I’ve Had an Irrational (and Pathetic) Fear of Driving on the Freeway for Over 30 Years

I live in L.A. — I’m doomed.

Elle Silver
Published in
13 min readSep 22, 2024

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Image by master1305 on Freepik.

Want to know how to never overcome an irrational fear? Follow my method in two short steps.

Step 1: Never actually confront this phobia.

Step 2: Just accept your life is doomed.

I have a pathological fear of driving on the freeway

I have an irrational (and pathetic) phobia about driving on the freeway — and I’ve had this phobia for over thirty years. And yet, maybe you still think I’m being too hard on myself by calling this phobia “pathetic.” Sure, it might be irrational, but it’s real for me.

I mean, it’s not like I never tried to get over this phobia. After the first panic attack, I experienced while driving on the freeway, I did attempt to confront this fear. I tried to overcome it several times through different methods. To a small extent, I was successful.

I tried therapy. I tried meds. While talk therapy never helped, meds did — to an extent.

In the early years of having this phobia, I tried Paxil, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), which alleviated my anxiety enough that I could manage to drive in the slow lane on the…

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Elle Silver
Invisible Illness

"Skinny fat,” L.A.-based writer, trying to get her health back after years of abuse. Self-proclaimed relationship expert. Please, don't take my advice.