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MVA Driving after my car crash

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Blade55

New Here
Hi guys,

New here. So my story....

Earlier in the year I was involved in a serious car crash, at motorway speeds (80 mph - btw is this site UK or USA based?). Hit a truck, etc.

The damage to the car was not severe and was repaired, and I know the cause of the crash, so that's been sorted to eliminate that again....

However, I do have some driving anxiety. The car in question is a performance car and so it's even more important I keep a clear head.

When I first got the car back, I was clammy and sweaty, but now the only remaining "symptom" is hypervigilance and intrusive thoughts I would crash. I have had counselling before, e.g. over my sexuality, and learnt that CBT is a form of treatment, e..g challenging negative thoughts. I have positive counters for each negative with the car crash, e.g. car is fully repaired, serviced, new tyres, brakes, so even safer, but doesn't help.

Any ideas what could help? I do listen to music in the car and try to breathe to help.

Thanks!
 
btw is this site UK or USA based?)
Australia. But we have members all over the globe. AU, CA, USA, UK, DE, ND, DEU, FR, ITA, Spain, Portugal, Ukraine, Russia, Singapore, SouthAfrica, Israel, Norway, Sweden, Finland, just to list members off the top of my head (my country codes have run out)… plus quite a bit of “etc.” 😉 English-Speaking is our only “base” …past PTSD.

Any ideas what could help? I do listen to music in the car and try to breathe to help.
The thing that helped me the most was taking some advanced driving courses. It was an accidental thing, the first time… I wrecked at home on leave, but had a combat driving course the moment I got back. Since then, any time I get a bit squirrelly on the road, reupping old certs, getting new ones, or just having the time/space/courses fo play on for the fun of it? Settles things. I still haven’t done Rally… which always sort of cracks me up, since I spent a couple years -professionally- playing “bumper cars”… it’s the one kind of driving I used almost constantly without expert instruction -and vehicles I didn’t care about keeping to play with.
 
I actually did a professional. advanced course 2 yrs ago in the same car. It was fantastic, learnt a lot about performance driving, vehicle dynamics, engineering etc. In fact, some of the things i learnt ensured the crash was not as bad as could potentially be e.g. pile up.

I did a course a few months ago post crash just to build up confidence. The instructor had a lot of knowledge but he wouldn't stop talking which got annoying, but not being alone helped a lot.

The car behaves in certain ways on certain roads which is were my nerves come in so doing the first course again (Well the level up), will help.

But in the mean time I am interested in things like breathing and relaxation techniques.
 
But in the mean time I am interested in things like breathing and relaxation techniques.
Something interesting about these is, it's really helpful to learn them when you're un-stressed, and then to also practice letting them kick in whenever in your daily life you experience stress or anxiety.

Have you ever tried any kinds of breathing or relaxation exercises before? I'm curious more about what you have found/tried that doesn't work for you. And also, if you've ever done any activities in your daily life that incorporate breathing styles (yoga, martial arts, birthing classes, diving, the list goes on and on). You might already have some useful experiences you can build on.
 
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