Could the COVID-19 Pandemic be Reinforcing Driving Avoidance?

Anxiety may be heightened for many during this pandemic. However, those anxious about driving may be feeling much different, as it means that the necessity of leaving the house, and thus driving or being a passenger, may be eliminated or at least lessened. This time has given some people who are not on the front lines caring for others, an opportunity to take a break from the stress of daily driving, or from their driving anxiety treatment programs.  

While we are not able to spend time with our friends and family, we can certainly mingle with negative reinforcement, and this is a friend you will certainly want to be socially distanced from.

Let me explain.

We often think of reinforcement as something that rewards and encourages a behavior. For example, our child cleans his room when asked, and receives a treat as a reward, which will reinforce the behavior. Negative reinforcement also acts as a reward to strengthen the behavior in much the same way, by removing an unwanted stimulus. In this case, our unwanted stimulus is anxiety, and all the uncomfortable feelings and sensations that accompany anxiety. Avoiding the task of driving will allow you to avoid these negative feelings, and thus reward this avoidance behavior.

Here is the clincher.

The more you avoid situations that may trigger fear or anxiety, the more likely you will continue to use avoidance, until exposing yourself to the stressful situation (driving) will seem insurmountable.           

What can you do instead?

1. Avoid Avoiding

Understand that you are not doing yourself any favours by reinforcing avoidance and sabotaging your goal of eliminating your driving anxiety. Try to commit to gradually exposing yourself to the thing that makes you anxious. Recognize when you may be using avoidance (declining an invitation to accompany a family member on an outing, changing a recipe or plan because you don't want to go to the store, etc.), and stop yourself knowing you may be negatively reinforcing that behaviour. Instead, encourage yourself to follow a system to gradually, and slowly expose yourself to the feared event and begin the process of tackling your driving anxiety. 

2. Make a functional goal list

This list will serve as a goal hierarchy, with the first goal being something you are able to do now, albeit with difficulty. Preferably you will have 10 items on the list, and they will incrementally and gradually increase in difficulty until you reach your ultimate goal. The first goal on the list will depend on where you are currently. Your first goal could be:  

sit in the driver's seat of the car , or

drive to mom's house down the street, or

 drive downtown at dusk

Your first goal will be challenging, but doable right away. Each goal after will pose more of a challenge until you reach your ultimate goal. Your last goal will represent your final destination, the one that makes you cringe now, but later will be the one that you celebrate and confirm you have successfully made it through the program. Final goals could be:

 to drive by the scene of the accident, or 

 to drive on the highway to get to my sister's house, or

drive to the office in the rain.

The point is, your goals are personal and relevant to you and your life. Make them as specific as possible by including details. Extraneous details are also an excellent way to grade your goal, by making it more challenging. If you are sitting in the car, is the engine on or off? Are there other people in the car? Is it dark? You can use the same goal you used earlier, but add in the rain or similar challenge. 

Notice that the goals are functional. Attainable. Avoid goals that look like this:

be able to drive without feeling anxious about it

This is not an ideal goal for many reasons. Most importantly, if you wait for the anxiety to dissipate before driving, you will be waiting indefinitely. Also, you don't have access to the magic wand that will eliminate your anxiety, so the fact of the matter is, you may still feel  anxiety but be able to drive despite it. 

3. Take Action

Now this is the step that is the most difficult. It is difficult to expose yourself to something that is fearful and that will cause you adverse feelings. I completely get that and I am here to help you through that if you need it. But this is something that you can do in very small increments. You do not need to jump in the car and go racing down the highway. But what you do need to do is take a small step toward your goals. Refer to your hierarchy. Is there anything you can do toward meeting any of the goals? For example, if sitting in the car with the engine on feels too overwhelming, try sitting in the car with the keys in the house and the windows open.  You may feel anxious at first, but believe me, it will dissipate and you will be able to move closer to your goal. 

If you are not ready to move on to the next goal, then repeat the activity of the day before. Keep going. Take baby steps, they don't have to be leaps. In the example used above, try rolling up the windows the next day, then progress to having the keys in the ignition without fully turning it on. 

Anxiety may creep in, and that is ok. Stay there, don't run away from it. It may be somewhat unpleasant at first, but it will definitely will dissipate. Use of relaxation and anxiety reduction strategies with help. Avoidance will ensure the anxiety sticks around for the long haul. 

The pandemic creates a unique situation. Normally I would work with clients, getting into the car with them, alternatively working closely with a driving instructor to implement strategies for me. These options are not available to us right now due to social distancing. However, you may find yourself with more time and thus availability to work towards your goals. It may be a great opportunity to move vehicles in the driveway that have been sitting idle. And for those road warriors who are already driving but have issues with certain streets or situations, this is a perfect opportunity as there is much less traffic. 

For more information on the Driving Anxiety Solution programs, click here

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