Nervous, Phobic Driving or Road Anxiety
Road anxiety, or a fear of driving to the point it has become phobia, is likely to be enormously detrimental to your life because it will stop you from doing basic things like the school run, getting to work or interfering with jobs that require driving as part of your work.
If anxiety behind the wheel is controlling you and preventing you from driving, either with ease, or at all, it‘s important to face the problem!
Understand How Phobias Arise.
Your driving may not have reached the level of being phobic yet, but you might find this link helpful in understanding more about phobias.
Other Physical Reactions you may Experience are:
Over and above feeling tense, you may sometimes experience the following: Headaches, tingling lips, chest pains, heart palpitations, nauseated and desire to vomit, actual vomiting, dry throat, feeling faint, ‘jelly legs’, dizziness etc. You may plan a route that avoids major roads or bridges, even if it seriously increases your mileage, or avoid driving altogether, perhaps cancelling a planned trip because you can’t face it.
Does this sound familiar to you?
You’re not going mad!
Don’t worry, you really are not going mad! You're not alone! It's is far more common than you think.
But You do Need to Seek Help!
You may want to choose a therapy according to what feels best for you. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) may help, Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) or Hypnotherapy. Sometimes a combination of more than one can help.
Talk about it! We have a facebook page with advice www.facebook.com/thedrivinganxietycoach and soon to have an exclusive closed group forum where you can post your experiences and share with likeminded people.
Our specialist website is now ready for you to turn to that can help you. Click on www.thedrivinganxietycoach.co.uk for more information. See you there.
Start now! Call Diane on 07889 186100.
I am a nervous driver, following a series of small traffic incidents. Although I have been driving for a number of years I had a number of driving issues: Driving considerably slower than 50 miles an hour, nervous and unsure on roundabouts and driving on major roads. I was also concerned about driving my husband’s car which is considerably bigger than mine. Prior to working with Diane I had Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and Hypnotism but neither worked. I have been driving with Diane over a period of over a year. She has proved herself to be an excellent instructor. I am now driving confidently at 50 miles an hour, managing roundabouts effectively and driving my husband’s car regularly. My next set of lessons will be to tackle the major roads. Diane has been able to appreciate the level of support required through careful observation and questioning. She encouraged and advised me, and I built up confidence in her lessons. Her technical advice, given in understandable stages, has enabled me to build up my driving skills and to maintain them. In my own role as a trainer I have been impressed with Diane’s interpersonal skills in her driver training. I can fully recommend her as a driving instructor for building up lost confidence and in teaching achievable goals.