Siderodromophobia

The Montparnasse derailment is a symbol of technical failure

Siderodromophobia (from ancient Greek sidêros, "iron", dromos, "run", phobos, "fear")^[1] is the fear of trains, train trips or railways. It has been diagnosed only rarely in comparison to other phobias, though it may simply be underreported. Some patients are afraid of derailments and railway accidents, whereas others are afraid of unknown conductors or other railway employees.^[2]

Symptoms

Siderodromophobia can be caused by traumatic experiences or can develop over time such as other phobias.^[3][4] Some patients suffer from panic attacks, from an increased heartbeat rate, cold sweat or digestion problems, while others start crying, freeze or flee. Without treatment it can get worse, so that the patients cannot cross a railway crossing, walk along a station or get frightened if they hear the whistle or horn of a train.^[5][2]

Complications

The most obvious effect is that the patients cannot use trains, subways, or trams. Some cannot even enjoy tourist attractions, such as theme parks, railway museums, or historic sites which contain railway tracks.^[2]

Treatment

Siderodromophobia can be easily treated with good results. Often a cognitive behavioural therapy is used, by which the thoughts and responses are changed from negative to positive. In addition, psychotherapy and medical treatment can be applied.^[2]

The effect of hypnosis and neuro-linguistic programming has been scientifically assessed, but there are no clear conclusions.^{[3][6][7][8][9]}

References

1. Dornblüth, Otto. Klinisches Wörterbuch. 13/14 edition, 1927.
2. Fritscher, Lisa (27 May 2014). "Understanding Siderodromophobia (Fear of Trains)". about.com. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
3. Sigmund Freud (2012). Vorlesungen Zur Einführung in Die Psychoanalyse. Nachdruck des Originals von 1920. BoD – Books on Demand. p. 465. ISBN 978-3-86403-493-0.
4. Johannes Rigler (1879). Ueber die Folgen der Verletzungen auf Eisenbahnen: insbesondere der Verletzungen des Rückenmarks; mit Hinblick auf das Haftpflichtgesetz. Reimer.
5. Hermann Oppenheim (May 2012). Die Traumatischen Neurosen. Bearbeiteter Nachdruck der Originalausgabe von 1892. BoD – Books on Demand. p. 128. ISBN 978-3-8457-4269-4.
6. Emil Kraepelin. Einführung in die psychiatrische Klinik – Zweiunddreißig Vorlesungen. Nachdruck des Originals von 1905. Рипол Классик. p. 290. ISBN 978-5-88054-758-6.
7. J.J. Seymour: Fear of Trains - How to Simply Overcome Phobia of Trains. 10. October 2008.
8. Tomasz Witkowski: Thirty-Five Years of Research on Neuro-Linguistic Programming. NLP Research Data Base. State of the Art or Pseudoscientific Decoration? In: Polish Psychological Bulletin 2010. Vol. 41(2), S. 58–66. (online; PDF; 0.8 MB)
9. R. Wiseman, C. Watt, L. ten Brinke, S. Porter, S. L. Couper, C. Rankin: The eyes don't have it: lie detection and Neuro-Linguistic Programming.. In: PLoS One. 2012;7(7), S. e40259. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0040259.