I’ve had a very severe driving phobia since I started learning to drive 3.5 years ago. I’ve never been in an accident, although I’ve made a few stupid mistakes which were scary at the time.
It’s ruining my life. I’ve had to miss classes because I couldn’t drive to them, avoid meeting up with friends because I couldn’t get there, miss out on new jobs, missed countless opportunities and generally been way more housebound than I should have been. This is also really triggering for my depression, and I really want to make changes.
I’ve tried doing meditations and breathing exercises in and out of the car. I’ve tried thought challenging and mindfulness. Every counsellor I’ve seen has told me to do a graduated exposure. I try really hard but the tasks don’t become easier the more I do them. I can never advance beyond driving to a select few places, even then it is extremely difficult. Even driving to my work, which takes me 3 minutes to drive to, where I’ve been going 2-3 times a week for as long as I’ve been driving, still makes me anxious. I’ve also tried reading the road rules a hundred times, hasn’t helped. I try listening to music and audiobooks a bit, it provides slight distraction but it clearly not a cure.
I’ve visited 3 GPs and 1 psychiatrist, all have refused to prescribe me anti-anxiety medication. I’ve also tried exercising more, eating healthier, reducing caffeine and sleeping more to reduce my general anxiety, it hasn’t helped.
i could really use some advice on how to beat this. It is limiting my life greatly, and every health professional I have talked to has told me to keep up what I’m doing. Clearly this isn’t helping! What on Earth can I do to make this phobia go away? I hate living like this!
