Ochophobia – Morbid fear of being in a moving automobile. Also see: Amaxophobia
Some fear being in control of the car, others struggle to be passengers. There can also be links to Emetophobia – fear of being sick, as the motion of a car can cause sickness. The person finds the situation very stressful and starts to behave as if the car itself is the object of fear.
This fear ranges from total refusal to travel in a car, to lack of confidence driving.
I struggled with Ochophobia for over 13 years. My mother and aunt also struggled with the condition, with my mother giving up driving in her 50s.
Ochophobia Case Studies
Case Study 1 – TW
Terry was a sound engineer with an events company. Each week he clocked up hundreds of miles on Britain’s motorway system. Ochophobia had been present for over 8 years. Just after spending some time in hospital for a serious injury – not related to driving. About 7 years ago he tried CBT, but the problems slowly came back. One time that stood out in his mind was having to travel to Manchester to set up sound for a conference. He was so overcome by the fear of driving home at rush hour, stuck in heavy traffic, that he booked himself into a motel. He spent hours trying to gather his composure.
Terry had read about me in an article in the Telegraph. It was about how I specialise in helping people with a fear of driving and booked a session. Sat in front of me Terry fidgeted an awful lot. He hadn’t tried hypnotherapy before, and he wasn’t sure if it could help. I explained how the brain perceived driving as a threat. Hypnotherapy could help him as a tool, change the way he responded. I gave him my “relaxation to sleep well” mp3 and arranged the next session a week later.
Terry’s goal for Ochophobia was motorway driving
His goal for therapy was to drive on the motorway. To be more positive about it, instead of dreading it – especially on Sundays when he knew he had to drive a long way the next morning. He wanted to use the time driving more constructively. He wanted to do the job he enjoyed without this ball and chain making his life a misery.
When I saw him for the first session, to the question “What was good?” he replied “Feeling more relaxed and I drove at the weekend on the motorway. It wasn’t perfect, but it was an improvement. Work is better because I’m not so stressed out and I’m not snapping at people.”
He gave himself a 4 out of 10 for where he was. He could control his thinking so he didn’t crash down to a 0. I asked him what would he be doing if a 6, “Not thinking about it constantly”, was the reply.
I taught him “the swish” and asked him to try it whenever he caught himself thinking negatively about driving.
By week 2 he had gone right up to 7 – “Wow!” I said, “How did you manage that? Well done!” He told me that the mp3 was amazing and it really helped calm him down. There had been one slight wobble that week whilst driving. But he had used the Swish on it as instructed and it had worked brilliantly. I then taught him my favourite exercise “Do 5 things” and told him he could use it even when driving.
Practice makes perfect
I asked him what would help get him to an 8, and he suggested more practice. He reported he was going away at the weekend, which would entail driving on the motorway.
Week 3 he also reported was a 7. His wife had noticed he was driving much more calmly. Not hitting the gas and braking suddenly, but using the gears more efficiently and taking his time. He realised that he drove too fast so he could get off the motorway sooner. Now he was enjoying it.
I asked him what 8, 9 and 10 would be for him now and his response was: 8 – Drive on my most dreaded motorway – the M5 around Spaghetti Junction and feel fine. 9 was to drive 3 hours on the motorway and feel OK. 10 was to drive on the motorway in the dark. As we were about to move into winter and the clocks were about to change, he knew it wouldn’t be long before he had to do this. I taught him some breathing exercises. Terry mentioned he often held his breath around complicated junctions and it made him feel light-headed.
The last session was a month after because he’d been on holiday and Terry came bounding in smiling – he’d hit the 10. He’d been up to Birmingham. He had driven on the motorway in the dark and he was now looking forward to driving down to Exeter later that day. He felt it had not only given him his life back. His calmness and cheery demeanour rubbed off onto his colleagues and wife. All of whom had mentioned he appeared so much more cheerful and happy in his work.
Number of sessions?
The number of sessions you may need to overcome Ochophobia depends on many factors – not all related to driving. First consider how much stress you’re under at work. How’s your sleeping? Is your life frantic, rushing around after family? All these things need to be taken into consideration when setting your goals.
Contact Penny by email and book a free online consultation to see how Hypnotherapy could put you back in the driving seat.
Also see my book “Driving Me Crazy” found on Amazon.