Overcome Fear of Driving » fear of driving phobia

Anxiety Induced By Claustrophobia

cecil — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:26:47 +0000

There are many things that can raise anxiety levels in people and many diagnoses that fit in well with anxiety disorders.

Claustrophobia is one of these. Someone who is claustrophobic fears small or enclosed spaces.

In severe cases, the claustrophobic cannot even be in a crowded area, even if the area itself is large.

For many who have this phobia, the thought of driving is very frightening.

This is because driving requires you to be in an enclosed space which is the root of the claustrophobics fear.

Read on for more information on this phobia and how it relates to your driving fears.

What Triggers Claustrophobic Anxiety?

● Even for the person whose claustrophobia is slight, there are certain triggers that can make it build up until they are in a full scale panic.

● Being in a small space such as a closet or bathroom stall

● Being in a situation where hands/arms and legs/feet are unable to move freely

● Flying in an airplane, especially a small craft

● Being in a large place, such as a mall, when there are large crowds of people

● Being in a car for long periods of time (or short periods, depending on the severity of the phobia)

● Being in elevators

● Taking certain medical tests such as MRI or CT Scan

There are many other examples and if you are reading this and suffer from claustrophobia, please take this information and apply it to what your triggers are.

Signs Of Rising Anxiety Due To Claustrophobia

By being aware of the signs of claustrophobia you can circumvent an anxiety attack before it peaks and there is no way out.

The most common signs that you are becoming anxious due to your claustrophobia are:

Nausea
Increased heart rate (pounding feeling in chest and ears)
Sweating
Shaking
Uneven breathing
Dizziness

Overcoming Your Anxiety

For a claustrophobic person, each day can present a situation in which they are put to the test.

If you are having multiple failures in controlling your anxieties then you may need to examine what you are doing and change some behaviors in order to take back your life.

This is especially true of the claustrophobic that is affected so severely that every day activities trigger their anxieties.

Everyday activities can be difficult for a claustrophobic including driving. Driving is a basic activity that people must do each day in order to live their lives normally.

You have to drive to and from work, to medical appointments and to take your children to and fro. In most areas of the country driving is a must for people to succeed.

So, if your claustrophobia is affecting this important area in your life then there are things you can do to ease your anxiety and in some cases, rid yourself of claustrophobic anxiety for good.

Get to the root of the problem
Relaxation techniques
Therapy
Hypnosis
Self-help programs

Understanding Your Phobia

Understanding your claustrophobia is a great step in the right direction to healing.

For many people who suffer from this phobia, something from their past can be tied in, making it clearer why the claustrophobia developed in the first place.

If you can pinpoint the event that made you claustrophobic in the first place your chances of overcoming it are much greater.

For me it happened as a child. I awoke from a nightmare and still in a sleepy haze, got out of bed and ran to the door to get my mother.

I slung the door open and went to dash out into the hall when I was stopped. I could not get out of my bedroom door!

I was pushing and it was dark but I was surrounded by things I could not see and it was as if a wall were keeping me in my room.

After hearing me yelling, my mother came in the door and after light flooded my bedroom I realized that I was in my closet.

Being roused from the nightmare coupled with my waking fear and inability to see in the dark, I ran into my closet instead of the exit door.

Ever since then I have been highly claustrophobic and can even still feel the panic in reliving that memory.

The anxiety caused by this small and seemingly insignificant event made it hard for me to ride in or drive a car; that is until I learned how to overcome it.

Relaxing Away The Phobia

Relaxation techniques have been highly successful for someone suffering from this type of phobia.

These include, but are not limited to, deep breathing, meditation, mental refocusing (going to your happy place) and calming music (music therapy).

Some of these can be used while driving and have been noted to be beneficial in cases where the anxiety has not reached peak levels.

These things should be done before your anxiety spikes.

Therapy To Free Yourself

There are many types of therapeutic techniques that can be employed by skilled therapists and can be very successful in treating anxiety caused by claustrophobia and even wipe out your claustrophobia entirely.

Just talking about it with a third party can be helpful, but a therapist can also use methods that you will find to be even more helpful in the long run.

One method is hypnosis. While this is not a 100% fool proof method of treatment (nothing is 100%), the results have been encouraging enough for it to be recommended for someone who is deeply affected by this phobia.

Another method that has more evidence behind it and is rooted in CBT is Systematic Desensitization.

This method takes you through all the aspects of your fear in a safe and relaxing environment and ends with you being slowly introduced into situations where your fear really takes hold.

The point is desensitizing you to what you fear the most and therefore overcoming it entirely.

A Step In The Right Direction With Self Help

Last by not least are self-help programs. There are many available that will help you work through the anxiety connected to your claustrophobia.

The best programs have a solid outline of the work you must do to be successful as well as DVD’s and CD’s that you can have with you when you are away from home.

It is best to choose a program that is specific to your main triggers. For instance, if driving is a trigger for you, as it was for me, you want to find a program that deals with fear of driving.

One such program, called the The Original Driving Fear Program, has seen wonderful results for people from all walks of life and who have all sorts of fears associated with driving anxiety.

It is very important to find help for your claustrophobic anxiety as it can be a severe hindrance in your daily life. If you are tired of being controlled by your own fears, then the time to get help in now.

The Ultimate Self Help Techniques to Overcome Driving Phobia

rodney — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 02:33:38 +0000

Are you permanently parked because of driving phobia? Do you feel some fear holding you back strongly as soon as you think of driving your car?

Then this article is for you. You’ll get off the blocks much sooner than you’d ever think. If your phobia of driving is not allowing you to even want to drive a car, let us work it in your mind first.

The techniques you are going to learn here will help you overcome driving phobia for good. Moreover, you can apply them to any other phobia you may have and get rid of that too.

The key to overcome phobia is wanting to overcome it. If you get yourself to really want to get rid of driving phobia, half the battle is won.

How Driving Phobia Sets In

Fear of driving phobia most often is a result of just one frightful incident while driving. In the early stages of fear of driving, people usually try to get over it by briefly venturing into the feared situation, but they retreat as soon as anxiety creeps in.

When they avoid their fears, they get instant relief from their symptoms of fear of driving. This leads to a negative cycle. The more they avoid their fear of driving, the more symptomatic relief they get, making them believe that their fears were real and not speculative.

It is this habit of avoidance that is phobia. There is no real danger, it is illusion. Each time you avoid your fears, the more real this illusion appears.

How much longer should we keep avoiding? It is like retreating from a battlefield. We may feel secure in the beginning, but we are allowing the enemy grab more and more of our land. As we retreat more and more, we suddenly find that a large chunk of our world has been taken away from us.

It is time to rise against this enemy – illusion. If you are afraid of driving, it’s time to fight. And it’s not difficult because the enemy is not even real – it’s illusion! How do we fight it? Just face it!

Face the Fear and There Will Be No Fear

You only have to face your fear and it will vanish into thin air. Get up and go. This is the easiest and quickest driving phobia treatment there can ever be, even though you may feel it is the most difficult.

You will realize in hindsight that this was indeed the easiest and quickest. Say to yourself let me feel the fear when I start my car and pull away, not before that.

After all what could possibly happen to you sitting at home? If you sit at home you will only fuel your driving phobia and nothing more. Face it.

Every time you face your fear, you’ll find your self confidence rising. You’ll be less apprehensive every time you get behind the wheel of your car. It takes some amount of determination to apply this solution. The results are astounding.

Warning: Go One Step at a Time

If you have a fear of even driving to your local grocery, it would be a disaster if you tried to face your fear headlong on the freeway. You will further worsen your driving phobia if you happen to get a panic attack while driving. And chances are you will abandon the thought of driving again.

Take it stage by stage, according to the level of your driving phobia, and congratulate yourself after every stage.

Follow this order of progression from wherever you are at the moment:

Sitting in your car with engine running
Driving round the block
Driving round a number of blocks with a companion
Driving round a number of blocks on your own
Driving over small bridges
Driving over longer bridges
Driving on unfamiliar roads
Driving over long bridges spanning water
Driving on freeways
Driving in extreme weather conditions

Still Not Convinced? Another Technique to the Rescue

If you are still not able to muster up enough courage to face your driving fears, “think it through”. Yes, this is the technique with which you can muster up the courage to face your driving phobias. Think it through.

Sit in the comfort of home on your favorite couch and take your mind on the car journey you want to take. Visualize your whole journey in the detail.

See yourself slipping into the driver’s seat, starting up the engine, pulling away, maneuvering through the traffic and so on. Anticipate every problem you may come across and prepare your answer to it.

Prepare for erratic cyclists in your neighborhood, traffic and busy intersections, cars cutting across your lane, vehicles closing in, the honking, etc. Prepare your response to every situation, because these are the situations that are most likely to dent your confidence when you actually drive.

If you go back in time, it was perhaps one of these situations that caused your fear of driving in the first place. Now it’s time to learn from them, expand your skill set, and move on.

Practice it in your mind first. Do your homework. Study the route, know where to turn, and know the one-ways so that you don’t get panicky at crucial junctures.

Look up the actual routes and pictures on Google Street View . All the major streets in the U.S. are up on the internet. Take a drive through sitting at your computer.

Overcome your driving phobia in your mind before you hit the road. Once you do this, you’ll be amazed at the ease with which you will drive.

Laugh At Your Fears

Finally, laugh at your driving phobia whenever you feel anxiety building up. Laughing at your driving phobia will diffuse the associated feeling of fear and make you feel comfortable with driving.

It needs courage and a sense of humor to laugh when you are anxious. If you manage to pull it off, you will probably have mustered enough courage to face the fear of driving!

For more on how to overcome driving phobias, check out Rich Presta’s Driving Fear Program.

It is a foolproof program to help you get back on the road with complete confidence as quickly as possible.

Driving Anxiety and Panic Attacks While Driving

rodney — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:54:43 +0000

Do you know fear is a defense mechanism? Fear helps you act against potential danger and not do dangerous things.

Fear of driving, in its innate and sublime form, is there to protect you. But when it turns into driving anxiety and panic attacks while driving, it hampers your performance rather than help you in any way.

Here we present you with solid tips and techniques to cure your panic and anxiety attacks while driving. When you apply these techniques you will see your panic attacks disappear, and what will remain is awareness to spot signs of fear and take appropriate action to protect yourself.

So don’t worry about fear, let it come to you whenever it is useful. And it is definitely not useful when you pull it towards you and multiply it a hundred times to create panic for yourself.

How to Prevent Fear Turning Into Panic or Anxiety While Driving

Most of us have a slight fear of driving. A frightful incident while driving creates an impression in our mind that plays to itself the next time we drive.

While most people manage to douse the fear, some tend to kindle it and inflame it with every passing incident. They make fuss over physical symptoms of fear like sweaty palms, trembling or dizziness, which makes them even more scared of driving, eventually ballooning into driving anxiety and panic attacks while driving.

The trick is to catch the moment of fear before it soars to uncontrollable heights. Just keep yourself occupied in the present moment and you’ll be just fine. This article is all about remaining in the present. Anxiety is nothing but anticipation of fear.

The fear may or may not be real, but the anticipation of fear is definitely real, detrimental, and hard to bear.

Just look at the present moment. Look at the cars ahead of you. Enjoy the experience of operating a marvelous machine on wheels. Keep your breath flowing and don’t let it lock up. Be aware.

Trick to Quickly Dissolve Panic Attack While Driving

Here is a fantastic technique to avoid an impending panic attack while driving. It may look insane upfront, but it works every time to douse your driving anxiety. Here is how you do it.

Consider you are driving on a freeway or a long bridge, places most of you would tend to panic. Suddenly you start feeling the heat and you get squirmy with fear. Your hands start trembling and your palms start sweating.

Now what you need to do is observe your feelings (identify them), accept them and worsen them. Yes you heard right. Worsen the feelings and symptoms yourself.

Once you have identified and accepted your feelings, make them worse on your own. If your hands are trembling, you make them tremble more by putting in a conscious effort.

If you are feeling jittery, consciously take control of your body and make it jitter more. If you feel like shrieking, gather yourself and consciously shout out something.

What happens is you gain control over your feelings. You realize that you cannot really make them worse. You remain firmly in the present and avoid spiraling into anxiety and panic. This technique will help you relax and avoid panic attacks while driving.

Periodically as you drive, you can perform a relaxation procedure to keep yourself nice and composed. Here is one relaxation technique to help you relax from time to time as you drive, especially if you feel anxiety building up in your system.

Relaxation Technique While Driving

1. Relax your forehead, eyes and jaws. You’ll be surprised how much tension you had unnecessarily built up around that region. Tell yourself it’s fine to relax the muscles of your face.

Relax your jaws and slightly part your teeth. A relaxed face is not going to drop your stance; it is going to equip you with more awareness and alertness.

2. Slightly roll your head both ways. Roll your shoulders clockwise and anticlockwise. Bend your shoulders blades backwards and press them against each other. Hold for a few seconds and relax.

This will soothe your nerves. The best time to perform this exercise is when you stop at traffic signals.

3. Squeeze the wheel tightly with both your hands and relax. Repeat a couple of times. This will make sure you are not holding the wheel with more effort than needed.

4. Squeeze your buttocks together and relax. Repeat twice more. If you have been clenching your buttocks too much while driving, this exercise will relax them and your nerves.

Practice this relaxation technique periodically to get rid of any anxiety while driving. You can practice it on freeways, traffic signals, or before entering a bridge.

There’s nothing really to be scared of while driving if you know how to drive. Unless your driving capabilities are not up to the mark, the only thing stopping you from driving confidently is your mind.

If you engage it in the present moment, anxiety and panic are never going to haunt you. Panic and anxiety attacks while driving are only due to the mind running into the future or harking back to the past.

Use the techniques given above to good effect and keep your mind in the present.

Driving is easy. Just look at those that text as they drive, eat and drink as they drive. This is not to scare you away from the roads but you have you realize that driving is a piece of cake!

Final Words

Practice. Practice your way up and resist the temptation to test yourself directly over bridges spanning water or speeding on the freeway. Each time you drive, increase the duration of your drive.

Remember, your aim is to get better. Don’t try to achieve perfection; it will only lead to more anxiety attacks while driving and make you more scared of driving.

Having said that, it is better for you to go and drive rather than sit at home thinking of fear, anxiety and panic. If you have decided to follow the techniques given here, it is your best chance ever to get rid of driving anxiety and panic attacks while driving. Good luck!

Check out the Driving Fear Program in which you can find ample tips and tricks and proven methods to eliminate fear, anxiety and panic attacks while driving.

The program is a well thought out guide that comes from the actual experiences of the author as he learned how to drive fearlessly from being a nervous driver.