Are You Afraid to Drive? Do You Suffer From Hodophobia?
Are you afraid to drive or travel? We've discussed all sorts of phobias, but this one is particularly unfunny.
Being afraid to drive or travel is called 'Hodophobia.
' This is another little brute that plagues me even to-day, although on a much subdued scale.
For one thing, because of various medications I have to take, I no longer drive.
I still hate the idea of travelling, though.
As I said, it isn't as bad as it was, but I'm still inclined to lie awake the night before, worrying the same nameless worries.
Years ago, I remember, I was fixated on tyres.
I used to convince myself that we were going to have at least two punctures en route and that we'd end up sleeping in a field, or something! Guess what! It never happened! My experience was that it started out as a nagging little concern, to which I'd try to shut my mind.
But it was not to be ignored.
It didn't matter what I was doing, it just went on building and building in my mind, until it reached a plateau and would recede.
Then it would start its tricks again in bed, and the sweats would begin.
However, once we were on the road, things became a lot calmer.
I was much more fortunate than a lot of other poor people, though.
Driving through traffic never worried me, nor did waiting in a long line of cars because of some hold up due to roadworks or whatever.
I know that many sufferers with this condition simply can't take these sorts of situations.
My own condition, then, was by no means serious and if anything was all tied in to my general anxiety disorder.
It follows that Hodophobia, if applied to a fear of travelling, could well be a form of Agoraphobia, the fear of crowded places and leaving environments that are familiar.
Many phobias, and I suspect that Hodophobia is one, may be traced back to traumatic events in early childhood.
Events that may well have been forgotten by the conscious mind, but the subconscious throws up these fears whenever you're faced with a situation that it, the subconscious, remembers.
There are medications aplenty for these two types of phobias, but there's also a treatment called Systematic Desensitization Therapy, developed by a South African psychiatrist named Joseph Wolpe.
It's Pavlovian in nature.
The patient's taken back to childhood first in an attempt to discover the root of the phobia.
Whether or not this is discovered, he or she is then very gradually exposed more and more to their fear(s).
Obviously, this is by no means a 'quick fix,' and as in most therapies, the patients must help themselves.
A form of homework is given by the psychiatrist which the patients are expected to at least attempt to complete between sessions.
There seems to me to be a very fine line between the two phobias I've mentioned, and full blown anxiety.
Another possibility, most especially with Hodophobia, is that travel itself can be stressful.
It's well accepted that anxiety is a normal reaction to stress and so it follows that to travel any distance can well trigger a mild form of Hodophobia.
Funnily enough, I used to find that travelling anywhere by air was considerably less stressful than going somewhere by road, although I must confess that looking out of the 'plane's window at 35,000 feet or so could be a little disquieting.
So if you are afraid to drive or travel, you have my most sincere sympathy.
I do know what it's like.
Perhaps we should all go back to riding horses? Then again, the horse could throw a shoe, and we'd all be back to square one
Being afraid to drive or travel is called 'Hodophobia.
' This is another little brute that plagues me even to-day, although on a much subdued scale.
For one thing, because of various medications I have to take, I no longer drive.
I still hate the idea of travelling, though.
As I said, it isn't as bad as it was, but I'm still inclined to lie awake the night before, worrying the same nameless worries.
Years ago, I remember, I was fixated on tyres.
I used to convince myself that we were going to have at least two punctures en route and that we'd end up sleeping in a field, or something! Guess what! It never happened! My experience was that it started out as a nagging little concern, to which I'd try to shut my mind.
But it was not to be ignored.
It didn't matter what I was doing, it just went on building and building in my mind, until it reached a plateau and would recede.
Then it would start its tricks again in bed, and the sweats would begin.
However, once we were on the road, things became a lot calmer.
I was much more fortunate than a lot of other poor people, though.
Driving through traffic never worried me, nor did waiting in a long line of cars because of some hold up due to roadworks or whatever.
I know that many sufferers with this condition simply can't take these sorts of situations.
My own condition, then, was by no means serious and if anything was all tied in to my general anxiety disorder.
It follows that Hodophobia, if applied to a fear of travelling, could well be a form of Agoraphobia, the fear of crowded places and leaving environments that are familiar.
Many phobias, and I suspect that Hodophobia is one, may be traced back to traumatic events in early childhood.
Events that may well have been forgotten by the conscious mind, but the subconscious throws up these fears whenever you're faced with a situation that it, the subconscious, remembers.
There are medications aplenty for these two types of phobias, but there's also a treatment called Systematic Desensitization Therapy, developed by a South African psychiatrist named Joseph Wolpe.
It's Pavlovian in nature.
The patient's taken back to childhood first in an attempt to discover the root of the phobia.
Whether or not this is discovered, he or she is then very gradually exposed more and more to their fear(s).
Obviously, this is by no means a 'quick fix,' and as in most therapies, the patients must help themselves.
A form of homework is given by the psychiatrist which the patients are expected to at least attempt to complete between sessions.
There seems to me to be a very fine line between the two phobias I've mentioned, and full blown anxiety.
Another possibility, most especially with Hodophobia, is that travel itself can be stressful.
It's well accepted that anxiety is a normal reaction to stress and so it follows that to travel any distance can well trigger a mild form of Hodophobia.
Funnily enough, I used to find that travelling anywhere by air was considerably less stressful than going somewhere by road, although I must confess that looking out of the 'plane's window at 35,000 feet or so could be a little disquieting.
So if you are afraid to drive or travel, you have my most sincere sympathy.
I do know what it's like.
Perhaps we should all go back to riding horses? Then again, the horse could throw a shoe, and we'd all be back to square one
