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Chronophobia-The Fear of Time
Environmental Phobias

Chronophobia – The Fear of Time

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The Fear of Time Is Real to Some

Do you often worry about how quickly time passes?

Do you find yourself intently listening to the sounds of the clock ticking? When thoughts about time cross your mind, do you feel uneasy or even terrified?

Before reading any further, ask yourself this: How often do I experience this fear? Does it happen once every few days? Daily? Or do you think about it all the time?

You may have chronophobia, or the fear of time. It’s quite common and affects people of all ages.

Don’t be alarmed. With a little help, this condition is manageable. Let’s take a closer look at chronophobia causes, symptoms, and treatment.

Everything You Need to Know about Chronophobia

Chronophobia comes from the Greek language where chrono means “time” and phobia means “fear.” It is a type of phobia. Health experts describe phobias as an irrational or extreme fear of something.

The tricky part is that time does not normally cause such a severe reaction in others. You may dislike cats but having a phobia of cats is a different issue. Similarly, you might get scared of time passing, but having chronophobia is a different matter.

Chronophobia is different from other phobias, since it’s not a visible object that causes the phobia. Those who fear birds or snakes simply point at them, and others know how to help them. Since time is a concept, not many of us know what to do if someone shows signs of chronophobia. And how can you avoid time or its symbols in the first place?

What Causes Chronophobia?

You may be wondering, Why do I have Chronophobia? Let’s look at some reasons why people develop this irrational fear of clocks and time.

Being Trapped and Uncertain

Have you ever been stuck in a place where it’s difficult to get out? It can be a bad marriage, jail, a bad job, or cramped living spaces. Some people who feel trapped and cannot find a way to escape their situation develop chronophobia.

Prison inmates who are unable to measure time suffer from prison neurosis, which is a kind of chronophobia. Refugees in camps wonder if things will ever get back to normal. These groups may start measuring time obsessively while being unsure about how long they must continue living in their temporary arrangement.

Physical or Mental Trauma

Victims of sexual abuse, survivors of natural disasters or accidents, and the bereaved are prone to other mental health issues. The event may be directly linked to the passage of time, hence the negative association. On rare occasions, a head injury or a neurological disease affects how the brain functions, which can cause phobias.

Aging

A fear of aging or getting old can worsen into a case of chronophobia. They have regrets or apprehensions about how they have spent their time. These people question their choices and are unable to find clarity in their present lives. Their fears could also be the result of a task left undone or unfulfilled desires.

Failure

Having a spate of failures or being constantly reminded of how unsuccessful you are can become another trigger for time-related phobias. These people are ambitious but can never seem to catch a break. They develop this phobia as they start tracking time and seeing how far they are from success.

Terminal Illness

This phobia is common among patients who are aware of their severe illness. They fear death and start developing a phobia of how quickly time is passing by.

If you think you or someone you care about is facing this issue, try to observe and make note of their symptoms.

Chronophobia Symptoms

Those with chronophobia are aware of how unrealistic and illogical their fear is, yet they still succumb to it. That’s a surefire sign they are dealing with a phobia. Here are more symptoms you might experience if you’re struggling with chronophobia.

Mental/Emotional Symptoms

  • Feeling detached from reality, as if the person is watching life from a third person’s perspective
  • Panic attacks
  • Confusion and a sudden feeling of disorientation
  • Overwhelming, dark thoughts of death
  • Fear of losing or wasting time
  • Feeling emotional and acting unreasonably

Physical Symptoms

  • Nausea or vomiting
  • Stomach upset
  • Unexplainable body pain
  • Fainting spells
  • Breathlessness
  • Increase in heartbreak

Symptoms only help identify the problem. If you observe these signs consistently, it’s time to accept that you may need help.

How to Cope with Chronophobia through Self-Help

It is possible for a chronophobic to lead a normal life. The best way to help yourself is by identifying your phobia and taking the right course of action as soon as you are ready.

Try the following:
1. Do research on chronophobia.
2. Make a note of all your symptoms.
3. Maintain a personal diary to write about your thoughts.
4. Confide in your loved ones and talk about how you feel.
5. Try meditating, yoga, or exercise to clear your head and channel your thoughts.
6. Use various mental health exercises to learn new things about yourself.
7. Play games to divert your mind and keep your brain active.

However, if you’re unable to identify the cause of your phobia, or if self-help methods aren’t enough, don’t fret. You can consult a specialist who can help you.

Getting Professional Chronophobia Treatment

There are many professional treatments available for chronophobia. Experts who have treated similar cases may inquire about your medical history and life experiences to identify the root cause of the issue. They may also ask you to take a chronophobia test.

If you visit a therapist, it may take several sessions to understand your problem. Based on the issue, they will advise a therapy tailored to your needs. Most of these therapies are commonly used to treat other mental health issues. Here are some treatment options they might recommend:

Psychotherapy

Also known as talking therapy, the expert methodically discusses your experiences and emotions. As a third person and a trained consultant, they know what to ask and how to decipher the meaning of your answers.

Hypnotherapy

In some cases, hypnotherapy is used to put you in a deep sleep. This allows the therapist to explore your subconscious.

Medication

Consider this a last resort. In severe cases, prescribed drugs can also be used to manage physical symptoms of the phobia.

Learning to Live with Chronophobia

Prevention can be challenging with phobias, as they often focus on everyday objects or abstract triggers that are impossible to avoid. Even after you have undergone treatment, traces of the phobia may linger. Most phobias can never be fully cured. However, you can use various methods to reduce the symptoms.

In Conclusion

Most people fear time and death. However, an unhealthy obsession with either is something that shouldn’t be ignored. See treatment if your fear of time is impacting your ability to live a normal, healthy life.

 

Stories Submitted by Our Readers

Fear of Time

In college, our professor gave the class a timed assignment. We had fifteen minutes to create a media post of our thoughts on the class that day. As soon as I heard the time limit, I could literally hear ticking. Not like your regular ticking, but the one you hear during a movie when the bomb squad is trying to stop the timer on a bomb. I began to feel like I couldn’t breathe, like I was drowning in quicksand.

My main problem is that it’s very difficult to start a task, because I worry about how much time it will take to finish the job. Instead of going to work on the task at hand, I find myself watching the minutes go by like time is on the run.

Mark G.

SUBMIT YOUR STORY

FearAZ.com is looking for personal stories of any 'fear of' or phobia. If you have an interesting story you'd like to share, we welcome your submission. If the story fits with our content and guidelines, we'll add it to our site.
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Your Fear Goes Up and Down

Are you someone who would rather climb the stairs than take the elevator? You call it squeezing in a workout after being sedentary the whole morning. Or perhaps you claim it's a faster route. These are both typical, normal, and acceptable reasons. But what if you need to be in the conference room on the eleventh floor in five minutes, and you're wearing your business suit and wingtips? Would you still prefer to take the stairs? If your answer is yes, then maybe it's time to take a closer look at your reasons for avoiding elevators. Elevators stir all sorts of emotions in passengers. From the discomfort of closeness to strangers to the sensations in our gut, elevators can be a source of the heebie-jeebies for many, but for some, they can also be a source of terror. Let's dig a little deeper into the latter, and see what this terror is all about and what can be done to manage it. To begin with, does being inside an elevator give you chills or the sweats? Or does it trigger an unpleasant memory? Perhaps you remember movies you've watched where something terrible happens inside an elevator. From Silence of the Lambs, The Shining, Final Destination 2, or the king of all elevator horror films, 2010’s Devil, the elevator becomes witness to something sinister and horrible. And you want nothing to do with any of it. You know that you're not claustrophobic. You can deal with heights just fine, too. And you know that you're not going to be trapped inside. All of these contribute to a fear of elevators—but they don't apply to you. Yet being inside one does something to you. It's hard to explain.

What is the Fear of Elevators Called?

What you have is a fear of elevators, which is called elevatophobia. It is most commonly triggered by an experience of getting stuck inside either due to a power outage or technical maintenance. Hearing about other people's experiences or watching a movie about similar circumstances can prompt a fear of elevators getting stuck with you inside. Usually, claustrophobics and agoraphobics may also develop elevatophobia because the triggers and objects of these fears are related. Claustrophobia is the fear of closed and cramped spaces, while agoraphobia is the fear of being trapped without any means of escape. Put the two together, and the elevator becomes the perfect combination of both phobias. The space is limited and closed, with only one means of entry and exit. You can add another point of access if you consider climbing the cables like they do in the movies, but that certainly isn't ideal.

Symptoms of Elevatophobia

If for some reason an elevator stops due to an outage or some technical difficulty, passengers with elevatophobia may go into full panic mode. Even if the maintenance team advises that it will just be a matter of minutes, by then, the person's mind has become irrational with the fear of the elevator falling, being stuck for hours, or other unpleasant thoughts. You would expect a person to exhibit the following physical symptoms: Additionally, you would be filled with that overwhelming anxiety where you feel that you have zero control over the situation. You start fearing the unknown and are filled with negative thoughts about death and imminent doom. You become irrational and unresponsive.

Possible Complications of Elevatophobia

When the panic sets in, the possibility of emergencies related to pre-existing conditions may make themselves known. This might include serious health crises like heart attacks or asthma attacks. When this happens, fear becomes a medical emergency. Elevator rides do not last long; it's just a matter of minutes or even less. But the fact that a person can escalate from panic to a near fatal medical situation classifies the fear of elevators as a 'hard phobia.'

Trying Some Self-Help Methods

Your fear of elevators can likely interfere with your social and work life and relationships. Not everyone understands that elevatophobia, like most phobias, can be crippling. But don't be disheartened. Depending on the level of your fear and level of control, you can gradually face and manage your phobia. Here are some recommendations you can try:
  1. Make a List of Everything that Entails Riding in an Elevator This is a systematic approach to getting over your anxiety. By following a step-by-step process, you can identify where the fear kicks in at its strongest. You can write a list of steps like pressing the topmost button and waiting to arrive on that floor, watching as the door closes and opens, being alone inside the elevator, or having delays with the doors opening. Now try doing the opposite. For example, face away from the door or occupy yourself with your phone so that you are distracted.
  2. Create Your Fear Ladder Although the name says fear of elevators, it is not the whole process that scares you. There are just phases and parts of the elevator riding experience that cause you to panic. So go back to the list you initially created and label the fear level you feel. You can do it numerically, too, like ten being 'really scary,' six, 'manageable scary,' and one, 'not scary at all.' You can put the corresponding fear levels so you can focus more time and effort into activities that are more scary to you.
  3. Face Your Fear By now, you have identified what scares you the most. You can try repetitive action to minimize your fear and increase your sense of ‘normalcy’. Remember that the longer you expose yourself to your fear, the better you get at handling your emotions. If you are feeling overwhelmed, stop. Pushing yourself too fast and too soon can backfire. Modify your pace and go slower instead.
  4. Talk About Your Fear People by nature, unfortunately, are not quick to offer understanding and support. You need to tell them what's wrong before they can empathize. Talk to someone who you trust and ask for their support, especially in the initial phase of overcoming your fear. If you are too afraid to ride the elevator alone, you can ask them to go with you, and before you realize it, you are on your floor, and there was no indication of panic.
  5. Learn To Be Patient Be patient with yourself and your predicament. This is, after all, your fight against fear. It might take hundreds of elevator ride practices before the fear gets under control. Even then, there might be some hesitations and episodes of nervousness. These are acceptable and expected, so cut yourself some slack and congratulate yourself for every progress.

Seeking Professional Help

Along with self-help, you can always enlist a medical professional's aid to support you with your elevatophobia. Talking to someone who has experience with similar cases can be comforting, because you know that you are not alone, and this situation can get better. Talk to your doctor about the severity of your fears and the symptoms that you experience. Explain how you deal with it in an attempt to control it. An exam and a health history are made to ensure that there are no unrelated or underlying problems that your symptoms might mask. Usually, phobias like this are approached with a combination of psychotherapy and medication. Your doctor will talk about these options with you, and it's entirely up to you, with your doctor's recommendation, what you want to pursue. For psychotherapy, the most common type is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which aims to help you find different ways of behaving, thinking, and reacting when about to step inside an elevator or when already inside it. With medications, there are beta blockers and benzodiazepines, but note that these can have side effects. Whatever these side effects are, you should promptly share it with your doctor.

Simple Tips to Overcome Elevatophobia

Elevators are not perfect, but their likelihood to malfunction, fall, or get stuck is very low. If you are not fully confident with this information, you can help overcome your elevatophobia by learning common elevator safety tips and basic elevator operations. These should help curb your mild fear until you become more self-assured. In addition to that, here are some of the things that you can do to gradually overcome your fear of elevators—both in getting on and riding one.

Conclusion

Yes, elevatophobia can be a challenge in today's world, but don't allow the elevator to win. Don't let it stop you from taking a job on the top floor or attending a social gathering on the rooftop. Sure, you can take the stairs if you insist and arrive winded and sweaty, with the party about to wrap up. But is this the quality of life you seek? Elevators are designed to make life easier. There are guaranteed ways to help you overcome elevatophobia. Take the first step and seek help. Soon, you’ll see yourself breezing through the floors with those arduous stair climbs little more than a memory.
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