Fear of suddenly passing out while driving

[Cyrus]

Hi, I'm a 19 year old male with a history of health related and general anxiety. Nothing else is wrong with me health wise.

Lately I've developed this irrational fear of suddenly passing out while I'm driving. I say irrational because I've literally never passed out a single time in my life, even during my worst panic attacks.

This all started about a month ago when I had a panic attack while driving to class (I had to give a big speech that day, and was worrying about it), where I felt shaky, an uncomfortable tingling feeling in my arms and jaw, and slight dizziness at a red light. I was overwhelmed with an urge to "escape", and was hugely worried I was going to lose control of the car or just straight up faint - neither of which happened, I finished the last 4-5 minutes of the drive to class fine despite feeling terrible. Ever since this event though, I've struggled with feelings of anxiousness when driving. Sometimes it goes away after a while (usually when I try to keep my thoughts positive), while other times it just sticks with me the whole drive. It's especially bad at areas where I feel like I can't "escape", like a red light or in traffic.

Any thoughts or advice? I know this is a ridiculous fear, as I'm a safe driver and have no reason to suspect I would randomly faint, but it's really bothering me regardless and I just want to get back to being able to drive without worrying about this. Thanks so much.

[ankietyjoe]

Well almost all fears we pick up because of anxiety are ridiculous in one way or another, so don't beat yourself up too much! :D

Honestly, just get back in the saddle. I would suggest going out for drives where you don't have to get somewhere, where you won't feel the pressure of time if you need to pull over. This will be exposure therapy.

Read what you wrote here as well. You KNOW it's irrational, and that's what you need to tell yourself out loud as you're driving. Telling yourself what's happening out loud is surprisingly effective. You're teaching your subconscious that this is not a situation to fear.

[Cyrus]

Thanks, I'll definitely try repeating out loud to myself how irrational my fear is! That's honestly a great idea. I've been shocked in the past how surprisingly easy it can be to relax simply by maintaining positive thoughts.

[ankietyjoe]

If you strip anxiety down to the absolute basics, it's you telling yourself something is wrong and it's going to get worse. Then anxiety gets worse.

If you can step back and tell yourself that actually, there's no danger here, the anxiety passes. Not always immediately, but it always passes more quickly when you use this kind of behaviour.

There's no way to stop the trigger of anxiety once you have an anxiety disorder, but the way you react to that trigger is the single most powerful tool you have for recovery both short term and long term. Eventually the triggers become milder and milder and become further and further apart.

[NervousKel]

I've had this exact same fear for years! That, or I'm afraid I'll suddenly have an urge to purposefully drive the car in the ditch, or crash into another car. I've long avoided (like 15 years) driving in any larger towns, cities, the interstate, or driving any place I'm not familiar with.

I've recently been trying to overcome my fears more, and, yesterday drove not only on the interstate, but in a larger town I hadn't driven in for probably 17 or 18 years! It actually went really well.

I think the best thing is to just try to ignore the anxiety, and keep driving......