ALL ABOUT TRAVEL ANXIETY: CAUSES, SYMPTOMS, AND TREATMENT, HOW TO OVERCOME YOUR TRAVEL ANXIETY

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Travel anxiety is not an officially diagnosed mental health issue, but can be severe enough to interfere with people’s daily lives.

Bạn đang xem: Travel anxiety: causes, symptoms, and treatment

People with travel anxiety may be unable lớn see family and friends, go on vacation, or travel for work. They may feel anxious about traveling for various reasons. For example, the bao tay of planning a journey, traveling in enclosed planes or trains, or visiting new, unfamiliar places can lead to anxiety symptoms.

This article looks at travel anxiety & how a person can overcome it.

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Some people may experience travel anxiety because of negative past travel experiences or because they have an anxiety disorder. Travel anxiety may relate to lớn specific activities, such as driving or flying. It can also involve a general fear of crowds, being unable khổng lồ leave a space, or the unknown.

People who have had negative experiences while traveling may become concerned these could recur. However, experts report that most driving anxiety is unrelated lớn previous accidents.

Other circumstances that may trigger travel anxiety include:

driving through storms, snow, or other bad weathergetting lost while driving or looking for connecting busesexperiencing road rage

If someone has an anxiety disorder, they could experience symptoms while traveling. For example, research from 2017 suggests people with generalized anxiety disorder may have difficulty concentrating while driving or making other decisions during travel. As a result, they may feel less than confident.

According lớn the Anxiety & Depression Association of America, many people who fear flying or being on other forms of transport are living with claustrophobia. They may become extremely anxious if stuck in traffic or locked onto a plane or train. In people with a phobia of flying, more than 90% of the fear is that they will become overwhelmed with anxiety during the flight.

Additionally, the physical symptoms of anxiety, such as a racing heartbeat and sweating, can cause someone lớn think they might thua kém control while driving or worry about what people surrounding them may think. This, in turn, can worsen anxiety & fear of traveling.

A person with travel anxiety may experience symptoms throughout the travel process or at specific points during it. For example, booking travel tickets for an upcoming journey may trigger anxiety in some people, while others may be calm until the journey begins & then begin khổng lồ feel anxious.

Symptoms a person may experience include:

being unable to control feelings of worry and concern about travelingfeeling restless or on edge while in airports or train stationshaving panic attacks, which may cause a racing heart, sweating, & feelings of being out of controlfeelings of being self-conscious và that people are judging them

Some people may only have mild symptoms of travel anxiety that vị not significantly impact their lives, or it may be a one-off experience. However, this kind of anxiety can be more severe and debilitating for others, making it hard khổng lồ leave home or even make short journeys.

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Various techniques can help manage & treat different levels of travel anxiety. These include therapy, lifestyle changes, planning, và medication.

Therapy

Psychotherapy is also called talk therapy. Several types of psychotherapy can help people identify và change emotions, thoughts, & behaviors surrounding travel that trigger anxiety.

People can ask a doctor about cognitive behavioral therapy, counseling, or mindfulness techniques.

Additionally, research suggests that exposure therapy is the treatment of choice for specific phobias. Otherwise known as desensitization therapy, this involves exposing someone khổng lồ their phobia in a safe và controlled environment to help them overcome fear and anxiety.

For example, a 2020 study used virtual reality exposure in 14 individuals with a fear of driving. Following the therapy, participants successfully mastered driving tasks they had previously avoided.

Lifestyle changes

People can also make lifestyle changes lớn help them cope with travel anxiety. The Anxiety Disorders Association of America suggests the following strategies to cope with generalized feelings of anxiety:

living a full, active life talking with a trusted person about anxious feelingskeeping a journal of anxiety triggers

Planning

People may experience travel anxiety because of the unknown. For example, they may wonder what would happen if they ran out of money, got lost, or became ill. Having a plan in place for worst-case scenarios may help ease these fears.

Although it is impossible to lớn plan for every eventuality, having a general plan can make people feel more in control và less anxious about traveling.

People may be able to lớn ease their anxiety by:

making copies of important documents such as passports & driver’s licenses và keeping them in a separate place from the originalstaking a credit card for emergenciesresearching the area & carrying a small paper map or guidebooktelling friends and family about travel planstaking enough medication khổng lồ last for the trip

Medication

If the above measures are not enough lớn ease travel anxiety, some medications can help. If an individual has long-term anxiety problems, their doctor may suggest a type of antidepressant called a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor. A 2017 study found these medications are most effective for long-term anxiety treatment. A doctor may also suggest a benzodiazepine such as lorazepam lớn provide short-term, immediate relief from panic attacks. People may find that they feel less anxious purely by carrying this medication with them.

People with travel anxiety may experience unease, a rapid heart rate, or sweating while traveling. They may feel anxious while taking certain forms of transportation, being in an unfamiliar place, or experiencing the unknown.

Although it is normal to lớn feel anxious when faced with unfamiliar situations such as traveling, an individual should speak with a doctor if they find that anxiety is restricting their life.

Doctors may recommend lifestyle changes, planning, therapy, or medication lớn help ease symptoms.