3 Critical Facts About a Panic Attack When Driving
If this has happened to you, you know how horrifying this situation truly is. However, there are a few facts you need to know.
When you think of driving and having an attack is that you will cause a collision or hurt someone on the road or you will harm yourself. Oddly enough, people that have had these attacks while driving do not have accidents. Possibly it is because the high anxiety person is super vigilant or because the rush of adrenaline in their system improves their reaction time. Regardless of why, having a panic attack while driving has not been shown to be a cause of an accident. This fact should make you feel better.
Think about your prior driving record. If you don't have a history of having accidents or have a pile of moving violations, you are a conscientious driver. Why would having an anxiety attack change that? It won't. You will still be the careful driver that you are.
Point number 2. Some people fear being in a traffic jam, cars hopelessly gridlocked with no escape. Although this condition is not the ideal model, it happens. However, traffic eventually clears and life goes on. You know it as a fact that a traffic jam only lasts for
a short time. Even if traffic stops on a bridge or a narrow roadway, it will not last very long. Actually it is unusual for traffic to be completely not moving. This might happen when an accident occurs or when the authorities close the road until tow trucks can get to the site to help, but, again, this is a temporary situation.
The third important fact about a panic attack while driving is that no matter how horrible you have felt during a panic attack, the panic attack will not do you harm you in any way.
You may feel like you air supply is gone or that you are having a heart attack, and you may pass out momentarily from getting too much oxygen into your system. As soon as you do, your breathing will return to normal and your heart will quit pounding.
Does all this mean that the whole panic attack disorder problem is all in your head? No. That's not what it means at all. Physical changes in your body are triggered by panic. What we need to do is to control the fear. By understanding that having a panic attack while
driving is not going to result in a running over someone to you or others and that the anxiety attack symptoms are not going to harm you, what is left to be afraid of? Not much.
Learning to not fear the panic attack is the cure. With easy to do training, this is easy to accomplish. You are far stronger than you think you ever could be.
When you think of driving and having an attack is that you will cause a collision or hurt someone on the road or you will harm yourself. Oddly enough, people that have had these attacks while driving do not have accidents. Possibly it is because the high anxiety person is super vigilant or because the rush of adrenaline in their system improves their reaction time. Regardless of why, having a panic attack while driving has not been shown to be a cause of an accident. This fact should make you feel better.
Think about your prior driving record. If you don't have a history of having accidents or have a pile of moving violations, you are a conscientious driver. Why would having an anxiety attack change that? It won't. You will still be the careful driver that you are.
Point number 2. Some people fear being in a traffic jam, cars hopelessly gridlocked with no escape. Although this condition is not the ideal model, it happens. However, traffic eventually clears and life goes on. You know it as a fact that a traffic jam only lasts for
a short time. Even if traffic stops on a bridge or a narrow roadway, it will not last very long. Actually it is unusual for traffic to be completely not moving. This might happen when an accident occurs or when the authorities close the road until tow trucks can get to the site to help, but, again, this is a temporary situation.
The third important fact about a panic attack while driving is that no matter how horrible you have felt during a panic attack, the panic attack will not do you harm you in any way.
You may feel like you air supply is gone or that you are having a heart attack, and you may pass out momentarily from getting too much oxygen into your system. As soon as you do, your breathing will return to normal and your heart will quit pounding.
Does all this mean that the whole panic attack disorder problem is all in your head? No. That's not what it means at all. Physical changes in your body are triggered by panic. What we need to do is to control the fear. By understanding that having a panic attack while
driving is not going to result in a running over someone to you or others and that the anxiety attack symptoms are not going to harm you, what is left to be afraid of? Not much.
Learning to not fear the panic attack is the cure. With easy to do training, this is easy to accomplish. You are far stronger than you think you ever could be.
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