Chronophobia (fear of the passage of time): causes and symptoms

We all get older with the passing of the years.. As time goes by, people accept that we can't do anything to change this situation. However, some people experience the irrational fear of aging, which is known as gerontophobia or gerascophobia, because they suffer great anxiety in the face of physical changes and the consequences that reaching old age has for a person.

However, other individuals experience a great fear of the passage of time, something that causes them great discomfort. This phobia is called chronophobia, and in this article we will learn about its characteristics, its causes, its symptoms, and its treatment.

• Compilation of famous phrases about time

What is chronophobia

Chronophobia is a specific phobia and therefore an anxiety disorder.. It is an irrational fear that creates great discomfort and anxiety for the person who suffers from it, who tends to avoid the phobic stimulus in an attempt to reduce the negative symptomatology associated with it disorder.

According to experts, the elderly and people who are in jail experience it more often. In the latter case, it has been coined as "prison neurosis."

As for the elderly, they are close to the end of their lives and may experience high levels of anxiety about the passage of time, which can make them feel that time is slipping away and experience a strong fear, anxiety and anguish.

Chronophobia can cause a significant and serious alteration to the lives of people who suffer from it, since they are constantly in contact with the phobic stimulus, that is, the element to which fear. Nobody can stop time, so this phobia can develop at any time and place. When anxious responses appear, it is difficult for the person to avoid the feared situation.

Causes of this phobia

The causes of this phobia are not clear, since the phobic stimulus that elicits it is somewhat more complex and abstract than other specific phobias, such as fear of flying, fear of clowns, or fear of spiders.

The vast majority of specific phobias are caused by a traumatic experience during childhood.. This occurs through associative learning called classical conditioning, since an association is produced between a stimulus that provokes a reflex response of fear and another that does not produce it at first, but that with joint exposure ends producing it.

This concept, which he initially investigated Ivan Pavlov, became known mainly for the experiments of john b. Watson, an American psychologist who conducted a series of studies, which today would be considered unethical, on a young boy named Albert. At the beginning of the experiment, the subject enjoyed the company of a pretty white rat, but after successive trials, he was unable to approach the animal due to the intense fear he suffered from the harmless creature.

• To understand how this type of associative learning develops, you can read our article: “Classical conditioning and its most important experiments”

Other causes of this phobic disorder

Now, in the case of chronophobia, the development of this irrational fear has a lot to do with the irrational beliefs that the person has, and by the lack of acceptance of the individual about what is the life.

Some experts say that there may also be a genetic origin, for example, the insufficiency adrenal, which causes the adrenal glands to not produce adequate amounts of hormones As the cortisol or aldosterone, what tends to make a person more susceptible to anxiety and fear. Some people may also have an anxious personality type, which can facilitate the onset of the disorder.

On the other hand, other health professionals believe that people are biologically predisposed to suffer irrational fears, since fears they have to do with the primitive brain, and phobias are produced by associations of this type and not cognitive, so they do not usually respond to arguments logical. This, which may have been highly adaptive in the past and has contributed to the survival of humans over the centuries, can cause this type of disorder.

Symptoms of fear of the passage of time

Like any phobia, the fear of the passage of time causes a series of characteristic symptoms. The person suffers great anxiety as a result of his irrational ideas about the passage of time. Confusion, lightheadedness, lack of concentration, etc., are some of the cognitive symptoms that the person experiences.

In addition, a series of physical and physiological symptoms occur, such as the following:

• Headache
• Dizziness
• Shortness of breath
• Suffocation
• nausea and vomiting
• tremors
• Dry mouth
• palpitations

treatment and therapy

Phobias are frequent disorders, so there are a large number of studies regarding the effectiveness of treatment. These studies indicate that psychotherapy is really helpful, especially cognitive behavioral therapyhe.

This type of therapy includes different techniques, but the most prominent for treating phobic disorders are breathing techniques and exposure techniques (real or imagined). A technique that includes both techniques is systematic desensitization, in which the patient is exposed to her fear and at the same time is taught a series of strategies that allow him to face his irrational fear in the best positive way.

For this type of phobia, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and acceptance therapy are also very useful. and commitment, which focus on acceptance, in the context and how the patient relates to the situation and the problem.

In severe cases, pharmacological treatment is indicated, but always in combination with psychological therapy.

• You may be interested in: “8 apps to treat phobias and fears from your smartphone”