Fear of clocks and watches (chronophobia): causes, symptoms and treatment

Another rare phobia whose causes may be completely misunderstood.

Humans can develop fears of anything, and sometimes these fears are irrational and persistent. This is known as a phobia, a disorder that usually develops as a result of a traumatic experience in the past..

There are many types of phobias. Some of them very strange as we explained in our article "The 15 strangest phobias that exist". Some phobic disorders may surprise many people because of the harmlessness of the feared stimulus. A clear example is chronometrophobia or fear of clocks.

I'm sure many readers are wondering, "how is it possible that such a useful and harmless gadget can provoke fear?" In this article we will answer this question and delve into the causes, symptoms and treatment of this disorder.

What is chronophobia

As we said at the beginning of the article, phobias come in many types. You can check them out in our article "Types of phobias: exploring fear disorders".

These irrational fears can be classified into social phobias, agoraphobia or specific or simple phobias. The latter are distinguished from the former because the phobic stimulus is an object, an activity, a situation or an animal. The phobia to clowns (coulrophobia), to dogs (cynophobia) and, of course, the phobia to clocks (chronophobia), phobia of clocks (chronophobia) belong to this type of phobias..

Phobias are included in the group of anxiety disorders, so anxiety, in addition to extreme fear, is one of the characteristic symptoms of this disorder. People who suffer from chronometrophobia, in the presence of clocks or the imagination of them, feel extreme fear, anxiety, confusion, the need to avoid the feared stimulus and many other symptoms that cause discomfort.

The relation of this phobia with the fear of the passage of time or chronophobia

Clocks are objects that tell us the time and allow us to know the temporal moment in which we are. For the life of human beings today, these devices are very useful.

But some people develop these phobias for different reasons. In some cases, this phobia is associated with chronophobia or fear of the passage of time.. This disorder is complex, and according to experts, older people and individuals who are in prison experience it more commonly. In the case of the incarcerated, this disorder is called "prison neurosis".

• If you want to learn more about this pathology, you can read our article: "Chronophobia (fear of the passing of time): causes, symptoms and treatment".

Causes of clock phobia

But clock phobia does not only appear as a consequence of chronophobia. The most common cause is a consequence of a traumatic experience, usually in childhood.. Chronophobia develops by classical conditioning, since it occurs by the association of a stimulus that initially provokes a reflex response of fear and another stimulus that originally does not provoke it. The latter stimulus is called the neutral stimulus. After these stimuli are presented together, and as a result of the traumatic experience, the neutral stimulus can elicit a fear response.

Ivan Pavlov originally investigated this phenomenon; however, the first researcher who succeeded in developing a phobia in humans was John B. Watson, an American psychologist who conducted a series of studies that today are considered unethical.

• To go deeper into this topic, you can read our article "Classical conditioning and its most important experiments".

Symptoms

Now, this phobia also has an effect on the behavior of the subject, who, in the presence of clocks, tends to avoid them. Other characteristic symptoms, known as physical symptoms, are:

• Accelerated heartbeat.
• Increased Heart rate.
• Sensation of shortness of breath and hyperventilation.
• Hypersweating.
• Dry mouth.
• Intestinal discomfort.
• headache
• Tension in the muscles.

Treatment

Anxiety disorders are very frequent reasons for consultation in psychology clinics.. Among these are phobias, which cause great discomfort. Patients are often aware of the problem they suffer, but fear is an emotion that takes place in the primitive brain and not in the neocortex (rational brain), so phobias do not usually respond to logical arguments. The best way to treat a phobia is thanks to exposure therapy, which belongs to the therapeutic model known as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).

CBT is a form of psychotherapy that has given many results, and includes other useful techniques for the treatment of phobias such as relaxation techniques, which help the patient to control the symptoms of this pathology.

One of the most used techniques is systematic desensitization, which includes the two previous ones, and which consists of exposing the patient gradually to the phobic stimulus.. This means that, for example, the patient is first exposed to photographs showing clocks, and then, in the later stages of treatment, he or she can have direct contact with the feared stimulus.

Other types of therapy are now being successfully employed. Cognitive therapy based on Mindfulness or acceptance and commitment therapy are some examples. In addition, as we explained in our article "8 apps to treat phobias and fears from your smartphone", new technologies are also at the service of the treatment of phobic disorders.