Fear of Driving
For over 13 years I just couldn't drive. It's not that I didn't know how - I passed my test first time and had a fabulous instructor - but due to a number of near misses I've encountered in my life, left me with having panic attacks. I once tried hypnotherapy but it turned out to be the old fashioned type with the Freudian idea that all trauma stems from childhood, well it didn't and no it didn't work until I was being trained as a Solution Focused Hypnotherapist.
What I found myself doing was recalling the events over and over again vividly, now I know this really does not help, but embeds the fear even deeper. I had to start to think positively about driving, telling myself I needed that independence. I did not want to rely on anybody else. The I used the Fast Phobia techniques and brought a bit of CBT in to help build my confidence gradually
Job done - I don't have any negative episodes now and if I have to go somewhere new I make sure I have a map, a sat nav and often map it out using Google Earth first, so I prepare well and prepare positively.
For those who come to see me about driving problems, and not just exams, you would expect to see me for around 5 sessions, but again it does very much depend on how much general stress and anxiety you are experiencing at the time.
Case Study 1
Maggie came to see me as she found it impossible to visit the boat she and her husband had moored in Southampton. Driving locally didn't seem much of a problem, though she just didn't like doing it, but a motorway journey was out of the question. It also transpired that although she worked part time she couldn't get motivated to do anything. For a number of years she had been a carer for her mother and when she died Maggie had the time to persue the hobbies she'd set aside for such an event. But she wasn't doing them.
Frustrated she asked if I could help. We also explored her grief over her mother. She had undergone counselling, but the guilt was still there. After about 5 or 6 sessions this improved greatly, she was going further afield and she at last felt free from the grief. By the 10th sessions she had driven down to Southampton, taken their boat across to the Isle of Wight and come back again without thinking about it. Bounding with enthusiasm she then decided to reduce the hours she worked and focus on activities she wanted to do.
All in all it was a complete success and was able to achieve so much more than before.
Case Study 2
When living down in Somerset, quite a regular problem appeared to involve driving on the M5 from Portishead to Clevedon on the split level section. This part of the motorway allows wonderful views over the Gordano valley to the sea, but it really upsets some and they find they just can't use it. The Avonmouth Bridge was another obstacle and a few went out of their way of driving through Bristol to get to Cribbs Causeway instead of using the mortorway. I have helped quite a number of individuals to overcome this problem and get them back on the road to success and a lot less diversions.
Case Study 3
This one is slightly different, and shows the power of the mind. After Marian came to see me with a problem that only happened at a certain time and place we eventually got to the bottom of the problem. She realised that driving along that stretch of road related to extreme anxiety about her husband finding out about a previous relationship which had stopped before she met him, but she'd stayed in touch with this chap. He was the best friend of her husband and it was when picking her husband up from this friends house she would literally freeze and couldn't drive.
She decided after realising this she had to tell him and once that happened she was able to drive again. When she first came to see me she had no idea this was the problem, but it gradually dawned on her as the weeks passed as being the only thing she could think of. Her subconscious wasn't giving her any clues, but the extreme relaxed state during hypnosis helped her make the connection.
Also see: A-Z of phobias
