Driving Anxiety and Driving Exposure | EP 315

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Navigating driving anxiety with exposure therapy—but not how you might think. 

In this episode, Drew Linsalata (therapist, author, and former anxiety sufferer) challenges common misconceptions about addressing driving anxiety. 

Learn why the feeling is the exposure, not the driving itself, and discover how interoceptive and imaginal exposures can help without ever starting your car. 

Drew explains why pulling over or listening to music isn't avoidance if you're still experiencing anxiety, clarifies what true avoidance looks like, and emphasizes that recovery is about learning from each experience, not just driving farther. 

Whether you experience anxiety holding your keys, sitting in your driveway, or on the highway, this episode offers a practical, acceptance-based approach to driving anxiety that breaks down exactly what exposure therapy means in this context. 

You'll learn why small steps count, what constitutes real progress, and how to shift your focus from controlling anxiety to building a different relationship with uncomfortable feelings while driving. 

Based on empirically supported approaches to treating anxiety and anxiety disorders, this episode provides realistic strategies for living alongside anxiety rather than attempting to eliminate it.

For full show notes on this episode:

https://theanxioustruth.com/315

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