The fast-paced and chaotic modern world cannot be called completely safe for humanity. The high risk of mental and physical harm follows a person at every step. And as a result, any adequate person has a natural defensive reaction - natural fear, which mobilizes the body’s resources, makes the individual more attentive and cautious. It is quite understandable that often such warning signals are aimed specifically at using the underground mode of transport - the metro. The subway is a huge crowd of people, crowding in close quarters, staying at depth, exhausted and irritated fellow travelers. Staying in such an environment causes tension and anxiety in a mentally healthy person.
The occurrence of discomfort in many people when traveling on the metro is confirmed by studies conducted by a group of Russian independent experts. Their survey showed that more than 60% of people do not feel safe while on the subway. That is, in Moscow alone, about five million people every day experience fear when traveling on the subway. Passengers are afraid that they might be trampled by a crowd, or accidentally thrown off the platform under the wheels of a moving train. They are deprived of peace by the harassment of homeless people. They are afraid that they may lose their personal belongings from wandering pickpockets. They fear that they may become a victim of a terrorist attack. Or they anticipate that they will simply lose consciousness from the terrible ventilation in closed carriages.
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What is metrophobia
Despite fears and concerns, many contemporaries still use the services of underground transport. But there is also a fairly large group of people whose fear of the subway has reached the pathological proportions of a phobia. For them, the prospect of merging with the flow of passengers causes panic. It is unthinkable for them to enter the subway and go down the escalator. Even the anticipation of an upcoming trip on the subway rewards them with obsessive and insurmountable fear. This abnormal condition is scientifically called metrophobia.
No one is immune from metrophobia. An irrational and uncontrollable fear of the subway can arise in young children, respectable mature individuals, and experienced elderly people. Moreover, in the last decade, the ranks of patients with metrophobia have been rapidly increasing.
Very often, metrophobia is not a single independent fear, but coexists with other anxiety-phobic disorders. As a rule, a person who is terrified of riding the subway suffers from claustrophobia - an illogical fear of being in closed, limited-sized rooms. Often metrophobia is caused by or coexists with a total fear of premature death - thanatophobia.
The foundation of metrophobia is a person’s conviction and anticipation of possible catastrophic events that could potentially occur in the metro. Fear of the subway is based on the fact that the subject believes that it will be difficult for him to quickly leave the station area in the event of an emergency. The basis for metrophobia is also the individual’s confidence that he will certainly have serious and life-threatening health problems while traveling in a train carriage.
An abnormal, uncontrollable fear of the subway completely takes over the patient’s thoughts and makes significant adjustments to his usual life activities. Metrophobia forces a person to take preventive measures, the so-called protective behavior, the essence of which comes down to consciously avoiding the use of the subway.
Thus, the patient faces many new difficulties: he is late for work every day, which is why he is fired. He cannot get to the meeting place with partners, customers, and suppliers on time, so he fails in his own business. He refuses to meet with friends at distances from home, and, as a result, he is deprived of communication with many friends. A person with metrophobia does not attend events that take place far from his place of residence, and therefore does not receive enough pleasures in life.
Metrophobia causes considerable harm when life circumstances develop in such a way that it is necessary to get to the opposite part of the city as soon as possible. And a person who is terrified of the subway does not have time to arrive in time and promptly provide assistance to a lonely relative who has developed a heart attack. As a result, metrophobia instills in a person a feeling of helplessness, insolvency, and evokes ideas of one’s own worthlessness and guilt.
A special danger of metrophobia is that the irrational fear of the subway does not disappear or weaken over time, but, on the contrary, becomes stronger and uncontrollable. As the phobia progresses, cases of panic crises occur more often, and attacks pass with increasingly severe symptoms. That is why metrophobia must be stopped at the very beginning, as soon as the thought that riding the subway is scary and unsafe has crept into your head.
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Treatment
Once you understand the root cause of your fear of escalators, you can overcome it for good. If, for example, the underlying disease causes a phobia, then treatment solves the problem. People with a lack of balance or a fear of depth should hold someone's hand while riding an escalator. An optometrist may prescribe visual aids to correct vision problems that may cause escalaphobia. Looking straight up or at the side railings when moving up/down can help reduce dizziness. It's a good idea to take extra precautions, such as wearing the right clothes or shoes, to minimize the risk of getting caught in an escalator.
In all these cases, it is especially important to gradually get rid of fear. Slowly and in a controlled environment, a dangerous object can greatly help in overcoming the disease.
In extreme cases, a professional therapist can help relieve escalator anxiety. Some examples of such therapies are hypnotherapy, cognitive behavioral techniques, NLP, etc. Finally, you should also read all about the statistics associated with escalators. This will help you understand that escalators are generally safe when used correctly.
Why fear of the subway occurs: causes of phobia
Like other types of obsessive fears, metrophobia arises gradually under the influence of several predisposing factors. Most often, excessive anxiety and the manner of fixing attention on one’s own feelings are due to unfavorable heredity. The tendency to react to a stimulus in one way or another is passed on to children from parents. The importance of a person’s temperament is also important: the weaker the nervous system, the greater the risk of developing neurotic conditions.
A specific physiological state of the mechanism can also lead to the emergence of a pathological fear of the subway. Chronic diseases, vascular pathologies, defects of the autonomic nervous system, hormonal imbalances - all somatic abnormalities negatively affect a person’s mental health.
The leading culprit of metrophobia is a specific personal portrait - the presence of certain qualities in a person’s character. Almost all patients addicted to fear of the subway are suspicious, vulnerable, impressionable and emotional people. They take the information they see and hear to heart. They do not subject the information received to the required criticism. Such people focus on the negative aspects of life and discuss tragic situations for a long time.
Patients with metrophobia see the present in dark colors and do not feel any optimism about the future. They are characterized by low self-esteem, self-doubt, and indecision.
However, the above factors in themselves do not cause metrophobia. For the development of the disorder, a trigger is required - a provoking mechanism. The trigger can be any extreme situation that is directly or indirectly related to the metro.
For example, a person becomes an involuntary witness to a theft being committed on the territory of the metro and sees a victim who in the blink of an eye has lost all his cash. The subject is shocked by the scene he saw, and the thought arises in his head that being in the subway is unsafe. An example of an indirect connection is the case when a person, while traveling in a subway car, experiences some kind of severe crisis, accompanied by pain, for example: an attack of appendicitis. In the individual’s subconscious, a relationship is formed between pain and being in the subway. To prevent pain attacks in the future, the subconscious uses a kind of defense - fear, which protects a person from visiting the subway.
Very often, the onset of metrophobia coincides with the deterioration of the crime situation in the world. Information about terrorist attacks and explosions in public places forces a person to take measures to protect his life. And the fear of the subway is nothing more than a perverted hypertrophied instinct of self-preservation.
Often, metrophobia is associated with incorrect attitudes and prejudices . Some people, on a subconscious level, perceive the underworld as the kingdom of the dead. The underworld, in the understanding of many people, is an undifferentiated dark kingdom filled with suffering and sadness, the abode of the dead and the refuge of souls. A person mired in prejudice simply does not want to voluntarily descend into the “afterlife,” the modern embodiment of which is the metro.
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What to do if panic attacks happen on the subway
When faced with an attack for the first time, it is necessary to undergo a medical examination. If during the diagnosis a disease is identified that causes adrenaline releases, then first of all it is necessary to treat it.
If a person turns out to be physically healthy (this is usually the case), then it is necessary to identify the psychogenic cause and eliminate it. In this case, psychotherapy provides significant assistance.
It is also recommended that a person reconsider his lifestyle and, if possible, change those factors that cause stress and tension.
How does metrophobia manifest: clinical signs
Pathological fear of the subway manifests itself in two groups of symptoms: avoidance behavior and panic attacks.
Avoidant behavior is a pattern of human actions and behavior in which a sick person makes efforts to avoid the possibility of a collision with an object of fear. In a situation with metrophobia, a person simply does not use the services of the metro. He develops travel routes that do not involve the need to go down into the subway. It filters events and rejects those whose venue requires a trip in underground transport.
Another symptom of metrophobia is the occurrence of an attack of intense, all-consuming fear during the period of anticipation of a trip on the metro or while directly on the territory of the station. As soon as she steps onto the escalator, the sick person develops a panic attack. A person’s legs give way and become “filled with lead,” so he cannot take a step, freezing in place. His hands are shaking and his palms are covered in cold sweat. The head becomes heavy, tinnitus occurs, and black dots “fly” before the eyes. He feels that he does not have enough oxygen, so he begins to take frequent deep breaths. The heart rate increases, and the heart beats irregularly. A person with metrophobia may feel the ground disappear from under his feet and he loses consciousness.
Even a single experience of the symptoms of panic attacks forces a person to be on “full alert.” He is in constant psycho-emotional tension and cannot relax. His thoughts are focused only on thinking about the danger of the subway. He cannot concentrate on the task at hand. It is difficult for him to understand the words of his interlocutor; he cannot find the right words to express his thoughts. With metrophobia, thinking resembles “mental chewing gum,” when a person thinks only about the subway and does not react to environmental signals.
Main symptoms of metrophobia
A behavioral symptom of fear of riding the subway is the desire to avoid being in the subway at all costs. A person may begin to worry even when he is simply in the metro area, hears talk about the dungeon, or remembers it. The main physiological manifestations of uncontrollable fear are:
- lack of air;
- spasms in the throat;
- intermittent breathing;
- feeling of heaviness in the arms and legs;
- heavy sweating;
- heart rhythm disturbance;
- trembling throughout the body;
- nausea, vomiting;
- feeling of impending fainting;
- loss of consciousness (in severe cases).
A person gripped by fear cannot concentrate, switch his attention to something and distract himself from obsessive thoughts. At some point, the patient may feel like he is going crazy. During attacks, a metrophobe can easily become a victim of accidents, since in this state he is absolutely helpless and vulnerable.
How to overcome metrophobia: treatment methods
Traditionally, to eliminate the symptoms of anxiety-phobic disorders, doctors prescribe benzodiazepine tranquilizers to the patient. Benzodiazepines quickly eliminate nervous tension, minimize autonomic disturbances, and eliminate anxiety. Such drugs allow a person to forget about the fear of the subway for a short period of time. However, after a while, the attacks of panic fear return, occurring much more often and manifesting themselves more intensely. This natural return of symptoms can be explained by the fact that pharmacological agents affect externally demonstrated phenomena, but they have absolutely no effect on the trigger of pathological fear.
That is why, in order to radically eliminate the pathological fear of the subway, it is necessary to identify and eliminate the original source of the problem. For these purposes, it is rational to combine psychotherapeutic effects and hypnosis treatment. Through psychotherapy, it is possible to instill in the patient the necessary skills to control their own emotions. Understanding the essence of panic attacks gives a person confidence that the painful symptoms do not pose a real threat to his life. Gradually getting used to being in a frightening situation hardens a person’s psyche, as a result of which visiting a metro station no longer causes panic attacks.
However, psychotherapy also has its disadvantages. The whole point is that in order to achieve the required result using psychotherapeutic methods, you need to work long and hard to change your personality. However, not every patient whose mind is gripped by fear is able to experience even greater violence against himself in moments of “accustoming” him to the object of anxiety.
Therefore, the only correct option for overcoming metrophobia is to influence the nature of fear in a state that is comfortable for the person. This possibility is feasible under the condition of temporarily shutting down the function of consciousness, which is achieved by introducing a person into a hypnotic trance. The trance induced during hypnosis is similar to the state that occurs at the moment of transition from wakefulness to sleep. Hypnotic trance changes the locus of control, making it possible to focus attention on exploring one's internal environment. The absence of barriers from consciousness is a chance to resurrect forgotten episodes of life and establish the trigger of the disorder.
After identifying the trigger, the doctor performs verbal suggestion aimed at replacing destructive experiences with constructive feelings. Thanks to this, a revaluation of the past tragedy occurs, and a person is freed from inspired attitudes and prejudices. The result of hypnosis is the acquisition of a mind completely free from fears. A person gains complete control over his inner world and gains the ability to manage his behavior.
Treatment of metrophobia with hypnosis is a painless, harmless, safe technique, the use of which is not fraught with psychological violence and the development of drug addiction. The changes that occur in thinking after hypnosis sessions are natural for a person: the new thinking model is completely comfortable for the patient and does not cause internal resistance in him. That is why, after hypnosis sessions, a person acquires important components for becoming a self-sufficient person, such as: independence, self-control, self-confidence, and willingness to take responsibility for the existing situation.
Today, mastering the theoretical basics of hypnosis and acquiring the required practical skills has become accessible to every compatriot. Hypnosis lessons give a person a powerful tool for ensuring personal psychological well-being and helping people in need.
● Experiments on hypnosis of the Soviet school (creative hypnosis by Professor Tikhomirov). ● Reprogramming the subconscious. Hypnocorrection of life attitudes. ● History of hypnosis and hypnotherapy from the discovery of somnambulism to the scientific approach of the “Russian physiological school”. ● Religious therapeutic rituals and their role in the formation of a sociotype. ● Restimulation of psychotrauma. A small but very significant discovery in hypnotherapy. ● Theory of the origin of consciousness or Bicameral mind. Ideas from psychologist Julian Jaynes. ● Using the example of stuttering, how psychological trauma contributes to survival. ● Experiments in hypnosis (hypnosis in sports, hypnoanesthesia, ultra-deep hypnosis, modeling the state in hypnosis). ● General ideas about dissociation in hypnosis as a separation between “systems of ideas and functions that make up the personality.” ● Will as an emotionless state in which instincts communicate directly with the mind. ● Influence on reflexes in hypnosis.
What is hypnosis and trance?
Super task. Reprogramming the subconscious.
❂ Group VK “Treatment of fears and phobias. Hypnosis training" ❂ FB group "Psychosomatics. Treatment of fears and phobias with hypnosis"
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Signs
Often a metrophobe carries fear within himself. On the one hand, this is constant avoidance of the object of the phobia, and on the other, it is a panic attack at the mere thought of having to go into the subway.
Panic becomes acute if the patient has to use the subway.
In this case, the following symptoms occur:
These symptoms can cause a nervous breakdown, and the presence of chronic stress leads to serious illnesses (strokes, heart attacks).
