Driving Home After Disassociating In Therapy

[Deleted member 40217]

Hi, does anyone have advice on what to do to make myself coherent enough to drive home after very difficult sessions I end up just driving but am in a fog the entire ride home.

 

[void]

dear @cancerous2you

You should NOT be driving in that state.......period.

Pull over!

Engage in grounding tasks.......mindfulness, deep breathing, etc....

If you cannot regain a normal state of mind...........CALL FOR HELP or even a TAXI.

Driving while severely dissociated IS impaired driving!!!!!! This is well-established.

I have faced this many times........do not think you can drive safely in this state.

Take care.:hug:

 

[420kitty]

Like the person above said, pull over.

Pick out 5 things infront of you.
How does each one feel to the touch?
What do you think about this item?
What does it look like?

Take deep, slow controlled breaths.

 

[VioletButterfly]

Been there too many times. It is very dangerous. Please do not drive in this condition.

Take something with you that you can connect to after your sessions and spend some time caring for yourself either in an adjacent park, coffee shop, or in your car. If you are driving already, pull over and do as advised above. Breathe and center yourself, connect to the present.

 

[Deleted member 40217]

Thank you everyone for your responses and great advice. I will definitely not drive during these times again

 

[Panda Bear]

Is always sit in the parking lot for a few min while I let my thoughts sort of slow down and I can manage to feel safe. T usually doesn't let me go If it's bad, so there is that.

Most times I get a hug before I go, she that seems to bring everything down a bit more before walking out the door.

But ya, no driving. If I'm super emotional or disconnected, I cry or blast the music while I wait it out.

 

[Suzetig]

Talk to your therapist about being dissociated after sessions - it's their job to make sure you're ok to leave safely and have resources and coping strategies. It may be that you need 10 mins at the end of your session to connect back in again or that the work is going too fast but your T needs to know you're leaving while dissociated.

 

[BlueOrange]

This reminds me. I have therapy tomorrow. Given how weak I was today, I should catch the train to therapy.

 

[Crow]

My T has me walk around the block and then drive to a coffee shop a few blocks away to get tea. I've taken Uber home a couple of times.

 

[Deleted member 40217]

Uber sounds like a great idea Crowfeather I think I will try that today instead of driving. praying to stay in the here and now during session.

 

[Nessa7]

I walk to a diner after every appointment and eat lunch. I have a regular order so I don't have to think too much about what I get. Since I'm a regular, so most of the waitresses will make a bit of conversation before I leave. I make sure I leave a good tip, so I don't have to worry about keeping a table for too long. Sometimes I'll make plans in advance to meet someone there.

 

[Muttly]

I have actually gotten in an accident after therapy... errr.... twice. One was very minor, the other not so much. The other one had significant contributing factors. there was a severe snow/ice storm and I was in a great deal of pain and had stopped taking my pain meds so I could drive. However, I was in so much pain I was in no condition to be driving by the time I left therapy. Add after effects of therapy and the storm and I feel fortunate it wasn't worse.

After that, my therapist really slowed our therapy down for a while. we also try to spend the last 10 minutes on lighter stuff. When I'm still dissociated after therapy I will walk around for a while. Then, depending on how I am, I will either take the very short drive to the library and hang out there or go some place and eat lunch or drive home. It's a long drive for me to get to and from therapy so cabs/uber aren't an option. And once, when it was really bad, she let me hang out in a separate area from the waiting room, with a blankie and a stuffie until I was ok