FRIEND OR PHOBIA?

A PSYCHOTHERAPIST HELPS US FACE OUR CLOWN FEARS

Does the very idea of Pennywise fill you with dread? Make you want to turn every light on in the house and probably still never sleep again? Well, it turns out that your fear of red noses and white face paint makes complete sense. You don’t have to have had a McDonalds birthday party go awry to not be a fan of Ronald and co. Coulrophobia, aka the fear of clowns, is prevalent and understandable. Prepare for the science bit. “Clowns wear masks of disguise and terrify by their very anonymity,” explains psychotherapist Phillip Hodson. “We cannot personalise or identify with them – it may seem like facing the Ku Klux Klan – and no one can say who is really toting the grotesque grin. And anonymity is a ripe platform for projecting our fears. Remember, the only infinite quantity in the entire universe is the human imagination.”

While clowns alone can fuel your nightmare fire, the idea of an evil version is even worse. King knows exactly what he’s doing. “Clowns are also ideologically and officially over-benign – polarised symbolically as all-fun figures – so the idea of the ‘counter-clown’ or killer-clown draws on the enormous power of contrast, rather like Lucifer as the evil or anti-Angel,” Hodson confirms. “The evil clown also becomes emblematic of childhood abuse – clowns having a gilded entree into the juvenile world. Clowns are there to amuse not abuse kids so in every sense of the word, a wicked clown betrays his privilege as much as any bent priest.”

And if you want to cure this particular phobia? You might just have to head to the cinema this year instead of running in the other direction. “Phobias develop when an overwhelming experience of fright is followed by flight – we run away from the obnoxious stimulus and thus force our symptoms to subside,” explains Hodson. “But this teaches us just one method of coping – avoidance – which we magically think is the only way in which we can ever manage.” On you go then. It’s waiting. We’re right behind you. Honest.