Hodophobia

Hodophobia is an irrational fear, or phobia, of travel.^[2][3]

Hodophobia
Other names	Fear of travel
Specialty	Psychiatry
Symptoms	intense, persistent anxiety with thoughts of travel and/or during travels[1]
Duration	persistent, typically lasting for 6 months or more[1]
Differential diagnosis	Separation anxiety, Posttraumatic stress disorder, Major depressive disorder[1]
Treatment	Exposure therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy[1]

Hodophobia should not be confused with travel aversion.^[4][5]

Acute anxiety provoked by travel can be treated with anti-anxiety medication.^[6][7] The condition can be treated with exposure therapy, which works better when combined with cognitive behavioral therapy.^[6][7]

Signs and symptoms

People with fear of traveling experience intense, persistent fear or anxiety when they think about traveling and/or during travel.^[8][9] They will avoid travel if they can, and the fear, anxiety, and avoidance cause significant distress and impair their ability to function.^[8][9]

Related phobias

• Fear of flying
• Driving phobia
• Fear of trains
• Thalassophobia - phobia of sea travel
• Agoraphobia - fear of leaving safe places

Cause

The causes of hodophobia and the mechanisms by which it is maintained are often complex, as with many phobias.^[8][10]

Diagnosis

The diagnosis is clinical.^[8] It is often difficult to determine if the specific phobia of hodophobia should be the primary diagnosis, or if it is a symptom of a generalized anxiety disorder or another anxiety disorder.^[8][11]

Classification

Hodophobia is a specific phobia as classified in the DSM-5.^[12]

Management

Acute anxiety caused by travel can be treated with anti-anxiety medication.^[6][7] The condition can also be treated with exposure therapy which works better when combined with cognitive behavioral therapy.^[6][7][13] Relaxation techniques and education can also be helpful in combination with other approaches.^[9][13][14]

Society and culture

Sigmund Freud, the famous neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, confessed in a number of letters that he suffered from fear of travel.^[15] He used the term "Reiseangst" for it, which means "travel anxiety" or "fear of travel" in the German language.^[16] However Freud's anxiety was not a "true" phobia.^[16]

See also

• Specific phobia
• List of phobias

Other travel-related disorders include:

• Travel sickness in humans
• Transport tetany in animals