Gephyrophobia

Gephyrophobia

Gephyrophobia is an anxiety disorder brought about by the fear of bridges. As a result, sufferers of gephyrophobia may avoid routes that will take them over bridges. cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=To Gephyrophobiacs, Bridges Are a Terror. |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/08/nyregion/08bridge.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all |quote=Mrs. Steers, 47, suffered from a little-known disorder called gephyrophobia, a fear of bridges. And she had the misfortune of living in a region with 26 major bridges, whose heights and spans could turn an afternoon car ride into a rolling trip through a haunted house. |publisher=New York Times |date=January 8, 2008 |accessdate=2008-01-08 ] [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Gephyrophobia: A Fear Of Crossing Bridges. Even Before The Minnesota Collapse, Many Have Severe Phobia About Bridges. |url=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/08/10/eveningnews/main3156354.shtml |quote=The monster she fears is the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Maryland. At four miles (6 km) long and convert|185|ft|m high, Ayers says the thought of driving the bridge - with the way it rises straight in the air - raises a sense of panic in her. |publisher=CBS News |date=August 10, 2007 |accessdate=2008-01-08 ] [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title= Reasonable fear or bridge phobia? |url=http://www.mywire.com/pubs/USATODAY/2007/08/08/4184015?extID=10051 |quote=Jerilyn Ross, a psychotherapist and president of the Anxiety Disorder Association of America, notes that phobias are more than just being afraid of a certain object; they are marked by panic. Someone with gephyrophobia is afraid of panicking on a bridge, not necessarily the bridge itself, she says. |publisher=USA Today |date=August 8, 2007 |accessdate=2008-01-08 ]

Dr. Liebowitz, founder of the Anxiety Disorders Clinic at the New York State Psychiatric Institute says: "It’s not an isolated phobia, but usually part of a larger constellation ... It’s people who get panic attacks. You get light-headed, dizzy; your heart races. You become afraid that you’ll feel trapped.".

The New York Thruway Authority will lead gephyrophobiacs over the Tappan Zee Bridge. A driver can call the authority in advance and arrange for someone to drive the car over the bridge for them. The authority performs the service about 6 times a year.

Popular Culture

Name of a [http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Gephyrophobia_(Level) map] in Halo PC; the two bases are connected only by a set of bridges.

References


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Gephyrophobia — An abnormal and persistent fear of crossing bridges. Sufferers of this phobia experience undue anxiety even though they realize their fear is irrational. Their fear may result partly from the fear of enclosure (claustrophobia) or the fear of… …   Medical dictionary

  • gephyrophobia — noun A fear of crossing bridges. Venice is a place to avoid if you suffer from gephyrophobia …   Wiktionary

  • gephyrophobia — the fear of crossing bridges …   Grandiloquent dictionary

  • gephyrophobia —   n. morbid fear of bridges and passing over or under them …   Dictionary of difficult words

  • Gephyrophobia —    An intense fear of bridges …   The writer's dictionary of science fiction, fantasy, horror and mythology

  • гефирофобия — (gephyrophobia; греч. gephyra мост + фобия) навязчивый страх боязнь перехода по мосту …   Большой медицинский словарь

  • Гефирофоби́я — (gephyrophobia; греч. gephyra мост + Фобия) навязчивый страх боязнь перехода по мосту …   Медицинская энциклопедия

  • Fear of bridges — An abnormal and persistent fear of bridges, especially crossing bridges. Sufferers of this phobia experience undue anxiety even though they realize their fear is irrational. Their fear may result partly from the fear of enclosure (claustrophobia) …   Medical dictionary

  • Fear of crossing bridges — An abnormal and persistent fear of crossing bridges. Sufferers of this phobia experience undue anxiety even though they realize their fear is irrational. Their fear may result partly from the fear of enclosure (claustrophobia) or the fear of… …   Medical dictionary

  • -phobia — The English suffixes phobia, phobic, phobe ( of Greek origin: φόβος/φοβία ) occur in technical usage in psychiatry to construct words that describe irrational, disabling fear as a mental disorder (e.g., agoraphobia), in chemistry to describe… …   Wikipedia

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