Posts Tagged anxiety
What Is Driving Phobia And Can It Be Overcome?
Posted by GuestPoster in Health & Fitness on May 31st, 2010
A phobia is an irrational form of anxiety that is extreme or intense and often bears very complicated psychological, emotional and physical characteristics. Driving phobia is one form of panic attacks that affect a person when he or she is driving or wants to drive. A recent study showed that at least one in every sixteen drivers on our roads today suffers from driving anxiety, albeit at different severities. This is a condition that is common with young females and the elderly although it can affect anyone. A person suffering from driving anxiety will always find it difficult, if not impossible, to drive a car in some roads, under some conditions or in some places.
Some of the driving phobia symptoms include feeling of depression and panic attacks. The attacks come in the form of difficulty in breathing, fear of losing control, inability to think clearly, blurred vision, sweating, hyperventilation, shaking and anger among others. In extreme cases of driving phobia, the victims may even have difficulty in sleeping, nightmares of driving and inability to use car transport altogether. This condition can be caused by a variety of factors although some just come out of nowhere. Memories of car crashes, near-misses and road accidents especially from childhood are the most common causes but some just develop as a result of natural fear that a person suffers.
Although a case of mind driving anxiety may not be an immediate road hazard, it is generally unsafe to drive while dealing with such a phobia. Drivers suffering this condition may in most cases suffer unpredictable and irrational attacks on the road and this can inhibit their driving. Driving phobia can be treated completely through some self-help techniques like relaxation, visualization and meditation exercises or professional counseling, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and hypnosis for severe cases of panic attacks.
Natural Ways of Treating Your Driving Anxiety
Posted by GuestPoster in Health & Fitness on May 26th, 2010
For those of you who are plagued by driving fear – read on! Here in this article you will find a long list of natural approaches that will help you get rid of your fear of driving.
Relaxation Tactics – Learning the art of relaxing your body and releasing the tension that is building up inside you is a great and proven way in reducing the occurrence of panic attacks while driving. Some of the relaxation tactics that you can try are progressive muscle relaxation, deep meditation, diaphragm breathing, stretching exercises and listening to soothing music.
Cognitive Therapy – This form of therapy focuses on altering your thinking patterns and conscious/subconscious beliefs which are causing or can contribute to the anxiety that you are experiencing. This approach also includes reality testing, positive affirmations, cognitive reformation, cognitive challenging and attention training.
Behavior Therapy – One of the prime components of this approach is exposure. In this form of therapy, all of the major obstructions that are standing between your fear and you will be removed and you are to confront your fear in its most basic stage.
Dietary Adjustments – You know, even simple alterations on your daily diet can also do wonders to your anxiety problems. For starters, you can reduce or completely eliminate caffeine from your regular meal plan. Keep in mind that caffeine is not only found in coffee, there are some other beverages such as chocolate, energy drinks and even teas that contain varying doses of caffeine. Ingest more fruits and vegetables and try to stay away from highly processed foods, salty, sugary and deep fried foods.
Exercise – Staying physically active promotes the release of your body’s endorphins which is considered as your natural feel-good, happy hormone. In addition, regular exercising can also fight off your stress hormones.
Build Up Your Confidence – Driving is something that is learned. There is no person in this earth who is born with this ability. You need to practice more often to hone your skills. You will find yourself less afraid of driving if you are confident.