Scared to ride or drive in a car after accident

I suppose a good thing to do would be to recognize you're feeling post traumatic stress. Your emotional body is scared to get injured again. The best thing to do is do behavioral therapy for yourself. Get yourself in a car. It's hard, but just physically get yourself to do it. And know that avoiding it won't help out your situation and people drive and ride in cars every day and don't get into crashes. What's the use in worrying about it when worrying is keeping you from living the life you're afraid to lose?

Hi Lyndsay,

I'm sorry to hear about what you've been through. Being in a car accident and having a house burn down are certainly traumatic events. It's only natural to have anxiety about something else happening in the future. How could you not worry?! When I was in my first car accident I sat on the side of a curb for hours in total shock just rocking back and forth barely speaking a word. When it came time to try driving again I was hypervigilant. I stayed in the right lane with a death grip on the wheel doing 25mph when I should've been doing 50. But in time I became comfortable behind the wheel again and my second accident wasn't as bad. I had been through it before and was better prepared to handle it emotionally.

Overcoming these events may not be easy, but you can do it. My suggestion is that you take it slowly. Don't rush yourself, but rather listen to your heart. You have the added complication of not having your license yet. But still take it slow. I would suggest taking a series of tiny, progress steps. For instance one day sit in a car with someone without the car running, another day do the same but let the car run for a few minutes, next time have the other person drive up and down the driveway, later around the block and back. One small step at a time and only move on to the next step when you're ready. Repeat a step if you're not. When you're trying to overcome trauma, the first step has to be developing a sense of safety. For instance, you can't learn to drive a car before you feel safe sitting in one.

I would also suggest as SC said that you try to look into counseling. You do not have to nor should you go through this alone. Even without knowing the details of the fire I can only imagine what the experience could've been like for you. One minute everything is fine, the next you might not have a place to sleep. I wish you well!