Are you afraid of cars?
It’s a beautiful day for a ride in the country. The weather’s fine and the road isn’t cluttered with other vehicles. You’ve been looking forward to this all week long and your friends are all ready to go. Your college buddy is driving and, as far as you know, he has never been involved in any accident before.
As you make your way to the vehicle, however, fear sets in. A cold sweat breaks out all over your body and you suddenly feel sick. Your heart beats faster and you start to panic. It’s something you don’t understand and can’t control. You’ve just had your first attack of amaxophobia.
Amaxophobia is the irrational fear of sitting or traveling in any type of moving vehicle. It’s also known as hamaxophobia and ochophobia. This rare condition prevents sufferers from going where they want to except in places that can be reached by walking.
“There are some extreme situations where the amaxophobia definition extends to just about any type of travel outside the home. There are those who believe in order to properly define amaxophobia, it is also necessary to include people who have an innate and powerful fear of walking. However, there is a difference of opinion on this definition among health care professionals,” according to Malcolm Tatum of WiseGeek.Com.
Aside from the above symptoms, amaxophobia is characterized by breathlessness, dizziness, nausea, dry mouth and the inability to think clearly. Patients dread entering any vehicle as they fear they will die there.
“As with many phobias, an individual dealing with this condition will often exhibit a state of extreme agitation when confronted with the necessity of traveling in any type of vehicle. The degree of agitation may range anywhere from a highly excited state where the nerves seem to be on edge for the duration of the trip to states where it is impossible to travel without sedation. The various symptoms for amaxophobia include an inability to breathe, rapid heart rate, the onset of panic attacks, a sense of about to lose sanity, and even a strong feeling of impending death,” Tatum said.
The cause of this fear varies in individuals. For some, it may be triggered by a traumatic incident they experienced early in life. In others, the fear is not associated with riding or driving but a stressful situation that the mind later associates with a vehicle. Some may not be afraid of vehicles at first but their fear accumulates and escalates in time.
“While the exact structure of any amaxophobia treatment series will vary according to the needs of the patient, the ultimate goal of all forms of treatment is to relieve the symptoms associated with the condition and re-train the mind to view vehicular travel as something that is completely non-threatening,” Tatum said.
As with many other phobias, treatment of amaxphobia may take time and may not work for all people. But persistence and patience definitely pay off. With a good doctor and the right attitude, patients will enjoy riding again.
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