I suffer from driving anxiety too, I had my first anxiety attack in my vehicle and since then I am scared to drive, but I am working on it and do make myself drive alone on a daily basis.

My best advice is exposure. Expose yourself to the situation that makes you nervous and get through the anxiety attack and expierence the calming down portion in the situation that triggers it to begin with. This way your mind learns that a threatening situation can also be a calm situation.

I agree w/ Easygoin. You need to practice driving -easing into the things that scare you and not avoiding them. Take them on. You will get it.

I suffered from driving anxiety too. Once i was put on medication it helped.. I have never gotten a license. I'm now 31 and driving illegally but i have started to drive.. You do have to face your fears and get out there and experience that nothing (trucks) is going to harm you. But just getting to this point is what is hard.. Ive been through it and the only way I got better besides meds is to HAVE to do it.. I couldn't avoid it anymore.. and i was tired of having to be a burden on everyone by not driving

Oh boy! I thought I was alone. I have the same problem. The reason why I got my licence is because I was always afraid to drive. I wanted to get rid of that fear. Now I have my licence, but I tend to limit myself when I need to. I don't drive on highways, or if I have anxiety I'll try to avoid it. I just have to go by how I'm feeling, and yes sometimes I JUST DO IT. So now I do have my licence and I'm glad I do. Now I can make a choice on if I'm up to driving or not.

Practice as much as you can, preferably with a safe and supportive person. Admittedly, driving is scary and there are so many ways to get into an accident. The more and more you practice, the easier it will be.

However if you do get panic attacks while driving, maybe the first step is just feeling comfortable in cars while other people drive. Good luck.

All the advice on here is great. Even though I knew how to drive, I decided to take private driving lessons and go to my exam with my instructor. If you can afford it, it might be worthwhile. It would be a double bonus to find an instructor who specializes in working with people with anxiety. I wish you the best.

I recently moved to Florida from New York City after 21 years, having to get behind a wheel which I did before I moved to NYC is making me crazy. I drove the other day to a garage sale with my brother and I was ok driving around the neighborhood where the sale was but once I got back onto the main road I felt awful, I took some Propolanol which I take for anxiety at job interviews,etc. but it didn't help me at all which surprised me, I still felt out of it and dizzy and my brother had to take over. I had this problem before I moved to New York, wish they subways down here

I thought I was the only person cause everyone I know drives... I have been trying for the past five years and have to prepare myself mentally the day before if I have to drive and even so I haven't driven alone ever... And just yesterday I hit a parked car, completely my fault cause there was no distraction or anything... It makes me think I'll never drive since I cant even get my car out of the house without hitting something or someone...

I suffer from the same. I can drive and have many many times but I get too much anxiety with other cars around. I only ever had my permit. I need my lic. I can't do simple thing myself. I am completely dependent on my husband and he hates that.

I have left the driving up to my h because I get nurvice driving with this anxiety ....I just had to go out and drive ..I just make sure I know ware I am going befor I leave ..that seames to help me .......I don't like changing layers much so I try to stay in the lain I need to be in .......if I haven't been some ware befor I get my h ro make me a map I can follow ........I will keep you in my prayers

I used to have nightmares that I had to drive a car and I didn't learn how to drive and get a license until I was 40. I still avoid driving on freeways or across bridges, and will take the long way around on older roads. If I'm on a single lan curvy road I pull over to let faster cars pass. I've known of a number of folks who deal with anxiety, PTSD, depression, etc. who do not drive. IMHO your safety comes first. If maybe you aren't ready to drive yet, maybe hold off for now. Totally your decision, though. I make the sign of the cross whenever I am about to drive and when I arrive safely at my destination.

One of the differences between people with anxiety and people without anxiety is that people without anxiety will find a different solution if they don't like something. People WITH anxiety try to force themselves to do things they're terrified of.

I'd suggest thinking about how you can get around without the anxiety. Is it easier to uber or cab or bus? Most towns also have vans that will pick up people with disabilities and take them wherever they need to go - for free!

Bottom line: You deserve to feel comfortable AND to go to the things you'd like to go to. It's about figuring out how to make that happen.

I think you need to do defensive driving. They would teach you various things like:

never look at the transfer truck. Never look at the obstacle. Only ever look at the gap. This is something you have to learn to do because it's not automatic; but you absolutely have to learn how to do it or you'll die on the road. :D New drivers gravitate towards what they fear. They unconsciously start to steer towards it. you see them veering into the middle of the road when you're trying to overtake them. Some kind of newbie vertigo. Learning to look at the gap changes that enormously.

You need a proper teacher who teaches you the ways to move your arms to parallel park. They break it down to sections and teach you each section. 3 point turn is another learned thing.

You need lessons. I think I had 10 lessons. I don't mean going out driving with someone in your family. Oh no. A teacher. A good teacher will know the course the examiner will take too, and will take you through that course and teach you that course.

This is an extremely old post, so the person who started this thread may not even see the current posts.