Do You Know What Amaxophobia Is?

Marta’s car has been parked outside her house for five years. He says he feels incapable of taking it, almost looking at it since he had that accident. The reality is that luckily nothing serious happened to him, but it did leave him quite a few psychological consequences. That intense fear of driving again has a name: amaxophobia.

For Marta this is a problem, since she needs her car to get around, her partner lives in a town and always has to depend on other transport. In addition, she has refused to accept various jobs because she was forced to travel by car. Amaxophobia is a brake on the life of those who suffer from it.

As we know, phobias constitute a psychological disorder framed within the group of anxiety disorders. Phobias are very intense and irrational fears of various situations, stimuli, etc., which are really harmless.

However, our brain skews them as a great threat that we must escape if we want to survive. They are very disabling for the person who suffers them since, like Marta, they greatly limit her daily life.

But what is amaxophobia?

Amaxophobia is an exaggerated and distorted fear of the act of driving any vehicle. The person cannot control that fear and avoids or flees from the driving situation, which makes it reinforce and persists over time.

4% of the population suffers from it and it occurs more in women, although there are also many men, but they do not usually report as much of their disorder because they tend to hide their fears and “vulnerabilities” more.

The causes that can lead to a person suffering from amaxophobia are many. It can appear after having had a traumatic accident or knowing that someone else has had it. Having a history of anxiety or other psychological disorders, having low self-esteem or being a fearful person in general are also causes.

We continue with Marta

Marta tells us that on one occasion she decided to overcome her fears and take her car to go see her partner, but it was the simple sound of the engine starting that made her think “What if the accident happens again?

This caused all the physiological anxiety responses that we already know to be triggered in his body : sweating, tachycardia, hyperventilation, tremors, dizziness …

This episode made her not trust herself again and gave up everything “I will never drive again, I will have to assume it, I am not able to overcome it.” These negative thoughts further reinforced Marta’s fear. In the end, he stayed at home mulling over “how useless it is.”

How do we help Marta?

Once again, facing my fears frees me from them. And yes, this is the only way for Marta to drive calmly and confidently again.

She previously set herself a too demanding goal : to go to her boyfriend’s village, which was a considerable distance away. His brain at that time was going a thousand: “I have to cross the highway”, “Halfway there is a section where cars go very fast.”

You have to start with more realistic goals, such as (this will depend on the specific case), get in the car for five minutes and observe it, without more, until the anxiety level is reduced.

Then, we can put the key, turn on the lights and start and wait a while, after that time, we can try to move with the car and, as we overcome these situations, we will be able to face the following ones.

But this is not all, we cannot forget about cognitive techniques. If we do not change our way of thinking, we will not be able to change our way of acting. Some anticipatory thoughts from these people are: What if I have an accident again? What if I collide with a truck while trying to pass it?

These patients must be trained to detect these thoughts and modify them, since their negative thoughts are believed and made their reality. When someone believes something, they act as if this is really the case, so we must question them.

How likely are you to have an accident if you drive well, your eyesight is fine …? What signs do you have that you are going to collide with a truck if you pass it? It is true that you had an accident, but does that mean that it will happen again?

Marta got it

Finally Marta, managed to overcome amaxophobia, her fear of driving. He gradually exposed himself and changed his cognitions and thinking errors, which made his quality of life better.

Now, she tells us, she feels a normal respect for driving with normal anxiety levels, which makes her take measures such as putting on a seatbelt, driving at the speed established by law, turning on the lights when necessary, etc.

Because fear or normal worries help us to put in place certain measures necessary to get out of the situation, anxiety is good and useful to some extent. When it is excessive, exaggerated and irrational it is already pathological and this is where we must act to live better.