Gephyrophobia

Those that know me know that I suffer from gephyrophobia. “What is gephyrophobia” you might ask. It’s the fear of crossing bridges. (It is also known as gephydrophobia or gephysrophobia.)

I can’t really explain the feelings that I have when I’m crossing a bridge. It feels like I have butterflies in my stomach and my apprehension level skyrockets. I’ve given it a lot of thought over the years. I know that it is an irrational fear, but I always find myself wondering what happens if the car I am in veers off the side, particularly when we are crossing over a body of water. Or I think about what would happen if the car I was in was in an accident while on the bridge. It absolutely terrifies me.

It’s not so bad when I’m a passenger in a car while crossing because I can just close my eyes so that I don’t have to see it. But when I’m driving I have to be in the innermost possible lane. Otherwise the fright really starts to build.

I started to think about this again after a trip I made this past weekend. Last Thursday-Saturday I attended the Kentucky Conference on Health Communication in Lexington, Kentucky. In order to drive there from Bloomington I had to cross over the Ohio River as I drove into Louisville. Going there was not a problem. I was able to zip over the bridge with little problem, though I still felt quite nervous. Coming back was another story.

This past Saturday marked the two week mark before the Kentucky Derby. Louisville spent this past Saturday celebrating the coming sporting event. Included in the festivities was an air show with the Blue Angels. The event, called the Thunder over Louisville, had the Blue Angels doing air tricks over the Ohio River. Due to this, all other bridges that crossed over the Ohio River were closed and their traffic was routed to the same bridge I was going to be on. About five miles before the bridge traffic became extremely heavy, resulting pretty much in bumper to bumper, slow moving cars. This wasn’t so bad for me until I realized that it was the same way over the entire bridge. Because of the lane I was in I was in the rightmost lane, which is the lane that frightens me the most. In addition, I had rented a car for the trip. I was in a Chevy Classic, which was a very light car. Whenever the Blue Angels would fly close to the bridge overhead the car I was in vibrated. I almost thought I would start hyperventilating while behind the wheel on the bridge.

Fortunately I made it off the bridge and home, though more than an hour longer than it took me to drive to Lexington. I only hope that by facing my fears like I did this time it will help to make me less fearful of crossing bridges in the future.