How to Address Anxiety Before, During, or After Driving

Driving can be a pleasurable experience. But unfortunately, many people make themselves anxious about driving.

The First Principle of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) is: It's never situations themselves, but rather our view of situations, that causes our emotions. The good news is if you make yourself anxious about driving, you don't have to.

Which of the following Irrational beliefs related to driving have you experienced:

1. I must have a guarantee I won't have an accident.
2. I must not arrive late for my appointment.
3. My GPS must be accurate and not fail.
4. I must not exceed the speed limit by too much and risk a ticket.
5. I must not run out of gas.
6. I must not miss my exit.
7. I must find a parking spot quickly and easily.
8. I can't stand it if someone honks their horn at me.

A major problem with thinking in the above ways is the tendency to cause anxiety, to make you feel bad, and degrade your driving ability.

If this is the case, what can you do to overcome your driving anxiety?

The answer involves changing your thinking.

Suppose you tend to worry about running out of gas during a trip. This can be addressed by confronting, challenging, and contradicting your demand in writing and in your head again, and again, and again. You can use this structure to help you accomplish this:

• A. (Activating Event) Suppose I run out of gas.
• B. (Irrational Belief) I absolutely must not. I could not stand it. It would be awful.
• C. (Undesirable Emotion) Anxiety.
• D. (Disputing or Questioning the Irrational Belief) What is the evidence to prove I must not run out of gas?
• E. (Effective New Thinking) Reality is reality, not what I think it absolutely must be. Although I greatly prefer to avoid running out of gas while driving there's no reason I absolutely must not. It would be highly disadvantageous to run out of gas but not awful, terrible, or horrible and I would survive. I would very much dislike running out of gas in the middle of a trip, but I definitely could stand what I don't like. Pressuring myself not to run out of gas doesn't help and only makes me feel worse
• F. (New Feeling) Great concern and regret, not anxiety.

Take-home message: Practice this thinking on a regular basis to avoid making yourself a victim of driving anxiety, Change your thinking to become a safer, more calm driver.