Human phobias, which are generally defined as an intense, irrational fear of an object, place, or event, are mysterious. They are very common - experts believe at least 1 in 10 people will develop a phobia at some point in their lives. Yet it's often unclear WHY they develop.Phobias are fears, and fear is a normal part of life. Fear is a good thing in many cases. It's good to be afraid of things that really can hurt us, like certain insects, dangerous animals, or falling off cliffs. But the human mind can fixate on some fears and over-exaggerate them out of proportion to their actual danger.
Being afraid of something (even something irrational) is not in and of itself a phobia. A phobia is formed when we anticipate danger and begin to avoid places and situations we associate with that danger. So a phobia is irrational fear PLUS habitual avoidance.The 2 Main Ways Phobias Develop.Phobias tend to either develop gradually with no definable cause, or suddenly as a response to a traumatic event.In the case of driving phobia, some sufferers report their fear came on gradually, steadily becoming worse over time. This type of phobia usually has no apparent cause and is often a simple misfire between the brain and the feelings / nervous system. Driving somehow becomes associated with danger, even though nothing dangerous actually happened.Some people develop driving phobia as a direct response to trauma; things like car accidents, bodily injury, injury to other drivers, property damage etc. It's more obvious why the person associates driving with danger in these cases.
Tell yourself.I trust that life supports me. I am safe. The truth is, you are safe. Driving is an everyday activity that untold millions engage in without incident. The thing that makes you feel anxious is the belief you're in danger. You're really, really not.I am solutions oriented. Driving anxiety disorder is solvable. One of the main reasons people become more and more afraid of driving is because they see it as an intractable problem with no real solution. This is false. This disorder is very treatable - IF you're willing to change your belief that it's not. That's the starting point for all therapies: the belief that change really is possible. I take charge of my emotions, my desires and my abilities. You've gotten in the habit of letting fear take charge of you instead of the other way around. I know the fear feels big and unmanageable. That's perfectly OK. It's still just a feeling, YOUR feeling. It's a feeling that belongs to you. You don't belong to it.I'm confident. I know I will solve my problems successfully. Confidence is simply the belief you can do something. The more you believe you can do it, the more likely you are to do just that. Confidence starts with belief. Beliefs are just thoughts, and affirmations are an effective way to start changing them.
Stop lights: Maybe it's the people in the cars, looking at you from behind, that you can't stand. This is a common symptom of social anxiety - being looked at, watched, judged. Do you feel the same way in elevators, crowded rooms, and checkout lines at the grocery store? Heavy traffic: While it's true that driving in heavy traffic is generally unpleasant, it's especially difficult for social anxiety sufferers. The reason is the same as for red lights - being in a crowd of other people who may be analyzing and criticizing your every move.Driving abilites: Feeling judged is one of the hallmarks of social anxiety. If you're a decent driver, there's no particular reason you'd be judged. Assuming you're being watched and judged may mean it's the people, not the driving, that's really bugging you.Love trips, dislike it in town: Yeah, driving in crowded cities does suck. It's true. But this is a dead give-away for possible social anxiety. What's the main difference between city and highway driving? The proximity of other people. If blasting down the open road gives you a sense of freedom, maybe it's because you don't feel judged or watched.
Those experienced treating and living with other phobias may find that learning meditation or using self-help resources is enough to successfully treat driving phobia. Keep in mind that self-help alone is often not enough for many people, especially if you're inexperienced.Treating Phobias Focuses More on Solutions Than Causes.Whatever caused your driving phobia, treating it successfully means learning new here-and-now skills. It will probably not be necessary to spend much time re-hashing the past.Modern anxiety treatment methods are about retraining your brain, nervous system, and emotions to judge and respond more appropriately to actual dangers instead of perceived ones.
Driving anxiety is an example of a specific anxiety disorder. A specific anxiety disorder is one in which an individual may not feel anxious in general, such as generalized anxiety disorder, but will become anxious and panic in specific situations. Many times, people with a specific anxiety disorder will feel anxious effects when socializing with others, but this does not hold true for all cases. In other situations, such as driving your car, people are still able to experience severe anxiety based on their surroundings.
For someone who suffers from driving anxiety, driving their automobile can be one of the worst regular occurring experiences in their lives. Traffic can be too congested, others may be driving too erratic, or it could be too dark out; whatever the reason is for your driving anxiety, it is nothing to take lightly.Driving anxiety should be addressed the moment it is discovered. People who become anxious while driving will often experience an increased heart beat, sweaty palms, and difficulty breathing. These symptoms will force your mind to think even more irrationally than it was before, forcing you into a state of panic, and possibly, a state of unconsciousness. What will happen to someone who loses unconsciousness behind the wheel on an expressway? This is why driving anxiety tends to be one of the most feared forms of panic and anxiety people can experience.
People who have experienced the symptoms of driving anxiety, and who possibly could have been severely injured due to an accident caused by anxiety, are capable of developing a driving phobia. When one possesses a driving phobia, they may begin to avoid certain highways, streets, intersections, or they may begin to avoid driving altogether. Taking these actions will only further associate driving with the fear and panic in your mind.As with any anxiety, it is possible to treat driving anxiety. Just because you have experienced a bad episode of driving in the past does not mean you are doomed forever in the future.
Driver Training / Coaching. Perhaps your fear is due to feeling that you lack good driving skills. Whether you need to learn how to drive, or just want to brush up your abilities, a good defensive driving course can make you more confident behind the wheel. Hypnotherapy. Common misconceptions about hypnosis are that you're under someone's "spell" and might be manipulated. This is mostly due to stage hypnosis that's used for entertainment. A qualified hypnotherapist treats anxiety by inducing a relaxed state where you learn to change your internal reactions to fear triggers.This also helps you control the physical reactions of anxiety like dizziness and hyperventilation by stimulating the parasympathetic response - your body's built in stress reduction mechanism.
Instead of flooding your mind with irrational, negative thinking, focus on thoughts that will calm you in a state of possible anxiety. Instead of panicking because there is not enough room for you to merge lanes, turn on your signal and be patient for other drivers to move. If before you "freaked out" whenever a police officer began to follow your car, know that if you follow traffic laws you cannot be at fault for anything. Do not become engulfed in your situation. So what if you get nervous when merging onto highway #1 or when you pass through intersection ABC, the key is not to focus on what makes you nervous. You most focus on what calms you in order to reach your goal.
[Driving Anxiety]
Being afraid of something (even something irrational) is not in and of itself a phobia. A phobia is formed when we anticipate danger and begin to avoid places and situations we associate with that danger. So a phobia is irrational fear PLUS habitual avoidance.The 2 Main Ways Phobias Develop.Phobias tend to either develop gradually with no definable cause, or suddenly as a response to a traumatic event.In the case of driving phobia, some sufferers report their fear came on gradually, steadily becoming worse over time. This type of phobia usually has no apparent cause and is often a simple misfire between the brain and the feelings / nervous system. Driving somehow becomes associated with danger, even though nothing dangerous actually happened.Some people develop driving phobia as a direct response to trauma; things like car accidents, bodily injury, injury to other drivers, property damage etc. It's more obvious why the person associates driving with danger in these cases.
Tell yourself.I trust that life supports me. I am safe. The truth is, you are safe. Driving is an everyday activity that untold millions engage in without incident. The thing that makes you feel anxious is the belief you're in danger. You're really, really not.I am solutions oriented. Driving anxiety disorder is solvable. One of the main reasons people become more and more afraid of driving is because they see it as an intractable problem with no real solution. This is false. This disorder is very treatable - IF you're willing to change your belief that it's not. That's the starting point for all therapies: the belief that change really is possible. I take charge of my emotions, my desires and my abilities. You've gotten in the habit of letting fear take charge of you instead of the other way around. I know the fear feels big and unmanageable. That's perfectly OK. It's still just a feeling, YOUR feeling. It's a feeling that belongs to you. You don't belong to it.I'm confident. I know I will solve my problems successfully. Confidence is simply the belief you can do something. The more you believe you can do it, the more likely you are to do just that. Confidence starts with belief. Beliefs are just thoughts, and affirmations are an effective way to start changing them.
Stop lights: Maybe it's the people in the cars, looking at you from behind, that you can't stand. This is a common symptom of social anxiety - being looked at, watched, judged. Do you feel the same way in elevators, crowded rooms, and checkout lines at the grocery store? Heavy traffic: While it's true that driving in heavy traffic is generally unpleasant, it's especially difficult for social anxiety sufferers. The reason is the same as for red lights - being in a crowd of other people who may be analyzing and criticizing your every move.Driving abilites: Feeling judged is one of the hallmarks of social anxiety. If you're a decent driver, there's no particular reason you'd be judged. Assuming you're being watched and judged may mean it's the people, not the driving, that's really bugging you.Love trips, dislike it in town: Yeah, driving in crowded cities does suck. It's true. But this is a dead give-away for possible social anxiety. What's the main difference between city and highway driving? The proximity of other people. If blasting down the open road gives you a sense of freedom, maybe it's because you don't feel judged or watched.
Those experienced treating and living with other phobias may find that learning meditation or using self-help resources is enough to successfully treat driving phobia. Keep in mind that self-help alone is often not enough for many people, especially if you're inexperienced.Treating Phobias Focuses More on Solutions Than Causes.Whatever caused your driving phobia, treating it successfully means learning new here-and-now skills. It will probably not be necessary to spend much time re-hashing the past.Modern anxiety treatment methods are about retraining your brain, nervous system, and emotions to judge and respond more appropriately to actual dangers instead of perceived ones.
Driving anxiety is an example of a specific anxiety disorder. A specific anxiety disorder is one in which an individual may not feel anxious in general, such as generalized anxiety disorder, but will become anxious and panic in specific situations. Many times, people with a specific anxiety disorder will feel anxious effects when socializing with others, but this does not hold true for all cases. In other situations, such as driving your car, people are still able to experience severe anxiety based on their surroundings.
For someone who suffers from driving anxiety, driving their automobile can be one of the worst regular occurring experiences in their lives. Traffic can be too congested, others may be driving too erratic, or it could be too dark out; whatever the reason is for your driving anxiety, it is nothing to take lightly.Driving anxiety should be addressed the moment it is discovered. People who become anxious while driving will often experience an increased heart beat, sweaty palms, and difficulty breathing. These symptoms will force your mind to think even more irrationally than it was before, forcing you into a state of panic, and possibly, a state of unconsciousness. What will happen to someone who loses unconsciousness behind the wheel on an expressway? This is why driving anxiety tends to be one of the most feared forms of panic and anxiety people can experience.
People who have experienced the symptoms of driving anxiety, and who possibly could have been severely injured due to an accident caused by anxiety, are capable of developing a driving phobia. When one possesses a driving phobia, they may begin to avoid certain highways, streets, intersections, or they may begin to avoid driving altogether. Taking these actions will only further associate driving with the fear and panic in your mind.As with any anxiety, it is possible to treat driving anxiety. Just because you have experienced a bad episode of driving in the past does not mean you are doomed forever in the future.
Driver Training / Coaching. Perhaps your fear is due to feeling that you lack good driving skills. Whether you need to learn how to drive, or just want to brush up your abilities, a good defensive driving course can make you more confident behind the wheel. Hypnotherapy. Common misconceptions about hypnosis are that you're under someone's "spell" and might be manipulated. This is mostly due to stage hypnosis that's used for entertainment. A qualified hypnotherapist treats anxiety by inducing a relaxed state where you learn to change your internal reactions to fear triggers.This also helps you control the physical reactions of anxiety like dizziness and hyperventilation by stimulating the parasympathetic response - your body's built in stress reduction mechanism.
Instead of flooding your mind with irrational, negative thinking, focus on thoughts that will calm you in a state of possible anxiety. Instead of panicking because there is not enough room for you to merge lanes, turn on your signal and be patient for other drivers to move. If before you "freaked out" whenever a police officer began to follow your car, know that if you follow traffic laws you cannot be at fault for anything. Do not become engulfed in your situation. So what if you get nervous when merging onto highway #1 or when you pass through intersection ABC, the key is not to focus on what makes you nervous. You most focus on what calms you in order to reach your goal.
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