Many people struggle with driving anxiety, however, in my experience, Women are more likely to admit to it and seek help to resolve it. It’s worth saying that by entering into Hypnotherapy you may gain some insight into the issue on a subconscious level, however, it is not essential to reduce driving anxiety, stop overthinking, and enjoy driving again. Within this article, I’ll explore the 4 common factors so that you can start to piece together why you may experience fear, anxiety, and overthinking. In no particular order.    

Your driving role model was a non-driver or an unconfident driver

Women in particular have talked of their mothers' nervousness or lack of confidence on busy roads. Even experienced drivers may have lost their confidence as their roles changed from working to motherhood and working parent. With this in mind, it’s not surprising that it may have had an effect on you, especially as a child yourself, without even realising it.

Reflecting back on your own role models were one or both parents were non-drivers? Or were vocal about not liking it. If you have become a parent yourself, there can be an added challenge of wanting to keep them safe and free from harm not wanting to show them any struggles, conscious not to pass on any of your worries to them.

Now, you may think that you are pretty good at hiding it from them but children are very observant especially when you spend so much time in the car with them. And the ultimate cost of not addressing this factor is that you could be repeating the same pattern again and again with each generation.

But luckily you have me and I’ve spent the last 5 years working with anxious drivers so that you don’t have to repeat the same patterns. You really do get to stop focusing on driving anxiety and start enjoying driving from here on in.

Let me introduce you to Andie

When I started working with Andie, she described herself as struggling to drive 5 miles away from her home, always thinking something was going wrong with her car and she'd break down and no one would know where she is, stranded.

But through working together and integrating the 4-key elements of the Me Again method she's confidently driving. Now able to recognise that sounds are a normal part of driving, aware of the ones that she needs immediate attention.

“I am much more positive in my thoughts about getting in the car...It has been incredible for me.”

“I can get in the car and just go!"

You have experienced a car crash and it left you with driving anxiety

Either your anxiety about driving started directly after an incident or perhaps you experienced a delayed reaction after you’d had some time to reflect. Many people who drive on busy roads experience a few incidents of stress, interestingly, they may not have even been driving.

Being involved in a near miss or witnessing a near miss or repeated exposure to incidents over some time can have a compounding effect, no matter how minor or severe the incident. Your daily commute can be enough to cause micro anxiety every day, along with a family member returning home and reporting back all of the graphic details from their commute. Sat nav’s can also cause anxiety alerting you to accidents and diversions during every journey.

And it’s these kinds of exposure that can enable What if thinking… Your mind attempts to feel safe. However, when you only focus on what ifs and what could go wrong, you forget to see the little glimmers of the things that are safe and did go well.

When normal levels of concern turn to repeated anxiety about driving you train your brain to look for danger, perfecting the skill every time you go down that catastrophic wormhole. Your subconscious mind doesn’t know the difference between reality and imagined reality, so you could be at home on the sofa thinking about your last panic attack in the car and your subconscious mind reacts like it is happening now, and you end up living in constant fear. Car or no car. On high alert, ready for fight or flight at any time. Never resting, always ready! I speak from experience when I say it’s exhausting living this way.

When I started working with Sara

She described herself as really struggling with confidence and anxiety when driving. By working together and integrating the 4-key elements of the Me Again method, she has now taken her deep-seated, painful beliefs and has been able to transform them into enjoying her life.

"I realised it was that story again, I decided I'd own it, I can handle it, I reassured panicked me and I feel so happy. I've done it once and I'm going to do it again. So thank you!"

An extended period of stress

Stress seems to be the difference between the person who is involved in an incident who doesn’t develop driving anxiety and the one who does. Life changes can add to their stressors but big transitions such as promotions, having a baby, weddings, divorces, illness, and heavy responsibilities can be contributing factors. So, whilst you may think you are handling the stress well or it may not be enough of a trigger by itself, combined with an incident whilst driving and you have the potential for driving anxiety.  

When the subconscious mind feels unsafe, in an attempt to make sense of it, your mind links it back to a similar emotion or a sensation that you felt when you were younger connecting that feeling to now. It says that it ‘kind of feels like now’, ‘I'll link the two events together because I don't know what it is.’ This triggers your mind into replaying the feeling or sensation you established way back, now associating it with driving. This, explains why you can suddenly struggle to enjoy driving despite having done it confidently for most of your life.

Many anxious women drivers chase the idea that they did something wrong or could have stopped it from happening. Believe me when I say that it can consume every thought. Asking… Why did it happen to me? When in reality it could have been established 15 years ago and at the time it may not have even felt significant. It’s simply that your mind jumped to the conclusion that both emotions or the physical sensations were similar and hey presto you have driving anxiety.

Once established, every time you get in the car it activates you to feel this way, and just like previously mentioned you don’t even need to be in a car, you could be imagining yourself in the car and the same response occurs. Just like a place reminds you of a time or person from your past. Or a song can take you back to your childhood.

In essence, you are afraid of driving now because your mind is reminding you of an experience from years ago… driving could have very little to do with it. Again it explains why rationally you know you used to be a confident driver and yet no longer feel that way.

And yet you can decide to teach it something new, you get to tell it to look for evidence that a drive did go well, that you are a good driver, and that you enjoy driving again. Because the subconscious mind works for you (I know it doesn’t sound like it) but it takes any belief that you have and it finds evidence to support it. So if you think you have lost all of your confidence it finds evidence for that even overlooking any evidence to the contrary. So, if you change your belief to one of confidence, guess what? It starts finding evidence to support that. You get to teach it a new way of responding, acting, and feeling.

When I started to work with Joanna

she struggled to feel in control, feeling trapped every time she got in the car, motorways felt worse as there was absolutely no way out. By working together and integrating the 4-key elements of the Me Again method she made made changes to her subconscious mind, she was able to overcome trapped emotions from her childhood where she had felt trapped during a school assembly. She now describes driving as:

"unbelievably fun, hypnosis has been life-changing.

I'm able to get in the car and no longer think about driving."

Avoiding driving for some time

No wonder if any of the other factors are involved anxious drivers decide to either stop driving or avoid driving on specific roads. People who stopped driving either after an accident or when experiencing a big life change, or a global pandemic often found it much harder to start driving again. If they did they are more like to have no-go zones and roads which they feel somewhat more comfortable driving on. 

They often cite the physical symptoms of anxiety as the reasons why they struggle to keep going. Reportedly experiencing heart palpitations or chest tightness. Sweaty hands and feet. Numbness, and tension around their neck, jaw, and shoulders. Dizziness, panic attacks, and feeling like you’ll pass out.

This is why exposure therapy isn’t working, even though you can talk yourself into getting on the motorway. When you approach the entrance ramp you start to feel all of the negative thoughts, fear, panic, and the physical sensations associated with anxiety and you can’t do it! Taking a different route making a promise to yourself that you’ll do it tomorrow instead, adding an extra 20 minutes onto your commute.

The good news is that it is possible to feel in control of your mind and body get into the car and drive without panic. I’d go as far as to say that:

You Can feel good driving

You can build your confidence every day and with every journey

You can enjoy driving again

When I started working with Daisy

She struggled to drive on the motorway. The thought of driving was difficult and loud in her mind along with a physical symptom that caused her great panic with every journey. By working and integrating the Me again method, I was pleased to hear...

“I've found her immensely helpful over the 5 sessions, I never felt rushed or misunderstood. She has taught me techniques I know will help me for life. If you aren't sure about hypnotherapy just go for it, you might surprise yourself like I did!”

The common factor of these 4 brave women was that they committed the time, space, and energy to take action towards their goal of driving freedom! And they integrated the Me Again method during 5 hypnotherapy sessions. Read more about the Me again method and how it can help you to reduce driving anxiety, stop overthinking and confidently drive anywhere click the link below: