Panic attack to anything that has four wheels
One day I took to a supermarket a 26 years young man, Raj (not his real name). He arrived from India to work in the UK around eight months ago. When I started the car he immediately opened the window. Outside it was cold, but I did not comment. One minute after I started driving, he put his head completely out of the car window and said “I can barely control myself to jump out of car”. He said that he knows it will be a short journeys. Of course I froze and unfortunately I could not stop the car. He went all the way up to the supermarket with his head completely out of the window. When we got there he asked me to do my shopping and go home without him as he could handle himself. I asked what happened to him. He told me that he has panic attack for cars and buses, basically anything with wheels. He said that he prefers to walk to work rather than use the bus. After I am clear about my own anxieties (that maybe he doesn’t like my driving or he has something against women drivers) I told him I can help if he wants. He accepted immediately and said that the matter is very upsetting because his boss offered to take him home when he worked late, and he needed to refuse the offer. He was ashamed of this problem and could not talk with anyone about it. We came back together in the car and he could stay still (with the windows open) but with his eyes closed all the way. I asked when the phobia started. He recalls that it started eight months ago, when he came to work here, coming from the airport to the hotel by taxi. In India, he feels absolutely nothing when he is in the car. Here in the UK he could not travel on something that has four wheels.
I asked him where this panic is located in his body and he told me that it is mainly in the stomach and begins with his cheeks becoming red. I explained how EFT works. He was very keen to stop the panic attack immediately.
We started by rubbing his sore point and he repeated after me: "Although I have this phobia to go by car and bus, I love and accept myself as I am." At the third statement he added on his own: "But I want to get rid of it." On a scale of 0 to 10 the intensity of negative emotion was 8. After two complete rounds on the meridian points with the statement "phobia of going by car ', the intensity has dropped to four. He commented that it is much better, but now feels he wants to eat - he is very hungry. I asked him to drink a large cup of water and to continue our session. I noticed that although he said he is pleased with the level 4, he was quite agitated and had the feeling that if he ate, he would feel better. The reaction to stress "eat food - stress reduction" is very dangerous, especially for someone who lives quite a stressful life. I asked him to continue tapping to reach a 0 because he has a stressful life.
After drinking a big glass of water, he said that he feels better and wants to continue
tapping. He made two more rounds of tapping in which I talked about how the phobia
was triggered (riding the taxi, the stress of leaving home in India, leaving the
family with some problems to be solved there and come here where he knows no one,
first time abroad, going by car, location in his stomach of the panic reaction).
I was telling the story and he was nodding that I am right. After the second round,
he said that the feeling of panic is 0. I said it would be good to retest the phobia
by his response in the car, if he agrees. He agreed so we got in the car and started
the engine. I asked him what number is your negative emotion. He said 1. He did not
want to open the window and had no inclination to do anything else. I did another
complete round "this remaining feeling of panic”, to clear it out.
He said he feels completely 0, that he is feeling very calm, and he started to joke
about EFT. I started the engine again and his phobia had completely disappeared.
I started the car again, we did a few laps around the neighbourhood, and he had no
adverse reaction. He was relaxed calmly joking and happy that he had finished with
those debilitating panic attacks. The whole process lasted around 15 minutes from
start to the final test in the car. I called Raj after one month and after 3 years.
Raj had no further adverse reaction to travel by car, bus or anything that has wheels.
Everything was back to normal. He told me that he is using EFT when is very stressed
at work and that he is happy to have such a tool at hand when he needs it.
