Driving anxiety: symptoms, causes and treatment

It is estimated that 22% of Spanish drivers have anxiety when driving and 19% of them stop doing it because they are afraid of it. This fear can take various forms. It may be that the person is afraid of the trip itself, of the road, of the car, or of having an accident. Furthermore, its causes are also very diverse.

Driving is a complex activity in terms of motor coordination, the attention it requires and involves a high degree of responsibility. Thus, It is often revealing and causes emotional difficulties. In many cases, driving anxiety is caused by having had a traumatic experience behind the wheel. However, as we will see later, this does not represent the majority.

Driving anxiety symptoms

As in any anxiety disorder, when it occurs in relation to driving, causes three types of symptoms: cognitive, behavioral and physiological. Physical symptoms include increased pulse and heart rate, feeling of suffocation, nausea, dizziness, hot flashes, chest pressure, gastrointestinal discomfort, muscle tension, tremors, sweating or excessive tiredness.

The manifestation of these symptoms is different in each person.so one or more can be presented, and they do not always have to be the same.

Cognitive symptoms refer to the thoughts that the person has regarding what causes anxiety. In this case, driving. Thus, in general, you will have negative thoughts, excessive worries, fear, insecurity, and you will anticipate possible dangers. Additionally, decision-making ability and attention are affected.

At a behavioral level, nervousness, clumsy and disorganized movements, as well as avoidant or escape-type behaviors are usually observed. That is, in the face of fear, the person will try to avoid situations in which they have to drive. It may even happen that, once in the car, if she begins to experience symptoms, she will get out and take public transportation.

Causes of driving anxiety

Although the manifestation of anxiety while driving may be similar and generalized, the same is not true of the origin of this fear. The main causes are described below:

Having suffered a panic attack while driving. Some circumstances that occur while driving can lead someone who already has anxiety to suffer a panic attack. For example, speed, highways, tunnels or busy traffic. If this happens, the person will feel like they may faint or suffer cardiac arrest, so they will be afraid that it will happen again and their fear of driving will increase. Therefore, you will avoid it, and this will increase anxiety.Having suffered a traffic accident. After an accident, post-traumatic stress disorder can develop, which will make it difficult for the person to expose themselves to the same situation again. Therefore, you will have anxiety while driving. However, this cause only represents 5% of people who have driving anxiety. The majority usually recover satisfactorily from an accident and, although it is not easy at first, they resume driving normally.Lack of experience or skill. People who have little experience or who have hardly driven since obtaining their license often have driving anxiety. This lack of contact with driving, as well as not feeling skilled, can lead to developing apprehension. However, with gradual practice anxiety can disappear.Insecurity or low self-esteem. In relation to the above, insecure people tend to see themselves as more incapable and clumsy than others, as well as more sensitive to possible criticism. This insecurity will affect the way you drive and will lead you to focus on everything negative that could happen. Therefore, driving can be a great source of stress that leads to anxiety.

Intervention for driving anxiety

As is often the case with other anxiety problems, The first step is to be aware of the difficulties you are having. How it affects and to what extent it prevents you from carrying out daily or necessary activities normally. If you detect that it is a real anxiety problem, you should seek the help of a psychology specialist.

Then, coping strategies will be learned, which will be aimed at detecting and controlling anxiety symptoms. In addition, the thoughts that cause anxiety will be identified and attempts will be made to replace them with less harmful and more realistic ones. Likewise, relaxation techniques would be learned that can be applied when symptoms begin to be identified, with the aim of reducing the level of anxiety.

Finally, if the person is unable to take the car, exposure therapy would be done to the problem. Thus, she would gradually get closer to driving. For example, first traveling with someone, then driving in less crowded places, later on secondary roads, etc. In this phase, a gradual and adapted process is essential.

In short, driving anxiety is a problem that affects many people and can appear at any time in life. However, it can be overcome with appropriate treatment.

You might be interested…