Chronophobia (Fear of Time): Symptoms, Treatments, & How to Cope

Chronophobia Definition

Chronophobia is a less common phobia that involves a specific and debilitating fear of time passing. It is associated with certain risk factors like having a terminal illness or being incarcerated. In addition to the fear of time passing, it often involves a general sense of having a shortened future or not enough time left to accomplish your goals.

Who Is at Risk of Developing Chronophobia?

People with the hightest risk of developing chronophobia include:

• The elderly and those with terminal illness: For these populations, the passing of time might become associated with death.
• Those who are incarcerated: For prisoners, a long prison sentence might lead to the fear of time passing in addition to restlessness, anxiety, panic, and claustrophobia. This condition has also been called “prison neurosis.”²
• Those who have survived extreme trauma, such as a natural disaster: They may remain anxious and uncertain about their future and how much time they have left.

How Common Is Chronophobia?

Chronophobia may not be as common as other phobias, like fear of heights or fear of snakes, so finding statistics on the condition is difficult. What experts do know is that about 10% of adults will have a specific phobia at one point in their life.⁸

Symptoms of Chronophobia

Persistent anxiety and excessive concern about the passage of time, sometimes referred to as time anxiety, are the hallmark symptoms of chronophobia. In extreme cases or when the condition is left untreated for an extended time, more severe symptoms might develop.³

Symptoms of chronophobia can include:

• The passing of time feels unnatural, appearing to speed up or to slow down
• An awareness that the fear is exaggerated but feeling unable to manage it
• General anxiety (vague fearfulness without any specific trigger)
• Trembling or shaking
• Shortness of breath, sweating, and increased heart rate
• Feeling dizzy, light-hearted, or faint
• Racing thoughts
• Panic reactions: abrupt surge of intense fear along with physical symptoms of anxiety
• Claustrophobia
• Isolation
• Depressed mood and/or thought disorder

What Causes Chronophobia?

As with the other specific phobias, causes and risk factors range from genetics and family history to personal experience and knowledge of traumatic events. The majority of phobias develop as a consequence of having a personal negative experience. There is some evidence that a person is more likely to develop a phobia if a family member has either a specific phobia or generalized anxiety.

Potential causes and risk factors for chronophobia include:³

• The experience of being diagnosed with a terminal illness, leaving someone with a shortened life expectancy
• Advancing age, causing one to think about years remaining, eventual death and fear of dying
• Involvement in a natural disaster (earthquake, flood, tornado, etc.), leading to a prolonged fear of one’s life being in danger and of the future being uncertain
• Anxious temperament (anxious individuals are more prone to develop phobias)
• Receiving a long prison sentence or not being able to track time while in prison
• Learning about traumatic experiences of others, such as plane crashes or ships sinking
• Involvement in any life-threatening situation, especially if it persists for days
• Growing up with someone who had specific phobias, resulting in a learned fear
• Having a parent with a specific phobia and inheriting that genetic tendency

How to Reduce Anxiety About Time Passing

Self-help strategies can be used in addition to therapy and lifestyle changes or on their own. Some of these involve specific skills such as deep breathing or guided visualization. These skills are simple to learn but they require some practice to get the most benefit.

Here are six practical tips for dealing with chronophobia:

1. Talk about your feelings with a trusted friend or relative: Sometimes, just expressing an irrational fear out loud makes it easier to recognize and manage. It allows a person to accept the reality of what they feel and to decide to cope with it actively.
2. Create a list of activities you might do when feeling overwhelmed: For example, your list might include, “Take the dog for a walk;” “Listen to a favorite song;” “Call a good friend;” or, “Clean your room.” Practicing deliberate mindfulness while completing these activities can be extra helpful.
3. Practice deep breathing exercises: Breathwork shifts your focus to the rhythm of your own breathing and has a relaxation effect on your nervous system.
4. Try a guided visualization exercise: A variety of these are available online; they are also called guided imagery exercises. Usually, guided visualization is combined with deep breathing.
5. Make plans for the future: Making and keeping plans for the future can give you a sense of control over time. Rather than allowing time to pass you by, you can take advantage of opportunities.
6. Join a support group: Support groups can offer a type of community and companionship during a challenging time. Better, group members may offer practical solutions to improve your symptoms.

How Is Chronophobia Diagnosed?

Mental health experts will work to accurately diagnose any psychological condition by thoroughly gathering information about your symptoms and stressors. If your fear of time and the passage of time negatively affects your life in drastic ways, you could receive a chronophobia diagnosis.

Treatment of Chronophobia

When someone’s anxiety is severe enough it becomes difficult to complete normal daily activities, it’s likely time to seek treatment. Treatment options for phobias include exposure therapy, CBT, support groups, and medication.

Exposure Therapy

Exposure therapy is standard treatment for specific phobias. It involves learning relaxation skills like deep breathing exercises and deep muscle relaxation. It usually includes the process of systematic desensitization where the person is gradually confronted with increasingly stressful situations until the fear response is unlearned. The exposure might be done in real time or in the imagination only (guided visualization).⁴

Since there is usually no specific feared “object” in chronophobia, exposure therapy would involve recreating the circumstances of passing time. These situations would be listed in order from least anxiety-producing to most anxiety-producing and confronted one at a time until they become tolerable.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

CBT may be used as supplemental treatment in addition to exposure therapy. Specific thoughts, such as imagining the worst outcome, might be adding to the level of anxiety. For example, a person who fears time passing too quickly might be imagining that they will never accomplish what they hoped to do in their lifetime. By changing this thought into a more realistic thought, such as: “I will reach some of my lifetime goals,” the anxiety is lessened.

Medication

Anxiety medication may be considered when therapy alone isn’t enough to manage symptoms. Any medications should be prescribed by a physician, psychiatrist, or another medical care provider. Benzodiazepines are one of the most commonly prescribed medications for control of anxiety; however, since they’re highly addictive, they are usually prescribed for use only as-needed.

Other commonly prescribed medications for anxiety include the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and the selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs).

Lifestyle Changes

Certain lifestyle changes can also help manage the anxiety associated with chronophobia. These include common sense habits like getting adequate sleep, doing regular exercise, and eating a healthy diet. It’s also helpful to maintain social contacts and avoid isolation. Social interactions with supportive people can help reduce stress and improve mental health.

Can Chronophobia Be Prevented?

Usually, phobias cannot be prevented. Unfortunately, they are an unexpected and unwanted result of various factors. Spending a lot of time working to prevent one phobia could lead to someone being more susceptible to another condition.

What’s the Outlook for People With Chronophobia?

Mental health treatments for phobias are some of the most effective treatments available. Some people may need longer courses of treatment than others, but generally, a coordinated treatment plan can work well to reduce and eliminate symptoms quickly.

How to Get Help for Chronophobia

Consider starting your search for a therapist through an online therapist directory. Another option is to contact your health insurance company to obtain a list of in-network psychotherapists. Friends and family members might also be able to provide a list of referrals based on their own experience.

When choosing a therapist for treatment of a phobia, it’s important to find someone who is experienced in CBT and/or exposure therapy. Most therapists will agree to a phone consultation before beginning treatment to determine whether they’re the right match.