The Fear is Real

Shake it up:

Here I am in Tucson, Arizona, smiling hugely from way up high. I look giddy with happiness. Truthfully, I was giddy with fear. You can’t see how hard I’m shaking. My entire being! With my heart in my throat! I remember entertaining an irrational fear that the wind might blow me off, and a brief concern that my husband or someone else might push me, you know, just for giggles. He’d never do such a thing, but my mind goes in weird places when I’m terrified. Does yours?

You also can’t see that I had to crawl back down from the boulder I’d perched on for the photo. I could not stand upright. At all.

Another time, I almost lost it when my husband asked me to climb the roof with him to steady another ladder (on the roof itself, with a nailed block) while he climbed to the peak. I didn’t do too bad going up. However, it took me twenty minutes to maneuver from a sitting position on the roof in order to get back down the ladder. My shaking did not stop until my feet reached the ground.

I like to believe I could hold it together while driving over a really high bridge, but I’ve never really been tested.

Crossing that bridge

Gephyrophobia is the “abnormal, persistent fear of crossing bridges.” The collapse of Baltimore’s Key Bridge after a 95,000-gross-ton container ship hit it has justifiably worsened this fear. In fact, it really can’t be called abnormal any more, can it?

I recently learned that several bridges around the country have escort programs run by bridge operators and private transportation companies to help anxious drivers. Other bridges have cameras to alert bridge operators of a panic situation.

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel in Virginia is a sure-fire white-knuckle experience for the anxiety prone. Kent Island Express–Our Bay Bridge Drive-Over Help will let you relax and enjoy the ride and the view!— drives your car for you for about forty bucks. Steven Eskew, who’s escorted men and women drivers of all ages, truckers and motorcyclists for five years, says, “I have two grown men who will sit on the floor in the back seat of their vehicle. Just get on the floor and sit.”

The 440-foot-high Delaware Memorial Bridge, which spans the Delaware River, offers a free driving service. Travelers call 10 to 15 minutes ahead of time for directions to a safe pull-off where they wait for an officer. 

In my home state, the five-mile-long Mackinac Bridge rises 199 feet above the strait below to connect Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsulas. The “Mighty Mac” bridge has had an assistance program since the 1980s. At all hours, any day of the week, drivers can make a request for a bridge staffer to drive their car.

My favorite bridge is the new The Rodanthe Bridge, often called the Jug Handle Bridge. This 2.4-mile-long trestle bridge carries North Carolina Highway 12 from Rodanthe to the southern point of Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge. This huge “jug handle” avoids the old portion of Highway 12 that often gets washed out or flooded from storms. We drive it yearly. Absolutely gorgeous views. I’m usually a passenger so I’m able to relax and enjoy.

What’s behind the fear?

The emotional or psychological symptoms of acrophobia, or a fear of heights include:

• Uncontrolled anxiety
• Urge to cling to some object for protection
• Lack of faith in one’s ability to balance
• Crawling on all the four limbs
• Lowering the body or bending
• Descending from height immediately

Gephyrophobia, the fear of bridges, include acrophobia, and cleithrophobia, the inability to escape, because if you have a panic attack on a bridge, where can you go? You certainly can’t pull over. The fear of water and drowning, aquaphobia, also complicates things.

Some people fear the bridge will collapse. Others worry that they will accidentally drive off. I’ve experienced the illogical fear of suddenly losing control of my hands and steering the car off over the edge. Luckily I’m able to redirect my thoughts before I panic. I often experience similar anxiety-inducing thoughts when behind the wheel in tunnels. Not everyone can easily refocus, however.

Short of driving 30 miles out of your way to avoid a bridge, cognitive-behavioral therapy teaches people strategies to calm down and refocus while pushing them to face their fears step by step. Car & Driver magazine says the ways to get to the other side involve a step by step process. Undergoing such therapy takes determination, though.

Otherwise, hand the keys over to someone who can drive for you.

I don’t do ladders past three or four rungs.

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Fear of Bridges Phobia Treatment at Psychotherapy Center explains the different types phobias involved in bridge and anxiety as well as treatment plans.

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Thank you for visiting.

Linda K. Sienkiewicz is a writer, poet, and artist:
Multi-finalist award winning novel In the Context of Love
Picture book Gordy and the Ghost Crab
Latest poetry chapbook: Sleepwalker
Buy Signed Books: In the Context of Love | Gordy and the Ghost Crab | Sleepwalker

Connect with Linda on social media: LinkTree