Amaxophobia, how to overcome the fear of driving?

By Cristiano Antonino On Jan 12, 2023

Amaxophobia, or the fear of driving, is an extremely widespread and also very disabling phobia. It manifests itself with typical symptoms of anxiety, from trembling and sweating to panic attacks

WHAT IS A PHOBIA?

Who has never had to deal with a little phobia? Thousands of people are afraid of spiders, not to mention those who fear bees or mice.

But while these are manageable fears that are unlikely to affect our everyday life, other phobias can limit our everyday life.

One of these is amaxophobia: the fear of driving (amaxos, from the Greek: chariot)

Fear of driving is a phobia in its own right and, like all phobias, can be learned in two different ways: either through something the individual experiences directly, a traumatic experience such as an accident, or through learning certain information.

It can happen, therefore, that people develop this fear because they have heard an account of an accident, of a bad experience others have had.

AMAXOPHOBIA OR ‘FEAR OF DRIVING

According to some research, amaxophobia is more widespread than one might imagine and affects around 33% of the population.

However, it must be taken into account that this phobia can have various nuances: there are some people who cannot get into a car at all and others who are afraid to drive on the motorway, others can only drive the same short distances, there are those who do not want to be in a car alone or those who do not want to take other people, especially children, with them for fear of accidents.

Those who suffer from this phobia often have to deal with the interference of other forms of anxiety as well: such as agoraphobia, claustrophobia or panic attacks.

Often these people are afraid to drive because this would mean moving away from places where they feel safe or because they think they might suffer a panic attack while driving and become a danger to themselves and others.

CAN AMAXOPHOBIA BE CURED?

When we are in the presence not of a mild form of anxiety (perhaps manageable if accompanied by a more experienced driver) but of a full-blown phobia, it is important to seek support from a professional: in this case, cognitive-behavioural therapy that acts precisely on these problems is useful.

One proceeds with fear desensitisation work, through relaxation techniques.

This type of therapy serves to unlearn everything that keeps the phobia alive, to modify dysfunctional attitudes and thoughts related to danger and help the patient to have a non-anxious and more functional response to driving.

In some cases it may also be useful to make use of some technological tools, such as the virtual reality simulator (also present in some driving schools).

Cognitive-behavioural therapies like this almost always succeed in resolving the problem within a few months.

And in the final phase, at the end of the course, when the patient is deemed to be ready to get behind the wheel, it is the psychotherapist who accompanies him for his ‘first’ car ride.

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