ST. LOUIS (KMOX) -Anyone who grows anxious crossing a bridge no doubt has heightened fears now.
Tuesday morning's tragic collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore focuses new attention on people who have a fear of bridges.
Bridge phobia is called gephyrophobia (JIF-ah-rah-pho-bia) derived from two Greek words -- gephyra meaning bridge and phobos meaning fear.
"When a trauma like this recent bridge collapse happens, it really augments and trigger this fear," Dr. Randi Mozenter, a clinical psychologist on staff at Barnes Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine. "This thing that you told yourself can't really happen hopefully, now it has happened."
Dr. Mozenter says there are four main phobias that can be involved with a fear of bridges -- including a fear of water, a fear of heights, the fear of driving and the fear of being trapped.
The cure, she says, takes a lot of time...and includes relaxation methods and incremental steps leading up to a possible bridge visit before being able to go across.
