Afraid to drive? How about testing “self-therapy” to get back behind the wheel?

INTERVIEW

The fear of driving is called “amaxophobia”. A very specific phobia, which generally results in anxiety attacks at the idea of ​​having to take the wheel, and for which the causes are multiple. It may concern young drivers who are too apprehensive, those with more experience who have developed trauma due to an accident, or even those who have been negatively marked by their instructor or inspector when passing the license. This fear of driving can be considered a real psychological disorder when it causes a loss of autonomy which has consequences on daily life.

“If a person can no longer go to work, can no longer go on vacation by car and thus sees his social and professional life threatened, then we know that he needs help”, indicates at the microphone of Without an appointment, on Europe 1, Eric Malbos, psychiatrist and teacher-researcher at the psychiatry center of the CHU Conception in Marseille. He is the co-author with Doctor Roger Zumbrunnen of the book No Panic at the wheel, self-therapy and virtual reality, published by Odile Jacob.

Take control

According to him, it is possible to overcome your anxiety about driving on your own, without having to resort to a professional. “If you need a caring presence, you need a therapist. But some people do well on their own, it’s really going to depend on your personality,” he explains. This “self-therapy” is therefore aimed at those who, whatever their degree of anxiety, feel sufficiently determined to regularly apply a method aimed at gradually regaining self-control.

“The idea is to learn to manage several things: at the intellectual level, to think differently, to no longer see the road as a threat; to be able to manage your emotions, your anxiety; and finally to learn to relax your body. C t is by combining these three elements that the patient will have a chance to regain his autonomy. ”

Virtual reality as a back-up

The patient will have to expose himself to driving little by little, a bit like desensitization to allergies. Virtual reality can help you regain your first contact with the road. “I would tend to say that if you have a child who has racing video games, ask him to initiate you and train on the simulators that we find on consoles or on PC”, slips our psychiatrist .

When you feel seasoned enough to practice, set goals for yourself. For example: sit for a few minutes in front of the steering wheel, without turning on the engine. Repeat this little ritual daily until the feeling of dread subsides. “Here, now I am seated, it doesn’t matter to me. It’s been five times already. Come on, let’s start the engine!”, Continues our specialist.

And so on: shifting a gear, walking a few meters on a route far from traffic, risking a maneuver, etc. “It doesn’t matter if it takes you 30, 40 or 50 times before you move on to the next step. That’s how it works!”

Become aware of the road traveled

It is advisable, throughout this self-treatment, to write down your impressions in a notebook. “It is to help the patient become aware of his level of anxiety. Because if the anxiety is too strong, there is no point in exposing oneself. We cannot teach a child to swim who has too afraid of the water. So if the person is very anxious, they have to turn around. They have to go back a bit, on the previous stages, “insists Eric Malbos.

This notebook is also a way of exorcising, by writing them down, the catastrophic thoughts that can make you panic: the fear of losing control of the vehicle, of triggering a huge accident, etc. Eric Malbos assures that by practicing this method with discipline, the phobic of driving can hope to rekindle the engine in six months. However, you should not hesitate to turn to a practitioner if you feel unable to progress on your own.