Please or to access all these features

Mental health

Mumsnet hasn't checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you have medical concerns, please seek medical attention.

Anxiety / phobia advice

1 reply

AuntFlosmiserableniece · 09/10/2023 20:17

I’ve developed a phobia of cars / travel. I do drive, but only locally and I hate it. If I read about an accident (locally or otherwise) it consumes all my thoughts, I can’t focus on anything else.

Recently my fear has extended to worrying about DH driving - I feel anxious every time he leaves the house.

We have to drive for 2.5 hours over the weekend to visit family and I’m so, so frightened. It’s all I can think about, I can picture the accident in my head - what it will look like, how it will feel. I wonder if it stems from an accident we had about 15 years ago on the motorway when a drunk driver bounced off the central reservation and into us, sending us spinning across 2 lanes…..it’s a miracle no one was badly hurt. I was ok immediately afterwards and for many years, but I wonder if that’s what’s caused my anxiety now.

I would say I’m anxious generally - about crime mainly……local Facebook groups don’t help. I’m also pregnant which I don’t think is helping either.

I feel like I really need to get a handle on my anxiety / spiralling feelings of panic sooner rather than later - I’m lucky in that I can pay for help, but I’m not really sure what help I need or where to find it - any advice appreciated.

thank you for making it this far through my ramble!

OP posts:
Eyesopenwideawake · 09/10/2023 22:04

I wonder if it stems from an accident we had about 15 years ago on the motorway when a drunk driver bounced off the central reservation and into us, sending us spinning across 2 lanes

When you know why something happened - in this case a drunk driver - your subconscious can rationalise it as a one off event, which is why that's cropped up; not as a possible cause but probably because you now know that accidents can happen without any reason or input from you.

As the stakes are much higher now your mind has fixated on what can happen, because it did before, no matter how minutely unlikely it is that to reoccur.

A couple of sessions of remedial hypnosis could help you both understand why you're thinking this way and how to deal with it.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page