Individuals who have this particular fear experience enormous anxiety when confronted with the prospect of having to cross a bridge. High bridges with steep drops are especially frightening, as are bridges over water or gorges.
Often, though not always, this fear may also be combined with other fears such as the fear of heights or claustrophobia.
The individual suffering from gephyrophobia may be fearful that they will lose control or faint.
Fear tends to breed fear and this process can all too easily lead on to feelings of real panic.
Many people who suffer from this particular phobia go to great lengths so that they can avoid crossing bridges. Often they go to great pains to plan their travels so that they do not have to cross over a bridge.
What has happened is that at a deep, subconscious level, the bridge phobic has learned to associate anxiety with the thought of crossing bridges. In all probability, at some time in their past, he or she will have undergone an experience that caused fear and they subconsciously linked this feeling with bridges.
It is as if the person has somehow stopped trusting themselves when it comes to driving over or crossing bridges. And the subconscious is triggering feelings of fear so that he or she will not put themselves in danger.
As far as the conscious mind is concerned, of course, it may be only too clear that such fears are groundless. They may even seem silly. But fear is a feeling, an emotion, and the conscious mind is governed more by logic than feeling.
No matter how hard they might try, the phobic individual is usually powerless to analyze or ‘think away’ their fear.
Fear, like all emotions and feelings, is produced in the subconscious mind and it is in the subconscious mind that the solution lies.
Through the expert use of modern advanced hypnotherapy, we can delve into the subconscious mind and re-educate it. We can readjust and realign it with reality, so that the gephyrophobic person can let go of the fear and return to their normal, natural state.
Even though the thought of driving over or crossing a bridge may seem too difficult for you to contemplate at the moment, the fact is that you can be helped to conquer your fear of bridges and cross them with ease and in the complete absence of anxiety.
Working with a fully qualified and experienced advanced transformational hypnotherapist, you can once again return to the freedom that is your birthright.
Peter Field is a leading British hypno-psychotherapist with busy practices in London and Birmingham, England. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Health and Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy. More of his absorbing articles, fears & phobias help and other useful information may be found on his website: Peter Field Hypnotherapy Hypnotherapists UK