A couple of months ago I lost control of my new motorcycle and drove it head-first into fast moving (55 MPH) oncoming traffic. I was lucky to escape with my life and miraculous to be completely unharmed. I haven't driven it since.
About a week ago I was driving a car, alone, and got disoriented while on a very open and empty stretch of five lane highway that did not have lane lines. This experience made me feel many of the same things I did on the motorcycle, and now every time I drive the car since then, I feel a strong adrenaline flow and tingling in my head and I feel as though I will lose control of the car at any moment. It takes a tremendous amount of focus and constant re-assuring of myself to continue driving. It literally feels like I am going to arbitrarily drive the car into traffic or a guard rail. I've always had a lot of confidence around driving cars in the past.
While I'm sure the serious answer is somewhere in the neighborhood of "find a therapist", I would be interested in some sort of preliminary diagnosis that can help me understand what it is I'm dealing with. Please note that the motorcycle incident may be completely unrelated to what is happening to me now in the car but it seemed logical to me as a layman that there is a connection. While I have not previously been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder I have personally experienced what I consider high but not abnormal amounts of anxiety in various situations. I thought this might be PTSD but that seems to typically be associated with more serious things than what happened to me, such as sexual abuse.
Thanks in advance for helping me figure out what this is, and any insights into treatment or getting past this.
2006-08-15
11:07:10
·
9 answers
·
asked by
dk
2
in
Mental Health