Learning to drive with an anxiety disorder
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OptimistMinds
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Author bio
The Optimistminds editorial team is made up of psychologists, psychiatrists and mental health professionals. Each article is written by a team member with exposure to and experience in the subject matter. The article then gets reviewed by a more senior editorial member. This is someone with extensive knowledge of the subject matter and highly cited published material.
Learning to drive with an anxiety disorder – a complete guide to help someone with anxiety to take the wheel.
In this guide, we will discuss how a person learns to drive with an anxiety disorder and the techniques to deal with it.
Learning to drive with anxiety disorder
People throughout their lives will experience concern for various things. Payment of bills, health, job search, etc.
Feeling worried about achieving or executing something is normal in the lives of human beings since a moderate level of concern helps people to be motivated to fulfill their commitments and needs.
When the levels of anxiety that a person presents are high, it can interfere negatively in the daily activities that a person performs.
Not being able to perform functions at work, at home are some of them. When a person has anxiety it sees everything harder to do.
It worries because it thinks it will not succeed, causing the person to become even more anxious.
Situations such as learning to drive can generate anxiety in some cases. A person who wants to get its license is afraid of failing the exam and not getting it.
This fear, being moderate, helps the person strive to learn the rules of driving and follow what is asked to obtain its license.
A person who has anxiety and has to learn to drive with it can see it as an impossible mission.
The person wants to learn to drive, wants to take that step, but its excessive worry and irrational fear that can develop are a great impediment to leap learning to drive.
Some people are afraid to drive because they are afraid to be on the road and have an accident.
They are afraid that they may hit someone or someone will shock them.
These fears are present in many people who drive daily but does not prevent them from getting up every morning and taking the wheel.
A person with anxiety does not see it that way.
The worry that something might happen to while driving is so terrible that it thinks before putting its hand on the wheel and makes its desire to learn to drive disappear.
Some people manage to avoid getting into a car and live their lives with this fear, but others know what they need to learn to drive, but they face a battle between the anxiety generated by knowing that sooner or later they want to learn to drive.
The person who is learning to drive with anxiety disorder must go through a process where it understands that the worries it develops based on driving are wrong and that there is no reason to fear.
Being cautious and afraid are different things. A cautious person tries to drive correctly, avoiding causing an accident, knows that he should not drink alcohol so as not to cause an accident and respect traffic signs.
Someone who is afraid and must learn to drive begins to generate in its mind a series of thoughts that serve as a barrier to not take the step.
A person learning to drive with an anxiety disorder faces all the ideas it has in its mind about what driving means.
The person in many cases wants to learn to drive, but in turn, feels that it cannot.
A person with an anxiety disorder will face various difficulties in its daily life.
From simpler to more complex actions they will awaken in the human being excessive worry and the thought that something can happen, and that it will negatively affect the human being so that it decides to avoid it.
What are anxiety disorders?
Anxiety disorders are a type of mental illness that is characterized by excessive worry, fear, fear or nervousness.
Feelings of anxiety and panic interfere with daily activities, are difficult to control, are disproportionate compared to real danger and can last a long time.
The person who wants to avoid these feelings resorts to the avoidance of certain situations and places.
Symptoms of anxiety disorders can begin in childhood or adolescence and continue into adulthood.
The Psychiatric Morbidity Survey indicated that there are about 6 million people in the United Kingdom (approximately 3 million with depression as their main problem and 3 million with an anxiety disorder).
Currently, 25% of people with a common mental health problem are receiving treatment for it. In England, women are almost twice as likely to be diagnosed with anxiety disorders as men.
The prevalence of generalized anxiety in a week in England is 6.6%.
Anxiety symptoms
The most common symptoms and signs of anxiety disorders include the following:
- A sensation of nervousness, agitation or tension
- The feeling of imminent danger, panic or catastrophe
- Increased heart rate
- Accelerated breathing
- Sweating
- Tremors
- Feeling weak or tired
- Sleeping problems
- Problems concentrating or thinking about something other than the current situation
- Difficulties to control concerns
- Avoid situations that generate anxiety
Within anxiety disorders, there are various types of anxiety, with their characteristics, but in the end, they meet several of the symptoms of anxiety disorders in general.
Disorders such as agoraphobia, generalized anxiety disorder, anxiety disorder due to illness, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, specific phobias and substance-induced anxiety disorders, are some of the most common disorders within anxiety disorders.
In the case of a person learning to drive with anxiety disorder, it could reach the point of developing amaxophobia, which is the phobia or fear of driving a vehicle.
A person who is learning to drive with anxiety disorder is very likely to have the symptoms mentioned above, so it is vital to know what their characteristics are to receive the appropriate treatment.
What steps can a person who is learning to drive with anxiety disorder take?
Like any other anxiety disorder, the person who is learning to drive with anxiety disorder has a struggle with itself to abandon the worry and fear that invades when it learns to drive.
There are people who even with their fears and fears they may have about driving, make the decision and start learning, but others will need more help to start the road.
For a person who is learning to drive with anxiety disorder, it will need the help of a mental health professional to cope with the conceptions, concerns and fears it has about drive.
The person must understand that it is not the only one who goes through this situation and that it is normal to feel situations, such as learning to drive, generate anxiety or that the anxiety it has prevents from acting on learning to drive.
The person who is learning to drive with anxiety disorder should know everything related to driving.
It should know that, if they learn the right way, respect the traffic signals and stay tuned, it is almost impossible that something could happen.
Counteracting the thoughts that cause anxiety and worry will help the person decrease their anxiety levels.
If the person who is learning to drive with anxiety disorder fails to reduce their anxiety levels with the ways explained above, one of the measures you can take is to seek professional help.
The health professional will help them through a series of techniques to discover the reasons for the anxiety and provide you with the necessary tools to overcome the excessive worry caused by an anxiety disorder.
Meditation can help a person who is learning to drive with anxiety disorder.
Some studies have proven that meditation helps reduce people’s stress and anxiety levels.
Meditation helps the person to focus on the present and let go of negative thoughts and only hinder their way of life.
Learning to drive with anxiety disorder is not an easy situation for a person.
Mental disorders negatively interfere in daily life, preventing them from performing actions they once enjoyed.
Knowing about anxiety disorders helps the search for greater solutions to deal with the disease.
FAQs about learning to drive with anxiety disorder
How can a person deal with the fear of driving?
For a person to deal with the fear of driving one of the things it should do is try to find techniques that make the person relax.
Practising meditation before driving, changing thoughts that fill its mind with fear about driving are some of the things the person can do.
How do I learn to drive with anxiety?
A person with anxiety can learn to drive by looking for a trained instructor to help them throughout the process.
The person who will teach you to drive during the process will clarify all doubts that may arise during the process.
If you still fail to reduce their anxiety levels, seeking professional help would be most advisable.
What are the causes for which a person develops anxiety?
The causes for which a person can develop anxiety are multiple.
Medical causes such as having diabetes, heart disease, thyroid problems or inappropriate substance use are some of the reasons why the person may have anxiety.
In the psychological and emotional field, traumatic events and certain life experiences can lead to the person developing anxiety.
Do anxiety disorders have a cure?
In most cases, if a person receives the right treatment, it can eliminate anxiety from its life.
Several studies have proven the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioural therapy for anxiety disorders.
What can be done with a person who is learning to drive with anxiety disorder and does not want help?
You cannot press for help to a person who is learning to drive with anxiety disorder or any other action that generates anxiety.
For the treatment to have positive effects on the person’s health, you must agree to receive it. It is best to talk about the benefits of seeking help, but not pressing or trying to force.
Conclusion
The person who is learning to drive with anxiety disorder has a battle in its daily life, especially when it knows that learning to drive is a fundamental part of hits daily activities.
Anxiety disorders negatively affect the way a person lives their life. Excessive worry and fear that something may go wrong prevent the person from doing the things they want to do.
For the person who is learning to drive with anxiety disorder to reach the goal of learning to drive, he or she must be willing to receive the help needed to overcome the disease.
Anxiety disorders are frequent in the population and only half seek treatment.
A person who is learning to drive with anxiety disorder can overcome the anxiety generated by taking the wheel.
The treatments for this type of fear provide good results, helping the person to have a better quality of life.
Recommended links
- How to Overcome Fear of Driving: The Road to Driving Confidence
- Drive Without Fear: The Insecure Driver’s Guide to Independence
- Overcoming Anxiety
Recommended videos
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