Not drive? You have to be kidding! Most of us take driving for granted. We drive everywhere. We tend to enjoy being in our own little cubicle on wheels, savoring the freedom it affords us. But not everyone feels this way. In fact, some people would prefer to walk barefoot through a horde of marauding fire ants than drive a car.
Why do people fear driving? There are a number of reasons. One of the most obvious is that you have experienced a car- or driving-related trauma. Another is that you have been conditioned to avoid driving by associating driving with something negative or painful. Watching others struggle or fail at it can negatively influence you. This negativity could even relate to having had a super-critical parent trying unsuccessfully to teach you to drive and finding fault with everything thing you do.
Another cause is low self-confidence. When you feel inadequate to the complex, attention-requiring task, taking control of the car seems like a monumental undertaking. Or perhaps you are a person who has panic attacks or agoraphobia. Panic attacks are unexpected episodes of physical arousal that make you feel as if you might die. Agoraphobia, "fear of open places," is not really about open spaces, but about having a panic attack in a place that is unknown, challenging, or away from your security and out of your control.
Those who suffer with agoraphobia frequently fear highways, bridges, and tunnels and, thus, would be reluctant to drive since those situations would be hard to avoid. Furthermore, some individuals with social anxiety who might feel comfortable when driving on an empty highway may feel panicky and embarrassed when cars are close together and the other drivers can evaluate them and their driving. They too could be said to have fear of driving.
In general, CBT--cognitive-behavioral therapy--would be the way to go because it addresses what you think, believe, and feel about driving as well as how you act to avoid driving. But the specific cause of your driving fear is an important factor in how your fear is to be addressed. For example, if you have simple panic attacks, they are treated differently from other types of driving anxiety. While medications may help with anxiety, they may be inappropriate for you if you have low self-esteem and feel inadequate to handle driving. Virtual Reality Therapy (VRT), which has been used for fear of spiders and high places, may be tailored to some driving fears.
Using CBT for driving anxiety is a multi-pronged approach. First you address your thoughts. You:
1. Look at your erroneous beliefs about driving and what negative events are likely to happen to you while driving.
2. Dispute your automatic negative self-talk by testing its reality.
3. Relax before and after any CBT driving technique with relaxation techniques.
4. Reduce your physiological arousal through abdominal breathing before, during, and after a driving technique.
5. Visualize yourself successfully navigating the roads and feeling good about it.
Second, you address your behavior. You:
1. Have a buddy who can go through the initial process with you
2. Start by approaching the car
3. Get used to being in it
4. Sit in a running car
5. Drive a few feet on your neighborhood road, relax, and drive a few more feet
6. Practice driving on an infrequently used road
7. Work your way up to driving on a more heavily trafficked road
8. Take you r"maiden voyage" without your buddy.
You CAN unlearn fear of driving and regain the life you desire and deserve.
Dr. Signe A. Dayhoff is a Social Psychologist, cognitive-behaviorist, a leading authority on "transforming social anxiety into social effectiveness," and author of "Diagonally-Parked in a Parallel Universe: Working Through Social Anxiety" (2nd. Ed.) You can alleviate your fear of being negatively evaluated in your personal and work lives. You can become comfortable with any social situation: interacting with others, making small talk, giving presentations or speeches, asking and answering questions, networking, promoting yourself, and dealing with authority figures, for example. Discover how you can become the confident person you desire and deserve to be. Subscribe to Dr. Signe's free monthly ezine, "Social Effectiveness Guru's Tips" and claim your bonus: "20 Tips For Overcoming Fear of Public Speaking." http://www.effectiveness-plus.com/
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