I am an adult that has a HUGE fear of driving over bridges or driving in the rain. How do I help curb that?

Question

I even cancel appointments or drive 10 miles out of my way so that I dont have to cross a bridge or drive in the rain. I have talked to my doctor and I don't want to pop pills to get relief. Any natural ideas?

Answer 1

I have a middling fear of driving over bridges, myself. Some things help -- if there's a car I can see going over safely in front of me, that helps a lot, so I try to time my driving to put cars close ahead of me.

Speed also helps. If I'm really nervous about one, I'll slow down (though I also get nervous about people getting angry behind me for my going very slow... so have to adapt!)

Familiarity also helps; my hometown loves high, narrow interchanges at major roads. I've made myself face up to the ones on my regular paths and drive over them --at first, sometimes due to time pressure, where it would be much faster to take the flyover than try to use access roads and I absolutely HAD to be on time -- and am much more comfortable now driving those familiar flyovers.

Overall level of stress is also a large factor. A couple years ago I could barely face any flyover, but I had some other issues that had me under tremendous stress; I've been dealing with those and have a better mood and lower stress in general -- and found that flyovers/bridges bother me less than they used to!

Answer 2

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Answer 3

Practice crossing the bridge when the weather is clear. Then practice crossing the bridge when the road is wet. Graduate yourself to driving when drizzling and eventually raining. If you can't do that then try walking........... Do it slowly and distract yourself. Keep your mind off of your fears and off your body reactions.

As you do this pay attention to your in and out breaths. Count your breaths. Inhale = #1. Exhale = #2. Inhale = #3 Exhale = 4............. Count to #100 and then start over again. If you do this then you can't think of anything else and your not watching or listening to your body responses.

Answer 4

on the bridge...DRIVE FAST..and honk and hold down the horn if someone get in the way. if they wont move, stick ur head out the window and scream 'GET THE F***K OUTTA MY WAY!!"


in the rain, ....just drive slow i guess...

and if ur REALLY scared of the rain, look into buying a 4x4 extreme off road pick up

(i have an F650 pick up, thing does not slip at ALL, not even in the worst rain ever..and it grips to hills like no other)

Answer 5

get proffesional help like some type of counseling for your phobia. you are not the only one out there that has a rare phobia. youd be surprised, some ppl are scared of water, money (as in dollar bills), touching surfaces, etc.

me, im scared of heights and used to be afraid of speaking in front of an audience.

hope everything goes well!

Answer 6

Tell me about it - I have real problems with both as well.

Its getting better as I get older but still not overkeen. The bridges is the worst for me!

Answer 7

See a Therapist that deals with phobias. EMDR and CBT are two forms of Therapy that may help. EMDR is eye Movement disorder reprocessing and CBT is Cognitive Behavior Therapy.

Answer 8

I don't have a cure, but I have recently developed bridge ( and for me tunnel ) phobia tooo... ( rain doesn't bother me ) so I feel your paina nd will be watching for better answers than mine

Answer 9

Drive over long bridges during severe thunderstorms until you are no longer afraid.

Answer 10

See a therapist trained in phobias. If a self-help way was going to do it, you'd have already gotten there.