Travel Phobia And Fear Of Driving

T ravel phobia is a                despite the drastic upheaval this  particular form of anxiety      will cause in their day-to-day     that may occur after a          lives. This avoidance is one of    person has been involved in some      the reasons phobias are            kind of accident, maybe a road or     maintained as the sufferer is not  rail crash. They may have escaped     exposed to the situations they     physically unscathed from the         fear and therefore cannot come to  incident, however they might well     terms with their phobia.           have perceived it as a potential                                         threat to their well being,           Fear of driving or Hodophobia can  physical health or indeed life.       be triggered by a variety of                                             different factors and can          Anyone suffering from travel          manifest itself as anything from   phobia is likely to avoid             mild nervousness to an             travelling as much as is              incapacitating full-blown panic    possible. If forced to travel by      attack. These responses are        car, they are likely to prefer to     learned behaviours and they are    be in control of the car, rather      all highly treatable.              than be a passenger. During the                                          journey they will be perpetually      Some people are simply terrified   alert, scanning the road for          of even being in a car, whether    potential accident causing            driving themselves or being        situations. By the time they          driven by others. Perhaps they     arrive at their destination, they     once had a panic or anxiety        are often irritable, tense and        attack while driving and suffer    exhausted. This only serves to        under the perpetual fear that it   reinforce the phobic response.        will happen again. On the other                                          hand, they may fear that other     Some individuals will refuse to       drivers are going to lose          even travel by car, bus or rail       control.                                                                 dual carriageways.                 Many drivers feel comfortable                                            driving on familiar roads, close      There are also those who are       to where they live for example,       afraid of getting caught in heavy  but grow scared that they might       traffic, or driving at night or    lose control in unfamiliar            in difficult weather (sleet, snow  territory. Others may be happy to     or fog) or of driving down narrow  drive on ordinary roads but have      lanes.                             a fear of driving on motorways or      About the Author: Steve Hill discusses travel phobia and the fear of driving at: http://blog.phobias-help.com http://www.phobias-help.com Steve also has a website at: http://www.stammering-stuttering.co.uk Source: www.isnare.com