Today we will talk about some of them. Driving fear is often complicated, if not due to the automatic negative thoughts of individuals. These thoughts can be frightening and irrational, such as worries that they will lean towards incoming traffic or close a bridge, or they may be focused on the person's physical sensations such as rapid heartbeat or dizziness. These thoughts are often described as the most annoying symptom of driving anxiety, and they can be the real trigger of panic attacks while driving. Controlling these thoughts is the key to success in overcoming a driving phobia. Negative thoughts need to be overcome.
Thought stopping
It is sometimes advised that people who are afraid of driving should try to stop their negative thoughts with perseverance. While this is well-intentioned and the goal is certainly to reduce the amount of this annoying thought, the strategy is inherently flawed. The person needs to remember that they do not have to think about the assumption that they have already thought about it. It's like telling them not to think about blue collars. They will first think of a blue banana because remembering what should not be needed requires thinking that has been done to avoid. Unfortunately, this is not always the case, as there is no way to mentally visualize a stop sign or to train the mind with a rubber band.
The time of scheduled anxiety
The time of concern is to dedicate certain periods of the day, usually morning and evening, to these thoughts to keep them moving. For example, a common thought associated with fear of driving is getting stuck and unable to escape and losing control. For this thought, the person will force himself to gossip about the thought twice a day for a predetermined period. The purpose is twofold. First, the thought becomes less powerful because the person does not become interested in it after repeatedly playing the scene mentally. Second, the strategy teaches the individual to be able to postpone their worries for a period of time, which ultimately allows them to postpone their worries indefinitely.
We have seen moderate success with this method for very isolated thinking or specific driving fears. For example, if there is a specific bridge that is annoying, but not the bridge in general. For the overall fear of driving, there are many terrifying thoughts about using this technique effectively in the long run. It does not encourage the acceptance and understanding of scary thoughts and feelings that are so important to success.
Creative visualization
Most of the irrational, compulsive and scary thoughts associated with the fear of driving are extremely intelligent and creative people. Many of their annoying thoughts are not based on historical evidence or truth (they probably never responded the way they feared, yet the fear remains), and are caused by their very active creative imagination. These abilities allow the intimidating person to play mind situations very strongly, and this reality helps to perpetuate the fear. The Driving Fear program, which specializes in the treatment of driving phobias and anxiety, uses these creative skills to overcome rather than perpetuate annoying thoughts. It actually allows the same traits that created fear to end fear. Always think positive. Nothing can be taken lightly. That's all for today.
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