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.
You hate city driving but love road trips: The sense of freedom driving down the open highway beats constricted city driving any day.Does this automatically mean you have driving phobia? Not necessarily There's an alternate explanation that suggests social anxiety, not driving phobia, is the culprit. Check out the same list, this time filtered through the lens of social anxiety.Why Social Anxiety May be a More Accurate, Effective Assessment and Lead to Better Treatment Options
I live in the present moment and I'm confident of the future. All anxiety disorders, including fear of driving, are about what "might happen" in the future. The reality is, whatever you're afraid of ISN'T happening right now. In this moment, right now, you're OK. What you're really afraid of is that you won't be OK in the near future. Take your focus off the future and put it back in the present where it belongs. The future is just the present that hasn't happened yet, and it's going to be fine.I face difficult situations with courage and conviction. I always find a way out of such situations. There's no doubt that facing driving anxiety requires a great deal of courage. Something else that's not in doubt is that you've faced difficult situations before and gotten through them. There's lots of evidence in your life that you've somehow found your way through hard things. I mean, you've gotten this far, right? You'll work through your fear of driving too.Today, I'm willing to fail in order to succeed. This may sound strange, but failure is not something to be feared, but accepted as an inevitable part of learning new behavior. You can pretty much count on it. You're going to have to get comfortable with (or at least tolerate) failure in order to eventually succeed. You simply cannot learn to do something new and difficult without doing it wrong sometimes. Just remember that the only real failure is choosing to do nothing.
If you like driving when other people aren't around and hate it when they are, don't automatically assume you have driving phobia. You may actually feel very comfortable driving - as long as nobody's watching you do it. You may need treatment for social anxiety instead of driving phobia. Accurately assessing your real problem will lead to better treatment outcomes and a stronger, more confident you. Make sure you're getting the kind of help you really need.Many people who suffer from panic disorder and general anxiety may also suffer from driving anxiety.
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.
The initial stage to overcome driving phobia is to identify the source of the fear. To know the cause of the fear will offer significant clues to assist you in selecting a method to overcome it. Different fears - and even different people - react more readily to some types of help than others, so it's worth experimenting. After you have identified the cause of the fear, then you can choose a treatment option which can possibly help and start your recovery.
One option, of course, is to just avoid freeways altogether. But what if you live in a densely populated area? Many people live in places where freeway driving is a fact of life. Some have reported driving an extra 2 hours a day to avoid them, but this is not a viable solution for most people.So what can you do to overcome or reduce your fear of driving on freeways? Are there viable options out there? 5 Effective Treatment Options Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Generally considered the most effective for phobia, CBT helps you identify factors which contribute to your anxiety. It shows how your thoughts contribute to the problem, and how to change destructive thinking. It also helps reduce or stop unwanted, anxious behavior patterns.
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.
Hypnosis is another helpful alternative to people having a typically milder fear such as general anxiety. Hypnosis can be conducted by a hypnotist or specialized therapist or sometimes it may be self-induced by use of audio recordings. The hypnosis should train your mind to respond to the experience to drive with tranquil confidence rather than panic and anxiety.If the driving phobia is more severe, possibly resulting from a traumatic incident like serious crash, the best choice can be to go for professional counseling and therapy. Jointly working with a professional, you can slowly overcome your fears in a secure environment. Techniques may be used that develop exposure to drive on a controlled road until you are in a position to perform the task without fear. Group therapy may also be helpful since you know that you are not alone. In the group set up, guidelines and techniques are usually shared concerning methods of overcoming the problem. Sometimes medication is prescribed to alleviate anxiety as another option to deal with driving phobia.
[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.
You hate city driving but love road trips: The sense of freedom driving down the open highway beats constricted city driving any day.Does this automatically mean you have driving phobia? Not necessarily There's an alternate explanation that suggests social anxiety, not driving phobia, is the culprit. Check out the same list, this time filtered through the lens of social anxiety.Why Social Anxiety May be a More Accurate, Effective Assessment and Lead to Better Treatment Options
I live in the present moment and I'm confident of the future. All anxiety disorders, including fear of driving, are about what "might happen" in the future. The reality is, whatever you're afraid of ISN'T happening right now. In this moment, right now, you're OK. What you're really afraid of is that you won't be OK in the near future. Take your focus off the future and put it back in the present where it belongs. The future is just the present that hasn't happened yet, and it's going to be fine.I face difficult situations with courage and conviction. I always find a way out of such situations. There's no doubt that facing driving anxiety requires a great deal of courage. Something else that's not in doubt is that you've faced difficult situations before and gotten through them. There's lots of evidence in your life that you've somehow found your way through hard things. I mean, you've gotten this far, right? You'll work through your fear of driving too.Today, I'm willing to fail in order to succeed. This may sound strange, but failure is not something to be feared, but accepted as an inevitable part of learning new behavior. You can pretty much count on it. You're going to have to get comfortable with (or at least tolerate) failure in order to eventually succeed. You simply cannot learn to do something new and difficult without doing it wrong sometimes. Just remember that the only real failure is choosing to do nothing.
If you like driving when other people aren't around and hate it when they are, don't automatically assume you have driving phobia. You may actually feel very comfortable driving - as long as nobody's watching you do it. You may need treatment for social anxiety instead of driving phobia. Accurately assessing your real problem will lead to better treatment outcomes and a stronger, more confident you. Make sure you're getting the kind of help you really need.Many people who suffer from panic disorder and general anxiety may also suffer from driving anxiety.
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.
The initial stage to overcome driving phobia is to identify the source of the fear. To know the cause of the fear will offer significant clues to assist you in selecting a method to overcome it. Different fears - and even different people - react more readily to some types of help than others, so it's worth experimenting. After you have identified the cause of the fear, then you can choose a treatment option which can possibly help and start your recovery.
One option, of course, is to just avoid freeways altogether. But what if you live in a densely populated area? Many people live in places where freeway driving is a fact of life. Some have reported driving an extra 2 hours a day to avoid them, but this is not a viable solution for most people.So what can you do to overcome or reduce your fear of driving on freeways? Are there viable options out there? 5 Effective Treatment Options Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Generally considered the most effective for phobia, CBT helps you identify factors which contribute to your anxiety. It shows how your thoughts contribute to the problem, and how to change destructive thinking. It also helps reduce or stop unwanted, anxious behavior patterns.
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.
Hypnosis is another helpful alternative to people having a typically milder fear such as general anxiety. Hypnosis can be conducted by a hypnotist or specialized therapist or sometimes it may be self-induced by use of audio recordings. The hypnosis should train your mind to respond to the experience to drive with tranquil confidence rather than panic and anxiety.If the driving phobia is more severe, possibly resulting from a traumatic incident like serious crash, the best choice can be to go for professional counseling and therapy. Jointly working with a professional, you can slowly overcome your fears in a secure environment. Techniques may be used that develop exposure to drive on a controlled road until you are in a position to perform the task without fear. Group therapy may also be helpful since you know that you are not alone. In the group set up, guidelines and techniques are usually shared concerning methods of overcoming the problem. Sometimes medication is prescribed to alleviate anxiety as another option to deal with driving phobia.
0 comments:
Post a Comment