usually if i am driving on those OCD thoughts attack me, then i get really angry and i speed up like a maniac of course some times there are other thoughts that bothers me not just OCD thoughts
in heavy traffic i obsess a bit... i get stressed out... at stop lights too, when cars surround me i start to get claustrophobic and freak out a little...
I've worried that I might have caused an accident behind me, and so I'll drive back and check to make sure their are no accidents. Sometimes many miles. I have also checked the web for APB reports after I got home, for any accidents that may have happened along the route i was traveling. Of course you can't find those reports on the web or atleast I've never found them.
I can't drive at all, have never been able to. I could in an emergency, I suppose and have tried to learn, but I have no license, and when I try to drive I get so nervous I can hardly think straight and I make stupid mistakes. There are too many things to thinking about at once, so many things coming at you. The mirrors, the other cars, where the car is in the lane, the speedometer, the rear view, the lights...there's no time to check everything and a tiny mistake could kill someone. So...I give up. I don't even try anymore. There are a lot of things I'd like to do if I could drive, but it's just too horrible to think about. I get a headache and dizzy just thinking about it.
I think we have to differentiate between OCD thoughts related to driving (e.g., worry to have hit somebody, needing to turn around, etc) and just the simple effects of stress on the driving itself.
Does your fear that your driving might be dangerous feel like an OCD kind of thought? Or do you really, objectively speaking, speed up "like a maniac"? If the second is true - that is probably not your OCD influencing your driving, it sounds more like a reaction you have to any kind of anxiety or stress (be it OCD or other). And of course that is a dangerous way to deal with anxiety. Can you control it somehow?
not on;y when i get anxiouse (usually coz of OCD) I do speed up like a maniac but also when i get upset about different thoughts (like why i have OCD or other things)
its not always possibly to just pull over wherever you are on the road and sit there and "relax"
i have tremendous problems driving..like soemone said...so many things to do at once..cars..mirrors..radio..directions.. i canbarely do it...
when soemone calls my cell phone i panic because i feel like i cant do two things at once....
anyone relate?
kathrin- i have to disagree with you on this. I dont think its the stress of driving itself, it is the OCD. Driving is not that stressful. Sure there is a huge liability, one little mistake could cost someones life. But dont let the fear of that mistake cost you your life! What is more important to you..dont let your mind play its game...what is more important to you? living your life and not having to constantly worry OR not living your life because you are scared of hurting someone that doesnt even exist? The choice is yours and you control your mind...yes it does take practice, as does everything, but it is possible.
I am afraid when I am driving that I will cause an accident. I try to avoid driving as much as I can. I also feel clausterphobic when I am surrounded by cars at a stop light.
