Chronic anxiety is caused, at least in part, by thoughts. Anxious thoughts. Our thoughts are the way we tell ourselves what's "true" about the world. If you suffer from driving anxiety disorder, chances are you believe some things about driving that simply aren't true, and you probably have a bad habit of reinforcing these "truths" via negative self-talk that's always expecting the worst to happen. You're likely afraid of some aspect of driving without really knowing why you fear it. That's a good indicator you're suffering from irrational, distorted thinking.
But you can change the way you feel by changing the thoughts that make you unnecessarily anxious. Positive affirmations are an effective way to do this. Affirmations are really just the substitution of more helpful thoughts in place of painful, unhelpful ones. They help reprogram the linkages within your brain and body between certain thoughts and certain feelings.Here are 7 positive affirmations for driving anxiety to help you calm your fears and drive with more peace, self-assurance, and confidence.
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
So You Have Driving Phobia. Now What? Whether your driving phobia is gradual or is a result of PTSD, I'm sorry. I sympathize, because I've also suffered with this phobia. It can be a tough thing to live with.The good news is that phobias respond well to treatment. Treatment options for driving phobia (or any other) include: Cognative Behavioral Therapy (CBT),Hypnosis,Gradual Exposure Therapy,Meditation,Self Help.Which Solution is Right for You? In a way, it doesn't matter how you choose to treat your phobia... as long as you take action and are serious about wanting to change. If you approach it sincerely and with a real desire to change, chances are that you will see significant improvement. And of course the opposite is also true.If you're brand-new to phobia and have no experience with anxiety treatment, I recommend you choose a good anxiety treatment therapist. You may need guidance early on in your anxiety recovery.
Those experienced treating and living with other phobias may find that learning meditation or using self-help resources is enough to successfully treat driving phobia. Keep in mind that self-help alone is often not enough for many people, especially if you're inexperienced.Treating Phobias Focuses More on Solutions Than Causes.Whatever caused your driving phobia, treating it successfully means learning new here-and-now skills. It will probably not be necessary to spend much time re-hashing the past.Modern anxiety treatment methods are about retraining your brain, nervous system, and emotions to judge and respond more appropriately to actual dangers instead of perceived ones.
If this sounds familiar, you're not alone. You're one of millions of people gripped by intense fear of driving on freeways, a type of driving phobia.Wikipedia defines a phobia as "persistent fear of an object or situation in which the sufferer commits to great lengths in avoiding". If you have driving phobia, it's probably specific to only a few situations. You may have no problems most of the time, but certain settings trigger powerful sensations of anxiety, panic, and being trapped. Freeways are one of the most common trigger environments.Breaking Down Freeway Fear: What Are You REALLY Afraid Of? It's likely you struggle with one or more of the following:
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 technique which can help to overcome this problem is to go through a driving training course. Often the fear comes because you do not have enough confidence in your driving skills or because you have experienced a minor accident or even a moving violation. In circumstances like this a driving course will be of great help. The course will assist you develop your skills which will raise your confidence in your abilities behind the wheel. When you feel better regarding your capability in driving, you should be in a position to do it with no fear.
A very effective way of approaching driving anxiety is to examine your mindset going into your "trigger" situations. A trigger situation may be a certain street, bridge, highway, etc. where you tend to feel most anxious. Going into these trigger situations, anxious and panicked drivers often convince themselves they will have a panic attack.These types of thoughts tend to defeat any attempted efforts being made to help yourself with driving anxiety. Someone who has a strong desire to be able to drive comfortably will never achieve that state of mind when they are preparing to panic in certain situations.
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.
But you can change the way you feel by changing the thoughts that make you unnecessarily anxious. Positive affirmations are an effective way to do this. Affirmations are really just the substitution of more helpful thoughts in place of painful, unhelpful ones. They help reprogram the linkages within your brain and body between certain thoughts and certain feelings.Here are 7 positive affirmations for driving anxiety to help you calm your fears and drive with more peace, self-assurance, and confidence.
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
So You Have Driving Phobia. Now What? Whether your driving phobia is gradual or is a result of PTSD, I'm sorry. I sympathize, because I've also suffered with this phobia. It can be a tough thing to live with.The good news is that phobias respond well to treatment. Treatment options for driving phobia (or any other) include: Cognative Behavioral Therapy (CBT),Hypnosis,Gradual Exposure Therapy,Meditation,Self Help.Which Solution is Right for You? In a way, it doesn't matter how you choose to treat your phobia... as long as you take action and are serious about wanting to change. If you approach it sincerely and with a real desire to change, chances are that you will see significant improvement. And of course the opposite is also true.If you're brand-new to phobia and have no experience with anxiety treatment, I recommend you choose a good anxiety treatment therapist. You may need guidance early on in your anxiety recovery.
Those experienced treating and living with other phobias may find that learning meditation or using self-help resources is enough to successfully treat driving phobia. Keep in mind that self-help alone is often not enough for many people, especially if you're inexperienced.Treating Phobias Focuses More on Solutions Than Causes.Whatever caused your driving phobia, treating it successfully means learning new here-and-now skills. It will probably not be necessary to spend much time re-hashing the past.Modern anxiety treatment methods are about retraining your brain, nervous system, and emotions to judge and respond more appropriately to actual dangers instead of perceived ones.
If this sounds familiar, you're not alone. You're one of millions of people gripped by intense fear of driving on freeways, a type of driving phobia.Wikipedia defines a phobia as "persistent fear of an object or situation in which the sufferer commits to great lengths in avoiding". If you have driving phobia, it's probably specific to only a few situations. You may have no problems most of the time, but certain settings trigger powerful sensations of anxiety, panic, and being trapped. Freeways are one of the most common trigger environments.Breaking Down Freeway Fear: What Are You REALLY Afraid Of? It's likely you struggle with one or more of the following:
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 technique which can help to overcome this problem is to go through a driving training course. Often the fear comes because you do not have enough confidence in your driving skills or because you have experienced a minor accident or even a moving violation. In circumstances like this a driving course will be of great help. The course will assist you develop your skills which will raise your confidence in your abilities behind the wheel. When you feel better regarding your capability in driving, you should be in a position to do it with no fear.
A very effective way of approaching driving anxiety is to examine your mindset going into your "trigger" situations. A trigger situation may be a certain street, bridge, highway, etc. where you tend to feel most anxious. Going into these trigger situations, anxious and panicked drivers often convince themselves they will have a panic attack.These types of thoughts tend to defeat any attempted efforts being made to help yourself with driving anxiety. Someone who has a strong desire to be able to drive comfortably will never achieve that state of mind when they are preparing to panic in certain situations.
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.
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