Coaching practices for How to Deal with Driving Anxiety

Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For How to Deal with Driving Anxiety, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.

Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?

• I only ever try a new way to handle this once I’m already deep in a full-blown wave, and by then I’m too far gone to think
• I’ve got all these little rules that keep me okay
• I spend my days bracing for the next wave of it, scanning my body, dreading the moment it shows up
• Even once the worst of it passes, I can’t get back into the room
• My list of no-go situations keeps quietly getting longer as the fear spreads, and the whole thing feels too overwhelming to face head-on

Practices that may help

1. Rehearse the response before you need it
   Learn and practice the four steps in low-stakes moments so they are available under pressure.
   The DARE Response to Anxiety, Made Practical
2. Drop the safety behaviors
   Let go of the small avoidances and crutches you use to feel "safe" from anxiety.
   The DARE Response to Anxiety, Made Practical
3. Run toward the feeling
   Actively invite more of the anxiety rather than waiting nervously for it to pass.
   The DARE Response to Anxiety, Made Practical
4. Engage with the present moment
   Once the edge comes off, redirect attention fully into an activity or your surroundings.
   The DARE Response to Anxiety, Made Practical
5. Build an avoidance hierarchy and work through it systematically
   List all the situations you avoid because of anxiety, from least to most frightening, then work up the list.
   Safety Behavior Fading, Made Practical
6. Map your safety-behavior inventory
   List every action you take to prevent feared outcomes in anxiety-provoking situations.
   Safety Behavior Fading, Made Practical
7. Combine worry exposure with relaxation skill
   After the exposure period, apply a relaxation practice to close each session with a deactivation phase.
   Worry Exposure, Made Practical
8. Reframe from "preventing catastrophe" to "coping with discomfort"
   Shift the goal of entering feared situations from preventing disaster to practicing tolerance.
   Safety Behavior Fading, Made Practical
9. Fade reassurance-seeking
   Gradually reduce how often you seek reassurance from others that the feared thing won't happen.
   Safety Behavior Fading, Made Practical
10. Allow the sensations without resisting
    Let the physical feelings of anxiety be present instead of bracing against them.
    The DARE Response to Anxiety, Made Practical

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