Chronophobia: what is it and how to deal with it?

There are many people who are acutely worried about the loss of their own time. Sometimes such fear degenerates into a phobia. In order to choose an effective treatment, it is necessary to carefully understand the features and causes of the uncontrollable fear of the passage of time.

Chronophobia (from the ancient Greek chrono - “time”, phobos - “fear”) is a neurotic fear of time. A person experiences an all-consuming horror of the instantly flying hours and years, inevitably leading to death. Most often, insurmountable fear arises at the moment of waiting for a very important or desired event: any special occasion, wedding, exam or watching your favorite program. A man painfully begins to count months, days, minutes to the expected moment. Life turns into a complete nightmare.

This phobia can occur spontaneously at least during a period of strong psycho-emotional stress. For example, some modern teens initially experience inexplicable excitement when choosing a school. As time decreases before graduation, anxiety increases and gradually turns into fear. And a few weeks before the graduation party, a teenager who has not decided on his future specialty, anxiety can transform into a phobia.

Most often, a phobia occurs in suspicious individuals with an unstable psyche.Sometimes people between the ages of 40 and 50 look back anxiously and realize how much time was wasted. They have a fear of not having time for something very important in life. Seniors experience chronophobia as a result of understanding the inevitability of death.

For the first time, a phobia was recorded during the observation of prisoners for a long time. To prisoners, serving such a long time seems to be something beyond reality. For a short time, the initial intensity of the symptoms decreases.

The emergence of this pathology can contribute to a variety of reasons:

• hereditary predisposition;
• traumatic event that occurred in childhood;
• unsuccessful experience of an accomplished action that did not bring the desired results;
• suffering stress in anticipation of an event;
• imposed fear from the outside: from the media, books, films, messages of friends or acquaintances;
• stressful situations: job loss, divorce, death of a loved one;
• health status: hormonal imbalance, surgery, heart disease, menopause;
• depression, depression.

Unlike most phobias, this anxiety disorder is constantly present in a person’s life, and does not appear periodically during a specific meeting with an object of fear. Sad thoughts haunt a person mainly in the evening and at night. He begins to frantically sort out in his head how many things he managed to complete in a day, while he focuses on the incomplete process.

Along with pathological fear, the following physiological symptoms appear:

• sharp jumps in blood pressure;
• tachycardia;
• rapid breathing;
• digestive system disorder;
• dilated pupils;
• trembling legs and arms;
• fainting state;
• increased sweating.

Psychological symptoms include reluctance to plan long-term business.

Age patients, on the contrary, make detailed plans, being afraid of not being in time. The following psychotic symptoms are inherent in phobia sufferers:

• constant internal voltage;
• nervousness;
• discomfort
• insomnia;
• a feeling of irrevocable loss of time;
• a sense of unreality of what is happening;
• bouts of depersonalization.

The behavioral sign of pathology is the refusal to wear a watch.

At the first sign of a phobia, you need to contact an experienced specialist who most often prescribes complex treatment to the patient. First, the root cause of the appearance of horror before the inexorably rushing time is clarified. Then special situations are simulated that help to get rid of fear of the transience of life.

Psychotherapist prescribes an acute need for pharmacological treatment tranquilizers, antidepressants, antipsychotics. Medicines must be used strictly as directed by a specialist and under his direct supervision. Short courses of taking drugs improve overall well-being, but do not completely relieve phobia.

This phobia manifests itself in each person in their own way, therefore There is no universal method. The therapist selects an individual approach to each person. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is used to teach the patient how to control his thoughts and emotions. In parallel formed critical attitude to the object of fear.

Specialist can advise hypnotic sessions. A person in a trance state, the hypnologist gives an installation on the correct reaction of perception of the stimulus. Negative thoughts are gradually squeezed out of consciousness. Man tune in a positive way. The hypnologist directs the psyche of chronophobia in the right direction. After completing the full course, the negative symptoms of the disease disappear.

Biased ideas about the future are transformed into positive thoughts.

A person is able to help himself with regular auto-training, which reduce stress levels. The far-fetched neurotic fear of losing time is exhausting, but in reality there is no danger. Autotraining contributes to a change in improper installation.

Affirmations, relaxation, yoga classes distract you quite well from disturbing thoughts. An active lifestyle promotes an increase in endorphins and hormones of happiness and joy. The nervous system tinctures of hawthorn, valerian, peony and herbal tea based on peppermint, oregano, lemon balm are well-calmed. The presence of pets has a beneficial effect on the patient.

Self-medication is effective at the initial stage of the disease.

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