Anxiety hell. Fear of driving and accident database...?

Question

OK, so please do not make fun of me for asking this question, but I have a fear of driving. Actually I have a fear of hurting myself or others accidentally when I am driving. Especially on highways. You may advice me to discuss this with a doctor, and you are right but in addition to that, one thing would help a lot. Does anyone know if there is a Traffic Accident Database (for California) I can search online so that if I start obsessing about whether I caused an accident or something I can look up and see if there was an accident in that area ? I hear people with OCD usually have similar fears. Also, even if you dont know of such a database, if you have similar experiences, I would love to hear about them. Thank you so much.

Answer 1

Do not study databases of accidents! You will only feed your obsession. You need treatment for your condition which could easily spread to other areas of your life and ruin it

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

Giving you such access to a database would NOT help you but rather hurt you. Yes, you do need to see a doctor. When anxiety which is irrational fear at it's core, begins to effect your daily life... it's time to stop trying to go it alone and get some professional help. Everyone on the planet has OCD to one degree or the other. It's the "explaination of the day". Be pro-active!!!!!
Go see a therapist and find out where this is all coming from rather than finding new ways to feed your obsession.

Answer 4

I have had a fear of just traveling for years. Was in a few accidents; but nothing serious. Some time after that I had a hard time just riding around here in this small town that I live. I have tried psycho-Therapy and medication and even facing my fears head on. I am a little better, but I still have this nagging fear back in my mind. It has messed up my life; I am afraid to even go on dates for the fear that they might want to travel someplace. Most people that I discuss this with just laugh about it. There are very few people that really understand. So yes, i have lived in Hell also!! I wish I knew of other things that I could try; to get me over this problem. Do you have any suggestion's?

Answer 5

ok, i used to have this fear, but one day i thought if i keep this up i will create what I fear. In other words, the more you panic, the more likely you will cause an accident. You need to see someone about this, get help if you are going to the point of wanting to search a database.

Answer 6

You are not alone. I have a fear of driving too, but I still do it, but I get really nervous and feel like im going to get in an accident when I really know that I'm a good driver. Maybe you should take someone with you when you drive until you get more comforatble. Driving in Cali is especially crazy, so it's not just you.

Answer 7

Yes, your disorder is called bumpkarphobia. My disorder is different. I have an unreasonable fear that even my most private and personal flatulence will adversly affect the ozone layer.

Answer 8

Just buy this book and be done with that silly anxiety:
http://www.seekwellness.com/bookstore/books/book65.htm

Answer 9

You may have OCD Spectrum of disorders or Generlised Anxiety.
You have to consult a Clinical Psychiatrist and talk to him, he may be able to give an accurate diagnosis. But it is better to learn about OCD & Anxiety. It will help you convey your problems to doctor. Please read:

Anxiety

Anxiety is a complex combination of emotions that includes fear, apprehension and worry, and is often accompanied by physical sensations such as palpitations, nausea, chest pain and/or shortness of breath.

Anxiety is often described as having cognitive, somatic, emotional, and behavioral components. The cognitive component entails expectation of a diffuse and uncertain danger. Somatically the body prepares the organism to deal with threat (known as an emergency reaction); blood pressure and heart rate are increased, sweating is increased, bloodflow to the major muscle groups is increased, and immune and digestive system functions are inhibited. Externally, somatic signs of anxiety may include pale skin, sweating, trembling, and pupillary dilation. Emotionally, anxiety causes a sense of dread or panic and physically causes nausea, and chills. Behaviorally, both voluntary and involuntary behaviors may arise directed at escaping or avoiding the source of anxiety. These behaviors are frequent and often maladaptive, being most extreme in anxiety disorders. However, anxiety is not always pathological or maladaptive: it is a common emotion along with fear, anger, sadness, and happiness, and it has a very important function in relation to survival.

Neural circuitry involving the amygdala and hippocampus is thought to underlie anxiety. When confronted with unpleasant and potentially harmful stimuli such as foul odors or tastes, PET-scans show increased bloodflow in the amygdala. In these studies, the participants also reported moderate anxiety. This might indicate that anxiety is a protective mechanism designed to prevent the organism from engaging in potentially harmful behaviors such as feeding on rotten food.

A chronically recurring case of anxiety that has a serious effect on a person's life may be clinically diagnosed as an anxiety disorder. The most common are generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Mainstream treatment for anxiety consists of the prescription of anxiolytic agents and/or referral to a cognitive-behavioral therapist. There are indications that a combination of the two can be more effective than either one alone.

The acute symptoms of anxiety are most often controlled with anxiolytic agents such as benzodiazepines. Diazepam (valium) was one of the first such drugs. Today there are a wide range of anti-anxiety agents that are based on benzodiazepines, although only two have been approved for panic attacks, Klonopin and Xanax. All benzodiazepines are physically addictive, and extended use should be carefully monitored by a physician, preferably a psychiatrist. It is very important that once placed on a regimen of regular benzodiazepine use, the user should not abruptly discontinue the medication.

Some of the SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) have been used with varying degrees of success to treat patients with chronic anxiety, the best results seen with those who exhibit symptoms of clinical depression and non-specific anxiety or general anxiety disorder concurrently. Beta blockers are also sometimes used to treat the somatic symptoms associated with anxiety, especially the shakiness of "stage fright."

OCD

The typical OCD sufferer performs tasks (or compulsions) to seek relief from obsession related anxiety. To others, these tasks may appear odd and unnecessary. But for the sufferer, such tasks can feel critically important, and must be performed in particular ways to ward off dire consequences and to stop the stress from building up. Examples of these tasks: repeatedly checking that one's parked car has been locked before leaving it; turning lights on and off a set number of times before exiting a room; repeatedly washing hands at regular intervals throughout the day.

Symptoms may include some, all or perhaps none of the following:

Repeated hand-washing
Specific counting systems - i.e. counting in groups of four, arranging objects in groups of three, having objects grouped in odd/even numbered groups, etc.
One serious symptom which stems from this is "counting" your steps, e.g. you must take twelve steps to the car in the morning, etc.
Perfectly aligning objects at complete, absolute right angles, etc. This symptom is shared with OCPD and can be confused with this condition unless it is realised that with OCPD it is not stress-related.
Having to "cancel-out" bad thoughts with a good thought. Examples are:
Imagining harming a child, and having to imagine (for example) a child playing happily to "cancel" it out.
Unwanted sexual thoughts. Two classic examples are fear of being gay or fear of being a pedophile. In both cases, the sufferer will obsess over whether or not they are genuinely aroused by the thoughts.
A fear of contamination; some sufferers may fear the presence of human body secretion such as saliva, sweat, tears or mucus, or excretions such as urine or feces. Some OCD sufferers even fear the soap they're using is contaminatedA need for both sides of the body to feel even. As in, a person with OCD might walk down a sidewalk and step on a crack with the ball of their left foot. They might then feel the need to step on another crack with the ball of their right foot. Also, if one hand gets wet, the sufferer may feel very uncomfortable if the other is not.
There are many other symptoms. It is important to remember that one must be diagnosed by a doctor to officially suffer from OCD in medical terms; furthermore possessing the symptoms above is not an absolute sign of OCD and vice-versa.
Obsessions are thoughts and ideas that the sufferer cannot stop thinking about. Common OCD obsessions include fears of acquiring disease, getting hurt, or causing harm to someone. Obsessions are typically automatic, frequent, distressing, and difficult to control or put an end to by themselves. People with OCD who obsess about hurting themselves or others are actually less likely to do so than the average person.

Compulsions refer to actions that the person performs, usually repeatedly, in an attempt to make the obsession go away. For an OCD sufferer who obsesses about germs or contamination, for example, these compulsions often involve repeated cleansing or meticulous avoidance of trash and mess. Most of the time the actions become so regular that it is not a noticeable problem. Common compulsions include excessive washing and cleaning; checking; hoarding; repetitive actions such as touching, counting, arranging and ordering; and other ritualistic behaviors that the person feels will lessen the chances of provoking an obsession. Compulsions can be observable — washing, for instance — but they can also be mental rituals such as repeating words or phrases, or counting.

Most OCD sufferers are aware that such thoughts and behavior are not rational, but feel bound to comply with them to fend off fears of panic or dread. Because sufferers are consciously aware of this irrationality but feel helpless to push it away, untreated OCD is often regarded as one of the most vexing and frustrating of the major anxiety disorders.

In an attempt to further relate the immense distress that those afflicted with this condition must bear, Barlow and Durand (2006) utilize an odd example. Strangely enough, they implore readers not to think of pink elephants. Their point lies in the assumption that many people will immediately create an image of a pink elephant in their mind even if told not to do so. The more one attempts to stop thinking of these colorful animals, the more they will succeed in generating these mental images. This phenomenon is termed: the “Thought Avoidance Paradox”, and it plagues those with OCD on a daily basis, for no matter how hard one tries to get these disturbing images and thoughts out of his/her mind, feelings of distress and anxiety inevitably prevail. Although everyone may experience unpleasant thoughts at one time or another, these are usually warranted concerns that are short-lived and fade after an adequate time period has lapsed. However, this is not the case for OCD sufferers. (K. Carter, PSYC 210 lecture, February 14, 2006).

People who suffer from the separate and unrelated condition obsessive compulsive personality disorder are not aware of anything abnormal with them; they will readily explain why their actions are rational, and it is usually impossible to convince them otherwise. People who suffer with OCPD tend to derive pleasure from their obsessions or compulsions. Those with OCD do not derive pleasure but are ridden with anxiety. OCD is ego dystonic, meaning that the disorder is incompatible with the sufferer's self-concept. Because disorders that are ego dystonic go against an individual's perception of his/herself, they tend to cause much distress. OCPD, on the other hand, is ego syntonic--marked by the individual's acceptance that the characteristics displayed as a result of this disorder are compatible with his/her self-image. Ego syntonic disorders understandably cause no distress (K. Carter, PSYC 210 lecture, April 11, 2006). This is a significant difference between these disorders.

Equally frequent, these rationalizations do not apply to the overall behavior, but to each instance individually; for example, a person compulsively checking their front door may argue that the time taken and stress caused by one more check of the front door is considerably less than the time and stress associated with being robbed, and thus the check is the better option. In practice, after that check, the individual is still not sure, and it is still better in terms of time and stress to do one more check, and this reasoning can continue as long as necessary.

Not all OCD sufferers engage in compulsive behavior. Recent years have seen increased diagnoses of Pure Obsessional OCD, or "Pure O." This form of OCD is manifested entirely within the mind, and involves obsessive ruminations triggered by certain thoughts. These mental "snags" can be debilitating, often tying up a sufferer for hours at a time. As of 2004, headway continues to be made by specialists. It is believed by many that Pure O OCD is in fact more prevalent than other types of OCD, although it is likely the most underreported as it is not visibly apparent, and sufferers tend to suffer in silence. In this disorder, the sufferer tries to "disprove" the anxious thoughts through logic and reasoning, yet in doing so becomes further entrapped by the obsessions. "Pure O" OCD is thought to be the most difficult form of OCD to treat.

Some OCD sufferers exhibit what is known as overvalued ideas. In such cases, the person with OCD will truly be uncertain whether the fears that cause them to do their compulsions are irrational or not. After some (possibly long) discussion, it is possible to convince the individual that their fears may be unfounded. It may be extra difficult to do ERP therapy on such a patient, because they may be, at least initially, unwilling to do it.

OCD is different from behaviors such as gambling addiction and overeating. People with these disorders typically experience at least some pleasure from their activity; OCD sufferers do not actively want to perform their compulsive tasks, and experience no tangible pleasure in doing so.

OCD is placed in the anxiety class of mental illness, but like many chronic stress disorders it can lead to clinical depression over time. The constant stress of the condition can cause sufferers to develop a deadening of spirit, a numbing frustration, or sense of hopelessness. OCD's effects on day-to-day life — particularly its substantial consumption of time — can produce difficulties with work, finances and relationships.

The illness ranges widely in severity. The illness affects many people and it is not cureable but can be treated with anti-depressants. This illness affects millions of people worldwide, and the number keeps growing.

Consult a Clinical Psychiatrist. Drugs called SSRIs are the only choice of pharmacological management. They include
(Trade names in parentheses)

citalopram (Celexa, Cipramil, Emocal, Sepram)
escitalopram oxalate (Lexapro, Cipralex, Esertia)
fluoxetine (Prozac, Fontex, Seromex, Seronil, Sarafem, Fluctin (EUR))
fluvoxamine maleate (Luvox, Faverin)
paroxetine (Paxil, Seroxat, Aropax, Deroxat)
sertraline (Zoloft, Lustral, Serlain)
dapoxetine (no known trade name)
Mirtazapine (Not an SSRI but sertonergic)

Cognitive Behavourial Therapy may be useful.