The fear of walking or falling, correctly called ‘ambulophobia’, is a condition that we sometimes treat in our hypno-psychotherapy practice here in the UK.
Although this fear can be experienced at any age, it appears to be more common as a person ages.
Where before the person felt safe on their feet, free to walk, run or dance, now they feel insecure and insecure, needing a cane or something or someone to hold onto to move around.
Some who experience this disorder are afraid to walk on polished or uneven surfaces, others where there are rugs, rugs or carpets. Other people feel uncomfortable walking on almost any type of surface, especially when they are outside the home, where they feel even more vulnerable and insecure.
The fear of falling is one of the few born fears. It’s a component of something called the Moro reflex, but we outgrow it very quickly as we mature. Other inborn fears are the fear of loud noises, known as the “startle reflex,” and the fear of abandonment. Every child has these natural fears as part of her innate survival mechanism.
Although it is natural for human beings to feel anxiety or fear when there is a serious danger of falling, ambulophobia is an anxiety disorder that transcends natural fear, becoming very exaggerated and disproportionate to the circumstances and situation.
Fear of falling or walking is often caused by a past experience where the person tripped, stumbled or fell, or saw or heard someone else do so, a process known as ’emotional contagion’, or where the person experienced a shock or fear related to the use of his legacy. The person might have experienced dizziness. they may have slipped or fallen, and this has been linked to fear on the subconscious level. This specific experience has now become generalized to everyone who walks, becoming a “conditioned reflex”, now causing an unwanted and undeserved degree of anxiety in situations that are, in fact, normally quite safe.
The actual origins of this phobia can often be traced back to an initial sensitizing experience that occurred in childhood. Such an event may have lain dormant for years, triggering much later when something reactivates the initial feelings of fear. This triggering or symptom-producing event may have coincided with a time of particular stress or emotional disturbance, or the ambulophobia may simply have been reactivated by an experience similar to the initial sensitizing event itself.
It is not necessary for the person with this phobia to be able to consciously remember what triggered it. The subconscious part of the mind has not forgotten anything, and it is this part of the mind that is consulted when in a hypnotic trance state.
Once the initial sensitizing event, along with significant reinforcing events and the symptom-producing event, have been discovered and successfully reprocessed or neutralized at the subconscious level, then the exaggerated fear and anxiety usually simply fade away. .
If you or someone you know is experiencing ambulophobia; if you are afraid of walking or falling, rest assured that help is available.
Get in touch with a qualified hypnotherapist and you’ll be amazed at how quickly you can free yourself from anxiety and fear.
Through modern advanced transformational hypnotherapy, you can truly conquer ambulophobia, end anxiety, and return to your natural state of balance and well-being.