i am afraid of the dark.
[{"role": "system", "content": "Fear of the dark is a common fear or phobia among children and, to a varying degree, adults. Fear of the dark is usually not a fear of darkness itself, but a fear of possible or imagined dangers concealed by darkness. Some degree of fear of the dark is natural, especially as a phase of child development. Most observers report that fear of the dark seldom appears before the age of 2 years. When fear of the dark reaches a degree that is severe enough to be considered pathological, it is sometimes called scotophobia (from \u03c3\u03ba\u03cc\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2 \u2013 \"darkness\"), or lygophobia (from \u03bb\u03c5\u03b3\u03ae \u2013 \"twilight\"). Some researchers, beginning with Sigmund Freud, consider the fear of the dark to be a manifestation of separation anxiety disorder. An alternate theory was posited in the 1960s, when scientists conducted experiments in a search for molecules responsible for memory. In one experiment, rats, normally nocturnal animals, were conditioned to fear the dark and a substance called \"scotophobin\" was supposedly extracted from the rats' brains; this substance was claimed to be responsible for remembering this fear. These findings were subsequently debunked. Nyctophobia is a phobia characterized by a severe fear of the dark.\n"}, {"role": "user", "content": "I think I have always been afraid of the dark."}, {"role": "assistant", "content": "I think a lot of people are afraid of the dark or probably what could happen in the dark."}, {"role": "user", "content": "Right. I guess it's a larger fear of something trying to get me since I can't see them in the dark."}, {"role": "assistant", "content": "I think its really interesting that kids arent afaid of the dark until age two. Its almost like they have learned that it can be scary."}, {"role": "user", "content": "I hadn't ever thought about that before. Did you know the fear of the dark is called Nyctophobia?"}, {"role": "assistant", "content": "I was thinking that Nyctophobia is a severe fear.  I wonder if there are different levels of fear of the dark?"}, {"role": "user", "content": "I would assume so. Or well I guess that it would be the fear is stronger for some people than it is others. I'm afraid but can run the trash out in the dark. Others might not be able to. "}, {"role": "assistant", "content": "I think that's completely normal to have some fear. Children especially seem to have different levels that changes through development."}, {"role": "user", "content": "Yes they do. Did you know that fear of the dark is the most common phobia in children?"}, {"role": "assistant", "content": "I did not know that. I wonder what other phobias are common in children. I know my kids are scared of the dentist."}]