Driving Fear And How To Deal With It
It is important to consider the different driving fears people may have, once these fears are established there are easy methods available to cope with them. Although some reasons for a phobia of driving are obvious, there are also many that may not be so apparent instantly. Hence, some reasons for the phobia will be more difficult to overcome than some others. Although some fears will be situation specific, there are also others that involve general driving.
Firstly, an example of a less obvious fear could be, but is not limited to claustrophobia; being enclosed in a car could create problems for people. A car is a relatively small space and being trapped in this small area would make some people uneasy.
A further example of a less obvious fear, but perhaps more obvious than the previous example is motion sickness. Obviously a car moves when driven, and if someone has severe motion sickness, they can feel very unwell when the car is in motion.
A traumatic incident could cause a fear of driving; an accident when the person was a young child, probably a passenger, therefore causing a fear later in life. A fear could then develop of either just driving the car, or even perhaps being in a car at all. This fear could occur instantly after a crash, but can also be brought on over many years. However, a crash does not have to occur in order for a fear to develop, perhaps a series of near misses could result in a fear developing.
These fears are often rather irrational; therefore there must be a way to get over the fears? When the fear is specific to certain situations, a gradual introduction to the environment of the fear is great cure. For claustrophobia the person involved should enter a familiar small room that is enclosed. Once the person is comfortable with this, the room should be then changed to something smaller, once comfortable keep going until the environment is as small as possible. This does not necessarily have to be done over one single day, but a few weeks or months would probably be better.
If the fear extends to all driving in general, you must ask the question why, and then try and realise that the fear is quite irrational. Obviously many people drive every day, generally without any problems. Even incidents that occur are generally quite minor. Driving on a freeway or a motorway is generally a little more dangerous, with collisions resulting in more fatalities. Yet, if you drive safely, then there will generally be very few problems if any. Again, people drive for many years on freeways without a single crash.
Motion sickness causing a fear is perhaps the only ailment that cannot be easily self-treated. But, doctors can prescribe medicines for motion sickness, which should help to overcome the fear of driving.
Therefore for the psychological ailments it is best to gradually introduce the problems to the ‘patient’ in order to cope with the fear and overcome it. This is a simple form of a type of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, used and recommended by many top psychologists worldwide. Hopefully this will help you to cope with the fear of driving.
Hodophobia is actually a driving fear. Did you know this? You would learn this in the driving fear articles that you will find on our site. Why do some people have a fear of driving? How do you get away from it? We’ll explain it to you.
