What Is Chronophobia And How To Deal With It?

Chronophobia is the fear of time, fearing the passing time and future. It’s mainly for people with anxiety issues and depression. People can get obsessed with it by overthinking it and as time is a never-ending thing, the phobia keeps growing. People having Homophobia (Fear of death) and aged people are likely to be homophobic because of the limited time we have in life.

It is also common in the prison population. People having experienced any natural calamity are also vulnerable to Chronophobia. Time is not fully a materialistic thing although Chronophobia is categorized as a specific phobia.

Time is a continuous phenomenon its keeps going and leaves us in the terror of the coming time and the future. Humans have been trying to understand the nature of time for ages and it keeps on confusing us through its ever-changing nature and leaves us in a puzzled frame of mind as we can't find a straight explanation of it.

Symptoms

The chronophobia symptoms may differ from person to person. Some symptoms are the same as trauma like Panic attacks, fear, and anxiety, loneliness, irritability. Other symptoms are;

• Sense of time passing out quickly which in reality is normal
• Being unable to control your thoughts and experiencing persistent haunting thoughts.
• Detachment from the real world
• Fear of dying, absurd thoughts caused by overthinking about death, is common in old age people but can be a symptom in young ones.
• Panic attacks paired with excessive sweating, dizziness, fainting, and shortness of breath, etc.
• Blackout in some situations
• Dreadful dreams, disturbance of sleep-wake cycles, and awful thoughts
• Fearing to think about the time being allergic towards time
• Being unable to understand and explain yourself to others

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Causes

The chronophobia causes are likely to be different for individuals, as individuals behave differently towards different stimuli. There may be several different causes like;

• Experiencing a severe disaster or any natural calamity can cause a person to become homophobic.
• At times it may be genetic.
• If Patients are suffering from anxiety, depression, hormonal imbalance, and various other mental or physical disorders Then their previous ailment can become a cause of Chronophobia
• Living in a controlled environment for some time like a stay in a hospital or even staying in your home in the lockdown during these covid days might trigger Chronophobia.

How To Deal With Chronophobia

1. Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy for Chronophobia is very useful because people in this frame of mind need someone to understand and talk to them. Certain psychotherapies like Brain Working Recursive Therapy, Neuro-Linguistic Programming, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy proved to be helpful in the treatment of Chronophobia

These therapies work on changing the thought patterns of people excluding the negative thoughts of depression and anxiety. And work on the behavioral pattern of the person. Other drug treatments like anti-anxiety and antidepressants along with the therapy are quite beneficial.

2. Meditation

It’s a powerful technique against certain other mental illnesses like depression and anxiety. Speaking of what meditation does to your brain it comes out that it is linked to larger amounts of grey matter in the brain. Grey matter can increase your focus on daily life activities; bring positive emotional changes which are great for Chronophobia. Meditation helps you restrict unwanted thought patterns. It helps you controlling your mind, controlling your thoughts making you calm and relax. It helps to bring you back towards reality

3. Fighting Lack Of Control

To fight the lack of control one should try to analyze things he or she could control and then try to control those things. For example, you can control your daily life activities, your diet, spending time with family and friends and daily work, etc so try to control them. Being able to control yourself gives you self-confidence, the courage to fight your disease, and makes positive emotional changes in you.

4. Understanding Oneself

The feeling of being lost and don't know anything is one of the symptoms of Chronophobia. To fight with this feeling it’s must have a deep understanding of yourself. Try to explore things about yourself and have a better understanding of your phobia. If the sufferer can’t understand what he is going through then obviously he can't communicate with others about the disease.

5. Getting Out Of Your Comfort Zone

To deal with it you will have to leave the comfort zone and deal with your problems. By having good self believe and confidence you can manage your thoughts. Try to think about your fears as less significant for you. It sounds good but it may be problematic for people suffering from the ailment, but by continuously trying something you develop a habit, and then it’s a lot easier