To still believe in monsters?

The only monsters out there are MEN. Not all but a lot.

Just when I thought it was safe to go back in the water. 🤿🦈

(Tbf I don’t think there are any man eating sharks in Lake Huron)

This was me until my 30s and then all of a sudden it just stopped. I have no idea why. Now the only monsters Im scared of are human ones.

Being afraid of the dark is a natural human response. We are modern humans with primeval instincts. The dark for early man must have been terrifying. Every time you went to sleep you never knew if a sabre toothed tiger was going to pounce, or whether another species of human would massacre the inhabitants of your cave. The world would have been full of weird and wonderful sounds too, most of which probably meant a horrible death. I'm 68 and still scared of the dark.

I don't think you're gullible. You actually know full well that monsters don't exist. You have an OCD/anxiety/phobic mental health condition, which isn't the same as being gullible at all.

There's a famous saying (which was probably first said in the 18th century): "I don't believe in ghosts... but I am afraid of them." It's perfectly possible to fear something while also knowing it doesn't exist.

Similarly, millions of people are utterly terrified of things like spiders, worms etc despite knowing they're completely harmless. It's irrational, and the sufferers know it's irrational, but the fear is still intense and can be all-consuming.

I suspect your condition is treatable but I appreciate it's really hard to get the right support on the NHS for it.

There is no requirement in life that says you have to have the light off! Just do whatever you have to do to get some rest as getting no sleep affects your abilities and your judgement (including about intrusive thoughts) the next day. It sounds like you have had some therapy already- but have they tackled this as an anxiety/intrusive thoughts issue and not just as a phobia. You don't sound phobic, you sound highly anxious and without that treated by therapy/drugs/self-care, it will be hard to get on top of this. If you sleep best with the light on, I'd do that for starters and then seek help from that point outwards.

You just need practice at sleeping in the dark. You know there's no such thing as monsters.

There are monsters, but they aren't zombies, vampires or aliens. Just living, breathing human beings.

Love that video 😅

My mummy say's there's no such thing as monsters, but there are, aren't there?
They mostly only come out at night, mostly.

Also

I don't think you are being silly at all! I am early 60s and terrified of the dark!if DH goes out need all lights on at night. Ghosts are my fear.i have a fairly not too dark room.and DH and I share a massive bed .Halloween is scary as well.i still have my Teddy. He helps .but if I forget him .I can't sleep. 3 nights at my cousin on my own awake for hours!

What you said does sound more severe than your initial post OP and it does seem like a manifestation of an anxiety disorder and/or possibly intrusive thoughts? I think a chat with the GP about it is a good idea, remember that often our minds fix on scary things like nuclear war, or zombies or spiders or whatever because they are scary, but if they are interfering with life, then that's not good and it's wise to get help and support with this.

Sounds like you have underlying anxiety and you were deeply affected watching Zombieland at 12.
Which is interesting because I (unwisely) watched American Werewolf in London at about the same age. It terrified me! It was funny too, but the bits on the moor, and in the tube station, and his scary visions... I couldn't sleep properly for weeks because I was convinced I would wake up to a werewolf in my room.
Even later in life, if I was out in the dark and noticed a full moon, I would think of werewolves and get scared. Sounds mad, eh? I know werewolves don't exist... but I'm also a bit scared of the dark and it seems like my brain locked in on that fear I felt watching a violent horror movie at such a young age.

a-z-animals.com/animals/shark/shark-facts/shark-infested-lakes/

even when I knew logically that sharks don’t live in lakes

Yes they do!

For years I was irrationally convinced I’d be eaten by sharks any time I went swimming in the lake near where I live. I’d be fine for a while, floating around happily enough, and suddenly I would be seized by panic and the absolute certainty I was on the brink of being eaten alive.

It was so embarrassing - even when I knew logically that sharks don’t live in lakes, and the worst that could happen was that I’d be nibbled by a trout or pinched by a crayfish.

It eventually faded away in my 30s. I think I just got too tired for my mind to be willing to spend energy on shark fear anymore.

It’s awful to be scared of something you logically know is impossible - makes you feel like such a mug somehow.

I would sleep with the light on, there's no point in stressing yourself out.

It's not entirely irrational to fear monsters/zombies in films, they are meant to be scary- the problem is if it starts to affect your functioning or daily life. It does not sound like you are too badly affected, and if I was you, I wouldn't persist in doing exposure therapy with zombies because all you are doing is exposing yourself to images that are embedding in your brain, and you aren't going to come across an actual zombie, so I'm not sure what the end point is here- to think of one and not be scared? Try to move away from making them central in your life if you can.

I used to take what I saw on screen very literally too, OP, and also have had phobias connected with that which have lasted years. Don't feel foolish, there are lots of things many of us are scared of which are a bit otherworldly, such as ghosts, spirits, 'signs' or contact from dead people after bereavement, night-time dreams, hallucinations like hearing knocks or noises or even just that certain people are evil. These things are common even though we are all supposed to be rational now.

If you feel you are unusually anxious or it affects your sleep (apart from when you try the light on experiment), you could chat with the GP, but I think part of your problem with this is that you see it as abnormal and that is freaking you out. Lots of people find the dark scary, though, and you are not alone in this even if in your case it fixes on certain types of images. I hope you sleep better tonight.

I think monsters are totally real, but they are always human. The myths surrounding monsters are fables to explain evil deeds and the consequences of naivety in a way that creates distance separates “normal” human behaviour from “evil”.

Autism could mean you tend to be more trusting and literal than some people which would feed this fear. Hope the diagnosis helps, if you get it.
I was extremely scared of ghosts well into my twenties and could be again in some circumstances. You’re not alone.

Keep the light on. It helps. If you can sleep with it on then there’s no need to have it turned off. We’re hardwired to seek the negative, it’s how we stay safe. We don’t have to run away from sabre toothed tigers nowadays but no-one’s told our amygdala that and it’ll pump out the adrenaline regardless.

If you can recognise that monsters aren’t real, that what’s happening to your body is a result of our instinctive fight or flight response then you can start to shut that unhelpful inner voice up. It can take a while for your prefrontal cortex rational brain to override an amygdala hijack, but simply knowing that this is what’s happening and this is why you feel this way can help.

Sometimes tricking your brain with a sigh of relief can stop the fear from growing when it starts. Also worth exploring cognitive behaviour and how our thoughts influence our behaviour in a cycle and how it’s possible to take control to stop the fear embedding in the first place.

Our house rabbit recently died and I literally said last night to my husband we needed to get another one as I heard a bang and I’ve spent years telling myself it’s the rabbit and there’s no need to worry - harder to do now we don’t have the rabbits! So this is actually good advice…

I also don’t like the dark and literally run back from the toilet in fear if I go in the night, but I’m scared a man has broken into my house and is hiding, not of monsters.

Be more afraid of the lunatics freely walking amongst us during the daytime.