Hypnosis for Driving Anxiety

Driving Phobia Treatment in Nottingham 

Why People Experience Anxiety in Cars

Fear of  Motorway Driving– This particularly impacts newly qualified motorists who have not experienced significant exposure to driving on motorways whilst learning. If you are already a nervous driver faster roads can seem like a scary place for drivers because of the high speeds involved and the sheer amount of other drivers on the road creates anxiety driving on motorways. Yet motorway driving doesn’t have to be scary as driving hypnosis helps to treat phobias and anxieties.*

Fear of Driving in Busy Traffic – Driving in traffic is a common everyday activity that most people do on a daily basis. Many people are fine with driving on the small back roads near their homes but start to feel overwhelming panic when they enter a town centre or encounter rush hour traffic. This could be due to a fear of unpredictable drivers, feeling out of control, or thinking you are trapped. In actuality, those feelings are generally related to other life experiences and not just cars. When you are able to rationalise the reasons why it is easier to feel more comfortable behind the wheel.

Fear of Crossing Bridges – It has been known for some drivers to freeze whilst they are driving across bridges. This is usually associated with a fear of heights or in certain people fear of expansive spaces. These negative feelings can be addressed with positive suggestions and learning about the root cause of the problem.

Driving Test Fears – It is not unusual for most people taking their driving test to feel some anxiety in fact it is normal. However, for some people, the thought of taking a driving test fills them with fear and dread and their nerves get the better of them. When your anxiety feels out of control it can be difficult to think properly and react to the instructions that the driving examiner is giving you. This can cause you to fail your test. Not because you are not a good driver but because your nerves took control.

We have worked with many drivers using relaxation and positive visualisation techniques to help them feel calmer when thinking about their tests.*

Certain Roads Trigger Panic Attacks or Anxiety – If our clients have experienced a bad experience on a certain stretch of road or motorway then their mind tells them the same thing will happen again. In most cases, it is not the road that is the problem but another issue. As an example, someone feels panic driving to work on a certain stretch of road. It may be the job that is the problem and not necessarily the car. A therapist in a hypnosis session can work with you to understand what is going on in your life that is acting as the real trigger.*

Avoiding Driving – Even though many clients of ours have passed their test they start to avoid driving in their cars because they are worried about getting in an accident. Giving up driving is your anxious mind’s way of keeping you safe but it has gone too far. In fact, when you avoid driving you only make the problem larger. Driving avoidance is never the solution.

We work with our clients using a combination of hypnosis and exposure therapy to help reintroduce them to driving. We also use confidence and self-esteem building to get them back into a car so they are driving again.*

Why Driving Anxiety Medication Can Only Help So Much

Whilst hypnosis is one way to solve the problem many of our clients have tried other methods before coming to see us for help. They may have seen their doctor to get medication to help with their anxiety. For some people, this can be helpful but it never helps them address the underlying reasons for their problem.

When the root cause of a problem isn’t addressed you may find that your anxiety can keep on coming back or pop up in other places. This is why we try and help our clients address the underlying reasons for their fears.

Plus anxiety triggers can generate strong physical symptoms in some people such as an increased heart rate, feelings of panic, sweating, and overwhelming fear. Sometimes medication is not enough to counteract the fight or flight response.

CBT for Driving Anxiety

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is another form of help for anxiety-related issues. It works differently from hypnosis as it never looks at the root cause of your problem. Once again CBT can be helpful for some people but generally, you will need more sessions and it doesn’t address the underlying causes of your problem.

We find that being able to rationalise and understand the problem can be more effective for neutralising anxiety as when your mind is able to see the bigger picture it often adjusts its response. In many cases, this means it substantially reduces the anxiety or can switch it off completely.

Hypnotherapy for Driving Phobia

Hypnosis for driving anxiety works in a different way as we take a holistic approach to resolving the problem.

In our first session, we don’t just talk to you about fears surrounding cars but also any other anxiety problems you may have. It is not unusual for our clients to have a number of different fears and phobias that are connected.

We usually begin our therapy sessions by teaching you deep relaxation techniques to calm down the anxiety response. We also help you learn about positive self-talk and visualisation to help you view things in a different way. If you have any negative thoughts that are creating barriers to success we work with you to overcome them so that you are able to think of more positive thoughts whilst you are driving.

If necessary we may delve a little deeper with some of our clients to make sure that it really is a fear of driving that is holding them back. As we have already touched up the fear is not always related to driving and that is why the problem may have been difficult for you to resolve in the past. If people have been treating the wrong issue then the anxiety will remain. Discovering the underlying causes of problems is our specialty and something that we believe is more likely to collapse the problem than just anxiety reduction alone.*

To find out what previous clients think of our methods see our latest testimonials