid of mirrors. Only when I turn my back though. I didn’t used to be afraid until I stared watching movies and videos about demented mirrors and such. Now though, if there’s a mirror I kind of start talking out loud and it calms me.
You know, to get here I had to cover up the pictures that came up on the Google search… maybe I am still affected.
I honestly thought that this was such an irrational phobia, that i hated to tell people it and admit to people that they needed to move or cover mirrors.
Once i went to my friends house and when i got up and when to the living room her dad was there watching a show about phobias and laughing about phobias of sharks. Then i said i had catoptrophobia or the fear of mirrors. He laughed at me. It makes me feel uneasy around mirrors
i cant have my back turned to them which sucks because i have a huge one in my bathroom that i cant get rid of because its built into the wall. I cant look into them because im afraid that i will see something that is not otherwise supposed to be there. I feel like the reflections in the mirrors are just imitating us and could stop, which freaks me out. Most of the time i have extreme break-downs where i get really sweaty and my pulse increases. I cant stand mirrors, but im fine with windows as a reflective surface and im okay when there are many people around me (this contributes to my Autophobia-fear of being alone)
I also have irrational paranoia.
If you have the fear of mirrors. Never watch the movie MIRRORS. I dont know how many times i screamed and cried during it after watching 5 minutes of it i quit O_O
I’m catoptrophobic, but I’m pretty cool with it (I got my little routine of running from the bathroom mirror as soon as I’m done brushing my teeth every night, and routine makes the world go ’round). Also, I really liked the description, because that’s totally how I feel. But anyways, I do have a story of seeing something in a mirror that wasn’t there, though it is completely unrelated to my fear. So, once I was about to take a shower and I was, obviously, shirtless. I glanced into the mirror, then sensing something odd, went back for a longer look. I was bleeding from my chest. Of course, you can see where this is going by now. I wasn’t. But I was bleeding in the mirror.
On a totally different note, is there a word for the fear of bathrooms?
Most of the fear of mirrors are due to a superstition. Perhaps the best answer is to use a superstition to combat it. They say if you make a line of salt beneath a portal evil can not enter though that portal. Perhaps it would be prudent to put a small shelf beneath your mirror and add a line of salt on it to block evil from coming through the portal.
Researched phobias today randomly and was so happy to discover this one existed. I’ve been dealing with catoprophobia ever since I’ve had repeating dreams of my image changing in front of me a reaching out to grab me. Also I’ve always been scared of seeing an individual that wasn’t there before or in the same room. I one time hauled off and hit my sister because she quietly walked in behind me when i was brushing my teeth in the mirror. Still deal with it today, but at least now i know im not the only one.