Ambulophobia (fear of walking): what it is, causes, symptoms and treatment

The fear of walking is a mental health disorder that negatively affects the quality of life of people who suffer from it. This disorder can have various causes, from traumatic experiences to genetic, social and other mental health problems. In general, the fear of walking and falling impairs a large part of the social, family and work activities that a person can have in their daily life. The presence of an irrational fear is not usually understood by other people and there are serious problems in building social ties.

In this Psychology-Online article we will provide you with information about the Ambulophobia (fear of walking): what it is, causes, symptoms and treatment.

Index

1. What is the phobia of walking
2. Why am I afraid to walk?
3. Ambulophobia symptoms
4. How to lose the fear of walking

Walking phobia (or ambulophobia) is a mental health disorder characterized by the presence of a irrational and excessive fear of walking in public places

However, in order to make a correct diagnosis, a series of diagnostic criteria must be met:

• Fear and/or persistent anxiety before an object or specific situation.
• Avoidance of the situation or object.
• Disproportionate fear with respect to the real danger that the object or situation represents.
• Duration of six months or more.
• Deterioration of social, work and family relationships.
• The alterations cannot be explained by the presence of other mental disorders and/or the intake of toxic substances or medications.

The causes of fear of walking can vary from person to person. Next, we will talk about the main reasons:

• Social factors: the facts of insecurity, lack of tranquility and distrust of society can be conditioning factors for ambulophobia.
• Environmental factors: traumatic experiences within the family affect the development of fear of walking. In this sense, the transmission of fears about public places by family members make up this pathology.
• Genetic factors: the alteration of the genes transmitted by genetic inheritance also interfere in the responses that the central nervous system produces in front of the stimuli that come from the outside. In this sense, an excessive activity of neural connections interferes with the fear of walking. On the other hand, if one of the person's parents has been diagnosed with ambulophobia, there is a good chance that the same pattern of behavior will be repeated.

Ambulophobia has some symptoms that allow it to be identified, both physical, emotional and/or behavioral. We show you below:

• Intense fear of walking in open and public places.
• Feelings of insecurity.
• Catastrophic ideas about walking.
• Difficulty facing social, family and personal activities.
• excessive sweating
• Shortness of breath.
• Tremors. Here we explain What are anxiety tremors like and how to calm them down?.
• nausea and vomiting.

Despite presenting any of the symptoms mentioned, it is important that the diagnosis of ambulophobia be made by a mental health professional. Therefore, in the event that the symptoms represent a considerable severity for the development of life You will have to go to a mental health center in search of tools to deal with this disorder.

The fear of walking can be overcome by carrying out specialized treatments and guidelines for the remission of typical symptoms. Next, we explain the most effective treatments to lose fear and insecurity when walking:

psychological therapy

First of all, one of the most effective ways to treat ambulophobia is to perform psychological therapy. The assistance from a mental health professional It can provide tools that help identify the thoughts, feelings, and emotions that occur at the idea of ​​walking.

On one hand, the cognitive behavioral therapy works on the problems of the present through techniques such as gradual exposure to feared stimuli, body relaxation, among others.

On the other hand, psychoanalysis is a type of therapy that tries to solve the fear of walking from the memory of childhood situations that are related to the current problem. In this sense, the person can make other decisions in the face of the fear of walking.

psychiatric medication

The anxiolyticsanxiety levels decrease that appear in pictures of ambulophobia since they intervene on the connections produced in the central nervous system. However, their intake should be supervised by a specialized mental health professional.

This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to Ambulophobia (fear of walking): what it is, causes, symptoms and treatment, we recommend that you enter our category of Clinical psychology.

1. American Psychiatric Association (2013). Diagnostic and specific manual of mental disorders (5th edition). Arlington: Panamerican Medical Editorial.

• Delgado Reyes, A. C., Sanchez Lopez, J. v. (2019). Fear, phobias and their treatments. Electronic Journal of Psychology Iztacala, 22 (2), 798-833.