Individuals' automatic negative thoughts frequently complicate, if not cause, their fear of driving. These thoughts can be frightening and irrational, such as fear of veering into oncoming traffic or driving off a bridge, or they can be centered on the person's physical symptoms of anxiety, such as a racing heart or dizziness. These thoughts are frequently described as the most annoying symptom of driving anxiety, and they can actually trigger panic attacks while driving. Controlling these thoughts is critical to overcoming a driving phobia.
.png)
Stopping Thoughts
It is sometimes suggested that a person who is afraid of driving try hard to stop their negative thoughts. Although this is well-intended, and the goal is undoubtedly to reduce the number of these bothersome thoughts, the technique is fundamentally flawed. Requiring the individual to recall what not to think implies that they have already done so. It's like telling them not to think of a blue banana. The first thing they will think of is a blue banana because remembering what not to think of necessitates the thought that is to be avoided.Methods such as mentally visualizing a stop sign or snapping oneself with a rubber band to train the mind to no longer have the thoughts are unfortunately an often recommended but not recommended technique.Methods such as mentally visualizing a stop sign or snapping oneself with a rubber band to train the mind to no longer have the thoughts are unfortunately an often recommended but not recommended technique.
Worry Time is a Scheduled Event
Setting aside specific times during the day, typically in the morning and evening, to allow these thoughts to run their course is known as worry time. For example, one common thought associated with driving phobia is being trapped, unable to escape, and losing control. For this thought, the person would force themselves to ruminate on it twice a day for a set amount of time. There are two goals here.First, the thought loses power as the person loses interest in it after mentally replaying the scenario several times. Second, the technique teaches the individual to be able to postpone their worrying until the specified time, which may eventually allow them to postpone the concern indefinitely.
This approach has had moderate success for very isolated thoughts or specific driving fears. For example, if a specific bridge is bothersome but not bridges in general. There are too many fearful thoughts for this technique to be effective long term for the overall fear of driving. It also does not promote the acceptance and understanding of fearful thoughts and sensations, both of which are essential for success.
Visualization Through Creativity
The vast majority of people who have irrational, compulsive, and frightening thoughts about driving are highly intelligent and creative. Many of their bothersome thoughts are created by their overactive creative imagination and are not based on historical evidence or fact (they have likely never responded in the manner they fear, yet the fear persists).These abilities enable the phobic person to play out scenarios in their minds very convincingly, which aids in the perpetuation of the fear. The Driving Fear program, which specializes in the treatment of driving phobias and anxiety, has developed a technique that employs these creative abilities to eliminate rather than perpetuate the annoying thoughts. It actually allows the same characteristics that caused the fear to end the fear.