Drive those test nerves away with hypnotherapy!
I use hypnotherapy for driving test anxiety pretty much every week. Drivers who were unable to take lessons during lockdowns are now coming up against their tests. Fear, anxiety and the sense that their lives are being held back by their inability to drive are sending new clients to me, for this particular concern, every single week.
Driving test anxiety can be such a pain. I’m sorry that you have to be here if your anxiety is wrecking your driving test hopes. There is room for reassurance, however. My clients in Oxford, Reading and elsewhere are generally the safest of drivers and can drive a car perfectly well when having lessons. In fact, they tend to be the most conscientious of all drivers. Somehow, however, it all comes apart when it’s time to take that test. If this is your story then be assured that hypnotherapy for driving test anxiety could help you.
Here’s a typical story which might describe any one of my teenage clients:
He could drive perfectly well. His parents were happy to take him driving around Reading in their car. His instructor was happy that he had mastered the different manoeuvres. He was completely ready. Reading and Berkshire were about to receive their newest qualified driver onto the roads.
His own mind didn’t agree
However, as soon as he woke up on test day, the nervousness began to build and he began to slip into
that spiral which is so common in all those who have trouble with speeches, exams, presentations, job interviews and the like.
These all fall under the heading of ‘performance anxiety’ and my clients all become anxious about the fact they’re feeling anxious. “Oh my God. I’m this nervous already?! The test isn’t until tomorrow. How bad am I going to be by the time it begins?” They are quite literally talking themselves into anxiety.
They then make things ten times worse by getting angry with themselves.
Anyway, back to the client. I spent two sessions with this young man and the results were wonderful to see. Hypnotherapy helped his driving test anxiety and he went on to pass very easily indeed.
Most of my driving test clients contact me with very little time left before the test is due to take place and two sessions is generally all we can fit in. Space and time for more would be good, if possible and so please don;t leave it until the last moment if you can avoid it. Two sessions seems to be good enough for most but if you have wide-ranging anxiety and / or depression then more might be necessary.
A few sessions of hypnotherapy are considerably cheaper than a whole new series of lessons and a test at the end of them. Hypnotherapy could leave you feeling far more confident and happy in your ability to pass. I can only think of one woman who failed her driving test after having had two sessions of hypnotherapy with me. That’s not so bad, I’ve seen over twenty people for driving test anxiety in the past couple of years.
Give me a call to find out how it works. I’ll be glad to talk with you about how it could help you to let go of the fear.
I also offer hypnotherapy online for driving test anxiety, using vsee, zoom or whatsap. Please get in touch for more details as to how this works.
Being nervous is perfectly acceptable.
It took me three attempts to pass my test. The first attempt was too fast. The second was too slow and hesitant. In the third my examiner was so unpleasant (“It’s 21 metres, actually. I’ll ask the questions”) before we’d even got into the car that I completely gave up and simply drove where he told me to.
I passed! Giving up all hope of passing left me feeling a fraction more relaxed. That’s all it took, a dose of calmness.
I could teach you to be calm too. Hypnosis could help you pass your driving test and I’ll be happy to explain how. I’ve seen dozens of people for this fear over the years. Perhaps you could be the next person to throw away those L plates.
Adrenaline is not the enemy!
Being nervous is perfectly acceptable. It’s completely normal to feel nervous before such a test. I’d be more worried if you didn’t. If you weren’t feeling that dose of adrenaline then it would mean that the test really wasn’t very important to you. You’d be so laid back that it would affect your performance and concentration. No, adrenaline isn’t the enemy. Becoming anxious about the fact you’re feeling nervous is the enemy. The more you fear anxiety, the more you beat yourself up for experiencing it, the worse it becomes.
Hypnotherapy for driving test anxiety is effective, generally quick and it works!
I’ve used hypnotherapy in Reading, London, Oxford, Wallingford and Thame for driving test anxiety, blending hypnosis with other approaches in order to help people with such problems. Hypnotherapy could help you to master those nerves, keeping the adrenaline to an acceptable level. It does this via several methods.
Firstly, hypnotherapy can be relaxing. I could teach your mind to relax around the imagined sights and sounds of a driving test centre. You can learn this on an unconscious level but you will also take away practical techniques to help yourself conquer the fear of the test.
Hypnotherapy can help you in other ways too. You can take the feeling of confidence from one are of your life and transfer it, using your imagination, into the driving test scenario. Your imagination has connected driving tests with fear. Imagining yourself undergoing the test with a confident feeling will work to break that connection.
You can learn to summon confidence at will. I’ll show you how.
Most importantly, however, is the way in which I teach clients to be at ease with the fact that they are feeling nervous. As I wrote above, adrenaline is not the enemy. Your fear of adrenaline is the problem.
Clear your mind of the past
Hypnotherapy can help clear away the emotional debris of previous failures. You don’t have to be condemned to repeat previous errors. You can leave this aspect of the fear behind as your unconscious mind realises that you have learned from any previous errors and are now good and safe enough to drive. Hypnotherapy could also free you from any problems from the past which are preventing you from relaxing when driving. Some people have been involved in road traffic accidents in the past. Some people have had relatives or friends killed in such accidents. These and other scenarios could possibly be preventing you from fully relaxing into the driving test situation.
Hypnotherapy could help you to be free of it.
Hypnotherapy can help you
Hypnotherapy can also help you to rehearse your driving test in such a convincing and realistic manner that a part of your brain will respond as if you have already faced that situation with calm poise. If you can do it once (even if it’s in your head) then the next time will be still easier.
My most recent client passed after one session
Driving test clients are frequently amongst those who call with very little notice indeed.
The last time I saw such a client they called two days before the test. Was I free? Could I help?
Well, I just happened to have a slot free and so we met and worked together. The client left feeling confident and calm, very impressed with hypnotherapy.
The next day I received a lovely email to say they’d passed. The test had gone smoothly and they’d felt strangely calm throughout the whole experience. It was a lovely email to receive. I knew how much passing had meant to them.
You could do it too!
It’s always best to leave plenty of time. Many of my clients just have that everyday collection of nerves and a history of failures which now produce a self-fulfilling prophecy.
However, some have darker and deeper reasons for their fear (perhaps a relative was killed in a car accident, for example) and this can complicate things, requiring more work. Please don’t leave it too late!
Is it too late?
I was recently contacted by a person whose test was in 24 hours time and there was no way in which I could see her at such notice. I replied to her email as follows:
“You are going to fail tomorrow’s test. This is OK. You and I will then work together and you will pass the next test. You will pass the next test. Accept that tomorrow is a write off and use it as a practice exercise. Tell yourself that you will fail and that this will be OK”.
She wrote back to thank me for the advice and that she would follow it.
The next day she wrote back again, telling me that she had passed her test and that she was very grateful for my help. I knew she would pass, for her initial email had said that her teacher was confident in her ability and that she simply fell to pieces in tests. Following my advice simply meant that she removed her fear of fear itself.
So, if you have a driving test very soon and nobody can see you, simply do your best to follow my advice. Otherwise, give me a call asap.
Have you already passed?
Perhaps you’ve already passed your test and have found this page whilst looking for help with another kind of problem. If you have another kind of fear, related to driving, then rest assured that hypnotherapy could help you too. I’ve helped people with a fear of bridges, slip-roads, motorways and more. I’ve helped people who were perfectly fine with driving, when there was somebody else in the car, and yet too scared to go out alone. Whatever your issue may be, hypnotherapy could help you.
Get in touch to find out more!
If you’d like to hear more about how I use hypnotherapy to work with driving test anxiety then please do get in touch. I have rooms in Reading, Oxford, Thame and Wallingford and home visits can often be arranged in surrounding areas of Berkshire and Oxfordshire where necessary. You could call me on 07786 123736 / 01865 600970 / 01183 280284, email me at paul@resolvedhypnotherapy.co.uk or use the contact form below.
Best wishes
Drive anxiety away with hypnotherapy in Wallingford / Reading
Put some distance between you and fear with hypnotherapy in Thame
Put the brake on terror in Oxford