The Tortoise Website

The Tortoise Website
Click on image to go to Author website. "THE RACE IS NOT TO THE SWIFT." Eccl. 9:11

Friday 11 October 2013

Do I Have Driving Anxiety Disorder?

By Bradamate Chnadonnet


A phobia is fear of an object, activity, or situation, which is irrational and in excess of the inherent danger of the object of the fear. A driving phobia can be very inconveniencing to one's life because it stops people from going where they need to be. It can interfere with one's ability to perform certain jobs that require frequent driving. When fear stops you from experiencing your life in full, then you should look for ways to deal with it.

If the above symptoms sound familiar to you, then you may be experiencing Driving Anxiety Disorder. Though this may seem like something very difficult to deal with, because it is, there are solutions out there that will help and even some that will eliminate this anxiety.When a person experiences an anxiety attack it is because their mind is not reacting properly to a particular fear. For example, you had a bad experience while driving and now you have a fear of driving. When you get in the car to drive with this fear in your mind, you mind takes this fear and intensifies it into a larger fear. Your mind can start wondering away with scary thoughts where you feel as though you cannot control these thoughts.

People who are scared of driving may have experienced different situations including being involved in, or witnessing an accident, experiencing or being a victim of road rage, having a negative experience when learning how to drive, and many more. The experiences may have occurred at any time and may be isolated cases, or repeated occurrences. Some people also develop the fear because of watching or listening to news accounts about serious accidents.

Learn NLP.The fear of driving typically occurs because of previous car accidents or trauma while driving with one's parents growing up. The phobia occurs because the mind continues to live in the past and it creates irrational thoughts and mind movies of getting into future accidents. One way to overcoming driving phobia is to use NLP. NLP stands for neuro linguistic programming, and it is a technique that takes away the power of the negative images of your mind.Use Affirmations.The use of Affirmations has been another method for helping me conquer my fear of driving. Affirmations help to program the sub-conscious mind into accepting empowering beliefs. The best time to recite affirmations is before bed and upon waking up. It's best to set affirmations in a positive and present tense. An example would be "I am a safe driver and I have safe trips each and everyday".

Be in the Moment.Learning about mindfulness meditation and being in the moment will help you from having negative or irrational thoughts while driving. If you are in the present moment it is impossible to have irrational and negative thoughts while driving. It also helps to not have music while driving. Music tends to bring up past memories which will keep you from being in the moment. If you need to listen to music while driving it would be preferable to listen to positive instrumental music.If you begin to implement the NLP, Affirmations and mindfulness meditation techniques. It will make overcoming driving phobia much easier. The techniques that I have provided will help you tremendously with your driving phobia, but the best program for overcoming driving phobia is the driving fear program.

A phobia is an extreme and abnormal fear of a situation or item. It is a mental disorder that is treatable through counseling sessions. One can also go through self help recovery sessions to avoid the extreme reactions that can be experienced when the person goes through a phobic period. Driving phobia is the extreme fear of driving. A person with driving phobia will not be able to drive a vehicle even for a short distance.Different people experience different levels of the symptoms of driving phobia. One can experience mild anxiety when they think of driving or while driving and others may have full blown panic attached and even terror. A little anxiety when driving is normal. It is actually recommended by medical practitioners so that the driver can exercise the necessary caution when driving to avoid accidents. Extreme anxiety on the other hand is harmful to the mind as well as the body because the brain reacts in a certain way every time the phobia happens.

This condition may be triggered by a traumatic experience in the past that affected the motorist like a collision, car accident or any other event. This may cause a motorist to be more apprehensive, unsafe and insecure while driving. The condition may also be triggered by driving under stressful conditions like speeding vehicles on a motorway, or traffic congestion regardless of previous driving experience or accidents encountered. The signs that show a motorist experiencing an anxiety attack are dizziness, trembling or shivering, nausea, headaches, flushing and stomach upset. As these anxiety signs progress, the motorist develops driving phobia. Phobias tend to protect the body against potential dangers. This is when the mind conditions the body into believing that driving is dangerous, so the person may be apprehensive and he may experience panic attacks while on the road.

A motorist may consider consulting a medical professional like a psychiatrist or a psychologist after experiencing such symptoms; he must get a proper diagnosis and know which treatment options are available. This condition is not permanent and, with help, one can overcome it. A motorist may positively affirm him or herself by thinking positively, instead of thinking about the bad experiences in the past. He can reaffirm himself by saying that he is an excellent driver and by thus doing boost his confidence on the road. He or she may also avoid hesitation as this triggers anxiety and panic while driving. If a motorist stops without knowing which way to go, he may worsen the situation causing snarl ups, and he becomes unsure. A motorist may try to relax the body and mind, and ease tension every time he sits in the car, through meditation and he may strengthen his respiration system by trying out some breathing exercises. Another therapeutic means of trying to get back to driving is taking a few minutes a day driving from home, around the neighbourhood and back.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment