Driving phobia is an extreme fear of driving that can affect anyone. Driving phobia can develop after someone has a very negative experience on the road: a car wreck or a near-accident, for example. Whether one is the driver or the passenger, a bad automobile incident can have lasting emotional effects.
For some people with the anxiety disorder, driving is a necessary evil and can be extremely stressful. Most people have no choice but to drive because of their job or their family. This does not make it any less anxiety-inducing for a person who has driving phobia. Ordinary, everyday activities like going to the grocery store, picking up the kids from school, or driving home in the rain can all be a major source of stress for people who having driving phobia.
A video on YouTube shows how a therapist treated a middle-aged woman in New Zealand for her driving phobia. The woman, who also struggled with agoraphobia, became fearful of leaving her home after a surgery left her helpless for several months. She eventually grew afraid of driving because she was reluctant to leave the perceived safety of her home, where she had been recovering from her injury.
When she had to leave her home, she began to exhibit physical symptoms of distress such as shaking, perspiration, rapid breathing, and an increased heart rate.
The video shows the viewer how a trained therapist helped the phobic woman to recover from her extreme fear and discomfort.
Exposure therapy, an approach which allows the person with a phobia to safely face his or her fears, was used by the therapist to treat the woman in question. In the video, we are able to see how the therapist talks the fearful woman through her anxiety and how he keeps her calm while they are behind the wheel together.
Check out the video here:
