Panic attacks as the body's response to stress manifest themselves in unusual conditions, atypical for the individual. The metro has long become a part of the life of a modern person. However, a number of factors (location - deep underground, high density of passenger traffic, roar of passing trains) are initially stressful and can serve as conditions for the appearance of panic attacks during certain periods. As a rule, these are periods of increased tension associated with chronic fatigue syndrome, painful conditions of the body, and stages of neurotic readiness.
Yuri Mamin’s film “The Fountain” convincingly shows an episode of a short-term panic attack in a Kazakh elder who found himself in the Leningrad metro for the first time. This self-possessed, laconic elderly man, accustomed to the harsh conditions of the steppe, as soon as he stepped onto the escalator going down, instantly became confused and, wailing in his native language, began to climb the receding stairs back up. Here the panic is associated with conditions that are unusual for a naive person far from urbanization.
What causes panic in people who find themselves on the subway not for the first time? Those who regularly travel by underground transport to and from work, spending, as Valery Syutkin sings, “exactly forty-two minutes underground” (or even more time)?
Features of panic attacks in the subway
Statistics show that residents of a metropolis are more likely to experience repeated panic attacks in the subway than visitors from small towns and rural areas. Stress accumulates in the body like an allergen, and at some point causes a response in the form of panic.
The first panic attack on the subway always begins suddenly. The person does not understand what is happening to him: he suddenly begins to acutely feel the vibration of the approaching train, and experiences excitement and anxiety at the sight of the train approaching the platform. He feels dizzy, has tinnitus, muscle weakness, especially in the knees, and may even have a headache and nausea. And if a passenger with the beginnings of panic did not have time to board the train and it departed, then a state of disadaptation may appear at the sight of a suddenly formed emptiness in place of the last carriage that had rushed by.
Repeated panic attacks strengthen a person’s belief that “something is wrong” with him, that he is “going crazy.” It turns out to be a vicious circle: panic is already caused by the fear of it and the melancholy anticipation of a new panic attack. A panic attack has a self-triggering mechanism.
Fear of the subway: causes and mechanisms
How does the first attack of feeling bad on the subway occur?
Anyone who suffers from a fear of the subway should understand the following important information:
The prerequisites for the FIRST vegetative-vascular attack, i.e., the one from which it all began, are DIFFERENT than the reasons for the SUBSEQUENT panic attacks (PA) that you encounter in the subway.
Namely: the very first case when the symptoms “covered” almost always occurs due to “objective” (i.e., rather physiological
than psychological) reasons. As a rule, one of 2:
- Your body is somehow very physically weakened, exhausted. This could be: accumulated fatigue due to stress and overload at work or at home, symptoms of a hangover, or side effects from new medications. And even the consequences of dabbling with marijuana (yes, we sometimes encounter this too). The result is a sharp imbalance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic parts of the nervous system, and very strong discomfort, fear, etc. as a consequence.
- You had to watch someone get sick. Or even worse – someone’s death. The observer’s body in such situations experiences extreme stress due to the activity of “mirror” neurons in the brain. Again, with the possibility of a nervous breakdown.
A typical example from a diagnostic interview. Patient
: The first incident occurred while traveling to work six months ago.
It was Monday, I was sitting in the carriage, not standing. Everything is as usual... To tell the truth, I felt so-so. I got up quite sharply, headed for the exit... And then... Everything swam before my eyes, I began to feel nauseous, my head ached, my hands were sweaty, I began to feel nervous... I was very scared and somehow managed not to fall. I barely made it to work. There I decided to call an ambulance. Therapist
: Tell me, do I understand correctly that unpleasant symptoms arose at least for a moment, but before the fear?
P
.: Yes, it seems so.
T
.: You said that you weren’t feeling very well.
What did you mean? P
: On Sunday, that is, on the eve of this attack, my husband and I were doing repairs. We wanted to do everything in time. They worked at a fast pace. I was tired, and besides, I was only able to fall asleep in the morning...
Do you see? Almost pure physiology! The patient did not have time to recover physically from the previous day, plus insomnia due to severe overexcitation. This, in fact, made her “sausage.”
Watching someone get sick on the subway can be quite traumatic.
Why does a single vegetative attack turn into a whole disorder?
The first, as it is now fashionable to say, “an attack of VSD in the subway, does not pass without leaving a mark on the psyche. The brain takes it absolutely seriously - as posing a threat to life, and immediately introduces something like “martial law”.
From this moment on, the brain takes on the responsibility of diligently “protecting” its owner from the new “danger.” How to protect? Yes, the most basic thing: turn on the red alarm button, i.e. powerfully activate the nervous system for standard “fight/flight/freeze” reactions. Activate for real, with the release of the corresponding hormones into the blood, etc. [, ].
In other words, during the first attack, a real psychological trauma is formed
- a neural chain that is subsequently periodically excited, as a result of which a person is “covered” with panic attacks.
Human brain scan results - notice the difference?
In order for a neural circuit to be excited, a certain provoking factor is needed, or, as psychologists say, a trigger (from the English trigger - “trigger”). As a rule, the triggers are everything that a person saw, heard and felt during the first vegetative-vascular crisis in the subway.
Note. The first breakdown could have happened not in the subway, but in another, somewhat similar place. For example, in a supermarket, a crowded bus, a car in a traffic jam, an airplane, on a picnic outside the city, and even in a hairdresser’s chair. This does not change the essence, because the brain easily and quickly transfers these symptoms to the subway.
Were there a lot of people then? This means your brain will sound the alarm in situations where there is a crowd. Was it stuffy? You will do your best to avoid stuffy rooms, trying to avoid a new attack. Bright lights, the sound of an escalator, or a confined space are all typical external triggers.
if you are afraid to ride the subway.
Internal triggers are also identified
. Essentially, these are harmless internal states and phenomena, for example:
- extrasystoles
typical for a healthy person ; - increased heart rate
(say, walking up the stairs); - absent-minded attention
(diurnal declines in activity); - heavy head
due to a banal lack of sleep.
All these sensations are similar to those that a person experienced when he felt ill on the subway for the first time. But if he didn’t pay much attention to them before, now that’s not the case. He is attracted, afraid, and monitors himself with an enviable degree of constancy.
A person is forced to do this because he unconsciously tries to somehow prevent the trigger from activating the neural chain in which the traumatic experience is stored. Otherwise, hello, new panic attack.
A very important characteristic of a trigger is that they fire automatically
, semi-instinctively and very weakly controlled by consciousness. That is why, if the reaction has already begun, recommendations like “stop being afraid!” or “pull yourself together!” They work extremely poorly.
Look what a huge difference from the first attack! The person now approaches (if, of course, he is still able to do so!) to the escalator with caution, with the germ of fear inside. After all, the negative experience of living not the most comfortable minutes in the subway was received and, therefore, stored in memory. And this fear, like a compressed spring, will be actualized if the brain considers it important. And he will definitely think so at the first appearance of the trigger! This will be confirmed by anyone who knows first-hand the problem of “getting sick in the subway.”
It would seem that a “harmless” crowd of people can act as a trigger, causing the most unpleasant experiences.
A conclusion that you must understand for yourself once and for all. Only the first vegetative attacks were caused by “physiology.” At some point, the main factor in feeling unwell on the subway becomes “PSYCHOLOGY”!
Those. the cause is “in the head”, and “only” in the form of psychological trauma, and not in the heart, thyroid gland, adrenal glands or other organs. And the results of medical examinations showed you this, right? If so, it would probably be wise to stop wasting money and effort on additional diagnostic procedures.
What to do if you have a panic attack on the subway
First of all, you need to get off the car at the nearest station. If panic attacks are associated with an escalator, you need to get to a station where there is no escalator and get some fresh air there. Find a comfortable bench, sit down, breathe: shallow inhale, deep exhale. Then provoke your panic attack into a frank conversation, after visualizing it. Who or what does she look like? If your imagination allows, you can take a piece of paper and try to draw your panic attack. Ask: what information does she want to convey to you, what is she trying to achieve? Thank the panic attack for being vigilant. And go home by ground transport.
The worst thing is if a panic attack occurs on the way to work or an important meeting. As they say, problems are inevitable. However, the main problem is still you, your mental health. By the way, in this case, you need to try to answer the question: is the panic attack related to the subway, or is it related to work, or an important meeting?
Animal psychologists and dog experts say that panic attacks in the subway also occur in dogs. A dog that is not adapted to such stress experiences horror and confusion (if, of course, the definitions of emotions, considered a product of an exclusively highly developed human psyche, are applicable to the animal). Anyone who has ever seen lost dogs in the subway knows that their behavior is always approximately the same: they rush around, bark and howl, and when people approach who want to help, they can bite (even if the dog is calm and affectionate under normal conditions).
Recently, citizens have had more frequent panic attacks in the subway, associated with repeated terrorist attacks that occurred during underground train movements. This is what terrorists want: to cause mass panic. However, true panic attacks are not associated with awareness of a real threat to life and health. They may have no real basis at all and look unconvincing to others who do not suffer from neurotic disorders.
Causes of Dungeon Fear
To understand how to eliminate the fear of riding the subway, you need to understand what led a person to such a state.
- Metrophobia as a result of neurotic disorders. Fear of the subway can develop against the background of a fear of confined spaces or a fear of premature death. Those suffering from social phobia may also avoid the metro due to large crowds of people and reluctance to be among them.
- Mental trauma. The development of metrophobia is often caused by a terrible event that happened in the subway (attack, hostage taking, etc.), which leaves a negative imprint on the human psyche. The sufferer could have witnessed a murder, violence, or other traumatic scene. Even a case of theft seen in the subway can have a huge impact on an impressionable person. Severe headaches, panic attacks, heart attacks, and fainting occurring in the subway can also serve as reasons for avoiding the underground.
We recommend that you read: What causes the fear of harming yourself?
It should be noted that suspicious, vulnerable, unbalanced people with a pessimistic outlook on life are more prone to metrophobia. They are unsure of themselves, suspicious, indecisive, see the world around them in gloomy tones and experience any tragedies that happen to them for a very long time. Such a person can easily convince himself that when descending into the subway, an accident or terrorist attack will certainly occur. Such thoughts over time turn into real uncontrollable fear, entailing attempts in any way to prevent being in the subway and moving around the city in this way.
Panic attacks in literature
In modern literature, references to panic in the subway are increasingly common. The heroine of the St. Petersburg writer Kira Grozny, feeling the growing panic on the escalator, is tormented by delusional thoughts: “Why does the moving belt drag passengers underground? For minced meat! And they drive along, calm, not suspecting anything... And then suddenly it seemed that people were going down underground in coffins, with serene expressions on their sallow faces...”
In this sense, some consider Glukhovsky’s best-selling novel “Metro” to be a kind of anti-stress novel, alleviating the collective fear of the metro, while others, on the contrary, are sure that it is harmful for a neurotic personality (why draw attention to the metro by mystifying it and giving it a new role? , besides the traditional one?).
Treating subway fear
The problem of agoraphobic attacks is quite common today. And if there is demand, there will be supply. And indeed, there are many proposals. We immediately reject all kinds of evil eye damage, Hellinger constellations and other semi-esoteric dregs as unworthy of attention.
Nevertheless, you still have plenty of opportunities to waste money (and a lot of it!) in vain. To avoid getting into trouble, let's first look at the principles on which truly effective treatment for fear of riding the subway is based.
How to distinguish an effective treatment for metro phobia from a “scam”?
A specialist who treats you for this type of anxiety-phobic neurosis must solve 3 fundamental problems, which will be discussed below. You must understand that if your treatment ignores at least one of the listed points, then you are at great risk. At best - with money and time, at worst - with health. These are the tasks:
Teach the patient to minimize stress. Your lifestyle should be such that the level of stress you receive becomes safe.
Suppose that, despite your progressive neurosis, you continue to mercilessly exploit and overload your body. And this is not that uncommon. At least a third of those suffering from metro phobia are practically insensitive to the distress signals that the body sends due to an excessive dose of stress.
What does this mean? New vegetative crises! And as we showed earlier, every new crisis is a new psychological trauma or retraumatization. And even if you do a good job on points No. 2 and No. 3, you will still be guaranteed relapses.
Help your brain get rid of the psychological trauma received as a result of the first and/or most intense vegetative attacks.
Let's say your doctor is not too concerned about processing psychological trauma (item No. 2). From the first or second session, you are already studying breathing or relaxation exercises, practicing paradoxical techniques, and starting one or another form of exposure (i.e., a real encounter with a frightening object, in this case, the subway).
Yes, you will take the subway. And you will even experience euphoria from victory over fear - it’s no joke, going down the subway after many months of insurmountable fear that it will become bad!
It's just a cheap trick. Residual effects will very quickly remind you that the trauma is alive and well. It's like a smoldering ember, just waiting for the right moment to start a real fire.
And a relapse is very likely, but what a relapse! Now a new one is superimposed on the old injury! Retraumatization again.
But the saddest thing is that the methods that the hapless psychologist used will no longer have an effect. Neurosis, like bacteria, also develops “immunity.”
People who were unlucky and used this surrogate, which is usually cheap and widespread, become the most difficult clients for agoraphobia therapy. Psychotherapists often call them “spoiled.” Just as clinical psychologists call a “spoiled subject” someone who has read the answers to a test BEFORE testing.
How do you know if psychotrauma has been treated?
Have you had sessions where you seem to be immersed in the memories of the most unpleasant attacks?
This is not necessarily hypnosis. But in a certain form, you lived them, analyzed them in the presence of a psychotherapist... And you felt somewhat uncomfortable - remembering this, poking around... Were there such sessions or not? How to determine that psychotrauma has been cured?
Quite simple. If you remember your first and/or most intense vegetative attacks, and you have ABSOLUTELY no negative experiences, then everything is fine - psychotraumatization is in the past.
Teach you to control your sensations (and emotions) in a REAL environment, i.e. in the subway itself.
Have you and your psychoanalyst been analyzing your childhood for a year now, exploring your parents’ relationships and how it affected you? And the further into the forest, the thicker the partisans? It must be a fascinating process. One caveat - this does not in any way affect the progress of recovery from panic attacks in the subway.
Yes, psychological traumas that are directly or indirectly related to neurosis, of course, must be worked through. But this is not such a long process: for us, by the way, it takes from 5 to 15 sessions. But then the therapist should start preparing you for a real trip on the subway. Using special methods.
If this is not observed, and you begin to delve into some kind of “birth messages”, “birth trauma”, Oedipus complex, etc., then get ready for the fact that your therapy for fear of the subway will be endless. And useless.
Common treatments for fear of the subway and evaluation of their effectiveness
Let's now analyze typical “products” for curing panic attacks in the subway, offered to us by the market of medical and psychological services.
Spa treatment.
Here is a patient going to the healing waters to “heal his nerves”... But will this give a result? Very short term. Indeed, the sanatorium will be relatively calm, the level of general stress will decrease. But you will still feel a hidden fear, which will be stronger the closer the moment when you need to return home. Where, of course, the problem will appear in the shortest possible time.
Quite natural. Psychological trauma has not gone away! And no one taught you techniques for monitoring your mental state, and you did not test their work in a real subway.
Conclusion: Useful in treating neurasthenia, but not agoraphobia. Waste of money.
Nootropics, homeopathy, valerian, etc.
We will not write much about these medications. Quite a funny caricature. You can replace the inscription “glycine” with “phenibut”, “validol” and even “regular chalk”.
Conclusion: cheap, harmless, useless.
Antidepressants and tranquilizers.
What is the main effect of these drugs? In a kind of “pain relief” for the psyche. Antidepressants dampen the intensity of negative emotions, tranquilizers - everything in a row, indiscriminately [, ]. How can this be useful for people experiencing anxiety attacks on the subway?
- The overall level of stress decreases: before you took something to heart, now you don’t. ;
- Negative emotions and sensations generated by psychotrauma have been relieved to a certain extent. There is no such acute anxiety.
When prescribing medication, psychiatrists hope that these two factors will be enough to reduce the intensity of fear so much that the person will have enough strength to start riding the subway. And then, you see, the brain will get used to the new feeling of safety in the subway and will stop generating anxious sensations at all...
The expectations are, of course, rational. However…
- By muting negative emotions, we reduce the “pain” (in this case in the form of anxiety and fear) from psychological trauma. This is all really good. But the injury is still not cured, but only “anesthetized
. Memory and all these pathological neural chains remain unchanged as a result of taking AD. Therefore, even in those rare cases when medications managed to eliminate symptoms completely, the risk of relapse after stopping medication remains quite high; - Antidepressants and tranquilizers teach nothing
. They don’t teach you how to regulate emotions, they don’t teach you how to correctly diagnose the level of incoming stress. They simply suppress negative emotions. Therefore, relapse can also occur because a person continues to treat his body as a slave. Those. again a vegetative crisis, then an injury - and so on in a circle; - Side effects, addiction, physical dependence (from tranquilizers);
- Psychological dependence (see more details here)!!!
Conclusions. They can help. But there is a danger of becoming “addicted” to medications psychologically and subsequently finding it difficult to give them up for fear that it will all come back again. In general, justified, because the likelihood of a recurrence of panic attacks in the subway after stopping the course of treatment is quite high. In our opinion, it should be used only in a desperate situation.
My own psychologist
Nowadays, becoming your own “psychotherapist” is as easy as shelling pears. It is enough to enter, for example, the phrase in Google: “how to overcome the fear of riding the subway on your own.” And in a moment, a whole list of articles, videos and books will open in front of you for independently combating the disorder. We advise you to stay away from all these “products”.
Think about it, the author, when creating a self-help video for PA, who did he have in mind, who specifically was he targeting? On you, or what? Of course not! You don't even know each other! He was probably once afraid to go down the subway himself, but he somehow managed to heal. Perhaps with the help of psychotherapy. And the shock of his “discovery” was so strong that he decided to spread his knowledge!
There is an ancient African tale about a certain young man who was blind almost from birth. And then one day he regained his sight. Not for long, just for a minute. The first and only thing he saw was a donkey. The young man was amazed by his new (and only) experience. Later he convinced everyone that donkeys are the most beautiful thing in this world.
Let the person describe the symptoms exactly as they occur for you. But your brains are different! Experience, childhood, knowledge, physiology, temperament, causes of phobia... Literally everything is different!
This means that the sequence of interventions you intend to apply to yourself will work “outside the box.” And due to the lack of experience, you will notice “deviations” too late. Therefore, the likelihood that you will only make things worse for yourself far exceeds the likelihood of a favorable outcome.
And that's not so bad. The techniques that were so frivolously applied will no longer work for you. Even if a highly qualified specialist undertakes to help you. In a subsequent article we will describe in detail the physiological mechanisms of this phenomenon. For now, please take our word for it.
Conclusions. Trying to recover from panic disorder with agoraphobia on your own is a bad idea. It is unlikely that you will achieve a good result, but the risk of becoming a “spoiled client” is very high.
Trainings
Oh, this is a “product” that evokes special emotions among the authors of the article... Let’s try, however, without strong words.
The training begins with a certain information businessman first throwing free “temptations” to the public. Several techniques for self-help (see previous section). Usually videos or books. People try them: there seems to be an effect, but not completely.
And our doctor is already right there, they say, people, if you can’t do it on your own, let’s go to training! I’m currently conducting a training webinar for those who feel ill on the subway. I’ll tell you everything and show you, you’ll be as good as new! And it costs 3 times cheaper than some kind of psychotherapy... And there is a discount today... Look how many reviews there are from crooks, oh, excuse me, who have completed this training!
And so 200 people gather, each of whom has hope... And again - a flawed treatment... Why should it be effective if it is a mass product, plus online, plus without a hint of an individual approach?
It's okay - they tell you again - there is a new training! It's called Totally Fearless 2.0. If you go through it, you will be happy... Circulus vitiosus in its purest form... Well, we, psychotherapists, and then with our colleagues rack our brains: how can we help a person who has gone through all the circles of this disgrace?
Conclusions. Trainings can be useful for solving relatively simple psychological problems. For example, to master confident communication skills. But in the matter of treating attacks of agoraphobia in the subway, training is evil.
Who can I contact for help?
A panic attack in the subway is dangerous because it disorganizes a person in conditions in which he should be as collected as possible. It is no coincidence that there are posters in the metro that succinctly dictate the rules of behavior: “Passengers are obliged to...”, “Passengers should...”, “It is prohibited on the metro...”, etc. The very tone of the demands emphasizes that the metro is not a place where you can relax, There, transportation is carried out in conditions that are dangerous to life and health, especially during rush hours.
If you are unable to overcome a panic attack in the metro on your own, you need to seek help: go to any metro station employee and report your condition. You could say you feel like you're about to have a heart attack. It is not necessary to disclose the nature of your condition to a stranger who is not a health care professional. A metro employee will call for medical help (most metro stations have first aid stations). Sometimes, in order to relieve the symptoms of a panic attack, it is enough to sit or lie down in relative silence and take a sedative (glycine or valerian). Some clients who experienced panic attacks on the subway noted that ordinary validol helped them.
Finally, the best way to prevent repeated panic attacks on the subway is to seek psychotherapeutic help. As part of reappraisal counseling and other types of psychotherapy, there are support groups for people with a variety of problems, including those suffering from panic attacks. People who have struggled with and overcame panic attacks on the subway are more likely to actively seek to provide support to others suffering from attacks.
Today, psychotherapeutic groups operate in neurosis clinics and psychiatric hospitals, where, in addition to clinic patients, any citizens can come by appointment. These groups are led by the best qualified psychotherapists, and the patients of the clinic are able, like in a mirror, to highlight your own problems. These conditions are highly effective in healing neurosis.
How to deal with a phobia?
At the earliest stage, you can try to eliminate metrophobia yourself. Walking in the fresh air, proper nutrition, healthy sleep and exercise - all this makes the nervous system less susceptible to stress and depression. A person is less likely to be overcome by negative thoughts, he becomes calmer and more balanced. In more severe cases, to eliminate the physiological symptoms of fear of riding the subway, the patient is prescribed tranquilizers or antidepressants. Among them:
- "Phenazepam";
- "Imipramine";
- "Alprazolam";
- "Fluoxetine";
- "Moclobemide";
- "Sertraline".
Medicines relieve nervous tension, reduce anxiety, and the patient forgets about his fears for a while. It should be remembered that after stopping the medication, a person gradually returns to his previous thoughts and experiences. To understand the psychological causes of metrophobia and influence them, the help of a qualified specialist is required. During psychotherapeutic sessions, the patient needs to learn the principles of self-control during the manifestation of panic and learn to independently reduce the level of anxiety. The patient’s subconscious must be confident that the metro is not a threat to life and health. In some cases, the therapist may use hypnosis techniques. This method assumes that the patient can accept the required attitude without internal resistance, since the effect occurs with “turned off” consciousness.
We recommend reading: How to overcome fear and not be afraid of the dentist
Using underground transport has many advantages. First of all, this is a high speed of movement, a low cost per ticket and the absence of traffic jams. If you overcome the fear of going down the subway and forever throw out of your head the idea that the underground is fraught with danger, you can greatly make life easier for both yourself and your loved ones.
Panic attacks on the escalator. Self-medication
If your fear of moving on an escalator does not entail panic attacks, you can try to overcome your fear on your own. To do this, you need to distract yourself from the subject of the phobia. Try to associate riding an escalator with something good and enjoyable for you. For example, you love sweets, and every time you step onto the escalator, allow yourself some candy or chocolate. Or, while standing on an escalator, look not at the feet of people moving towards you, but at the photographs of your loved ones. Thus, you will associate your trip on the subway with something pleasant for yourself.
At first you will have to force yourself, use willpower. You need to do this several times, then you will feel a pleasant sensation and step onto the escalator without fear. If you constantly avoid your fears, you can only worsen the situation, the disease will progress.
The main thing is not to avoid traveling. The more often you take the subway, ignore the stairs at the mall, and force yourself to ride the escalator, the faster you will stop being afraid of it. Be sure to praise yourself for every such action.
Riding an escalator as a treatment method
Or another way of self-medication: draw an object of fear as you imagine it in your imagination. Then tear the drawing into small pieces. You need to do this several times. This will also help get rid of the phobia.
You can write down your fear in detail point by point on a piece of paper. Describe the smallest details of your condition, mentally go the whole way. Try to analyze this situation and make sure that everything ended well.
You need to try to force yourself to face your fear, try to hold such meetings more often. Over time, realizing that nothing terrible happened, a person will be able to overcome his fear.
You need to learn to control and get rid of negative thoughts, like “this escalator will definitely break or fall” or “I will definitely be pulled under the moving steps,” etc.
You need to try to really assess the situation, remember the moments when nothing bad happened, and convince yourself that negative thoughts are, in essence, impossible.
You can try to find as much information as possible about your phobia, people with the same fears and discuss your common problems with them.
Escalaphobia. Fear of the escalator in the subway
Fear of an escalator in the subway is much less common than phobias associated with the subway itself, but on the Internet you can find many “cries from the heart” from people suffering from this illness. Some of them are afraid that the escalator will suddenly break, others are afraid of falling back, others do not trust any moving mechanisms at all, and even in ordinary houses they prefer stairs to elevators.
Interestingly, small children, who have a well-developed instinct of self-preservation, are also afraid of escalators. Seeing such a structure for the first time, a child may burst into tears and flatly refuse to step on a moving staircase. Sometimes this fear is reinforced and carried even into adulthood.
The reasons for escalophobia are the same as for the fear of the subway:
- Negative incidents related specifically to the escalator (for example, the patient himself or someone in front of his eyes was injured or fainted).
- A high level of anxiety, which is transmitted genetically, and then the development of phobias will only be a matter of time and place.
- Chronic stress and nervous tension.
Manifestations of fear of escalators will also be typical - from a fit of terror to a panic attack at the sight of a moving staircase in the subway. If possible, the escalophobe will try by all means to avoid the need to stand on the escalator.
At the same time, most patients believe that their problem is too strange and stupid to see a doctor about, but in fact it is no different from hundreds of other phobias and can be treated quite successfully.
Fear of the escalator in the subway treatment. Fear of escalators (escalophobia): treatment methods
.
In the modern world, every person has encountered an escalator at least once. This happened in a shopping center, or on the subway, or while going to some other public place. But no one thinks about the fact that many people are worried about the fear of this design. After all, it is the fear of escalators that causes many citizens around the world to suffer. In psychology, this phobia is called escalophobia. If at least once in your life you have had a strong feeling of fear before taking a step on the escalator, then you need to seek help from a specialist.
The fear of escalators is called escalophobia
Signs of escalophobia
A person who suffers from a fear of escalators will experience the following symptoms:
- dizziness;
- nausea;
- labored breathing;
- increased heart rate and much more.
How to get rid of escalophobia
If we talk about treatment methods, here we can highlight the following most rational methods:
Changing habits.
- Look forward, but not down. If you are traveling on an escalator in the subway, you should not look down at the moving surfaces of the steps. You should simply look ahead, this will help you stay calm, get rid of the feeling of fear and get to your destination. It will also help reduce dizziness that may occur when traveling on lifts.
- Use of handrails or human hand. It is best to travel on an escalator with a person who can hold your hand or support you. This will help not only to maintain your balance in the subway, but also to feel the balance of your body. Many people who suffer from this condition recommend wearing comfortable and heavy-duty shoes that give them a feeling of security.
- Empty escalator. Many people suffering from this disease are afraid to stand on this moving structure when there is a large crowd riding on it. This creates a feeling of isolation and constriction in their soul. What to do? You just have to wait for the empty escalator and continue on your way in complete peace.
