Healing and Hypnotherapy Volume 5, Issue -3, 1 September 2020 | Page 4

How to Deal with Driving Anxiety
Driving anxiety is a very common form of anxiety that can range in severity
from a hesitation to drive, where anxiety is always present, all the way up to a
total refusal to drive at all, in which case it becomes driving phobia. A phobia
is a fear that is paralysing but irrational. Driving phobia is one of the most
common phobias.
Driving phobia is a form of agoraphobia, literally defined as is the fear of open
spaces. But it's not the fear of open spaces that scares people, it's the fear of
loss of control. People with a driving phobia fear being trapped in a traffic jam
and unable to escape if they experience a panic attack, likewise, they also
fear passing out, losing control of the vehicle, throwing up or getting into an
accident. For many people, driving next to big trucks can be very nerve
racking, as can be merging on the freeway or driving in the fast lane.
Driving Anxiety Symptoms
Symptoms of driving anxiety or phobia are similar to those of most other
forms of anxiety: heart palpitations, perspiring and sweaty palms,
disorientation, confusion, dizziness, dry mouth and shortness of breath. This
is the classic "fight or flight response". Sometimes people feel that they are
going to die or go crazy. This can be really scary and people will avoid driving
to avoid these kind of intense feelings. Of course, these are just feelings and
even the most severe panic attacks don't cause any long term ill effects.
Obviously, this can seriously impact a person's ability to function on a daily
basis if they need to drive to work or drive for a living, especially here in
Southern California where driving is necessary to get anywhere fast.
Driving anxiety can start in many ways. Usually a person has experienced an
incident such as a car accident or "close call" and that memory is still causing
the subconscious mind to be protective. Sometimes, although not often, this
kind of anxiety can show up seemingly out of the blue. If you are a person
that is prone to anxiety or fear, then driving may just be one place where this
shows up.
In addition, episodes of low blood sugar can create anxiety which can
become associated with driving, if you happen to be driving when the low
blood sugar takes place. Low blood sugar can be caused from not eating or
after eating a meal high in simple carbs or sugar. This is especially true for
those that have family histories of diabetes or hypoglycemia.
Driving anxiety can turn into a phobia though avoidance. In other words, of
you have some fear of driving and you decide to stop altogether, it becomes a
full blown phobia and the more you avoid it, the harder it is to get back in the
saddle, so to speak. The good news is, fear of driving is a learned behavior. If