Dissociation And Driving

[TLight]

For some reason I've become absolutely terrified of driving since I got into therapy.

I think that I am on such high alert......too many humans whizzing around me, so unpredictable......like I'm in the middle of a room with my entire family punching and hitting and screaming at each other. A common occurance when I was there.

Now, all those humans around me, going so fast, coming at me from all directions..........OMG, I used to drive the freeways constantly when I was in denial......now I go into major panic to the point I want to slam on the breaks because everything seems too out of control for me.

I don't trust myself on the freeways anymore. I do OK on the side roads, suburbia....even though I know I'm dissociating and don't remember sometimes......

Other times, I just get too overwhelmed.

This has become a serious problem for me. I'm wondering how to attack it. I'm losing my indiependence because of this and this brings up a LOAD of other stuff.

 

[suzie q]

I agree with Kers on the degree of dissociation that is involved. My experience was that I would lose large chunks of time and feel like I was waking up from a nap. This brought me great anxiety and made the trip to where I wanted to go that more shaky. I knew the difference between just daydreaming and what I was experiencing and knew that I was putting others life in jeopardy. I had to go and have therapy just for the dissociation.

After having that treatment, I was more able to control or notice when I was going under. I would pull over and give myself a talk. Tell me that I was in the car and was driving to _____. After I centered myself, I would put on music that I could sing to and if I was warm, I rolled down my window.

That was a scary time in my recovery because I was losing time almost every week. I do still zone out, but it was nothing like what I'de experienced before. I was told that I was fragmented and eventually went to specific therapy for that condition. I do drive and have had very few problems since my treatment.

 

[shiraz]

Hi Pixie,

Yes, a common experience of mine too. With really bad dissosiation, I know I am a hazard in heavy traffic as my reflexes are just too slow and I loos concentration to such a degree, hitting the curb or just not responding to traffic signals could definitely (and has) happened. At such times, I have pulled over and waited till I felt more aware before moving on.

I tend to dissociate quite a bit on my way to therapy so I leave early in case it takes longer to get there and I give myself at least a half hour after therapy to sit in the parking and ground myself before heading back into traffic.

At times I have had to talk to myself for the entire journey saying - I am driving, be aware! over and over, just so that I don;t space out completely. Music is a bad idea as it encourages beta waves and drinking a bottle of cold water works well to keep my head on an activity. eating strong ginger - can be unpleasant, but it also keeps me in the moment ... basically, anything to keep those alpha waves present.

I try not to drive when dossociated - lets face it, it is dangerous, but sometimes, there is no choice and one has to do the best one can.

 

[RosieNorth]

Most of the time I don't dissociate when driving, even in the daydreaming sense. A few weeks ago however I had a strange kind of dissociation when I knew where I was but had such a weird feeling that nothing mattered and nothing was real and my brain was not connected to any of my body parts, like my hands that are needed for driving. I started weaving around on the road, and it took a while to get back to reality.

 

[This Ends Now]

Funny thing about driving. I don't anymore. Ever since my car accident I have been too afraid to. Before that I had disassociated behind the wheel and it was scary. I have also had panic attacks while driving and that was part of the reason I got in an accident and almost killed. Now I am on all sorts of medications that say not to drive and I don't have a car so I walk or get a ride from someone else. This has caused several problems including rendering me unable to work... but it has also solved some problems like high risk driving.

 

[jo74]

This happens to me also. Usually I'll find myself many miles away, having no memory of even getting into my car. I keep track of the miles and have found unexplained miles several times.

I also worry what exactly I'm doing when this all happens. How do I act, do I talk to people, what do I say? Everything. This has been happening for several years and it still scares me.

jo