The fear of driving (amaxophobia) is a common phobia that is difficult to treat through in vivo exposure because of the risks to the patient and practitioner. Through virtual driving, C2Care enables you to safely expose your patients to anxiety-provoking driving situations in a virtual reality driving simulator: motorways, traffic jams and overtaking lorries.
Exposure to driving is a useful step in supporting patients with amaxophobia. However, recreating these situations on the road poses a real risk to both the patient and the practitioner.
Virtual driving addresses the limitations of in vivo exposure:
The C2Care virtual reality driving simulator allows practitioners to recreate the driving situations feared by the patient: motorways, overtaking lorries, tunnels, heavy traffic, city streets or mountain roads.
The patient can be placed in the driver's or passenger's seat, depending on the nature of their phobia. The practitioner adjusts weather stimuli and the context, with daytime or night-time driving, to grade the exposure.
These situations can be repeated and gradually integrated into the protocol to work with the patient on anticipatory anxiety, catastrophic thoughts and driving-related avoidance.
The studies cited at the bottom of the page remain small, but their findings point in the same direction. In a pilot study involving 14 patients with a driving phobia, five simulator exposure sessions preceded a test in real traffic: all participants completed journeys they had previously avoided, and most maintained their progress several weeks later. A review of 14 studies concludes that these virtual reality interventions are feasible and well accepted, while highlighting the small sample sizes.
Virtual driving remains an adjunct to practitioner-led therapy before returning to real driving.
VRET
The practitioner seats the patient on a swivel chair and fits them with the virtual reality headset
Using their interface, the practitioner selects the environment suited to the session's objectives and starts the exposure.
During immersion, the practitioner supports the patient using a visual feed and can adjust the exposure scene in real time
Environments
C2Care covers the main situations feared by patients with amaxophobia, from motorways to heavy traffic.
Entries, exits, lane changes, lorries and traffic allow patients to work progressively on motorway driving.
The patient can drive through short or long tunnels and progress at their own pace.
Driving in the city involves roundabouts, pedestrians and other vehicles.
Narrow or winding mountain roads complement the exposure progression.
Crossing a suspension bridge allows patients to work on a driving situation involving exposure.
Create a free account to discover all exposure scenarios and subscribe directly online
Solène Montègue
Neuropsychiatrist
The developments C2Care is currently integrating into the interface are very promising and meet the established therapeutic objectives [...]: offering tailored exercises that can be adapted to levels of dependency, cognitive disorders, and patients' real-time responses.
Samia Lahya
Psychiatrist
With the acquisition of new equipment [...] and updates to the C2Care programs, its use has expanded even further: OCD, phobias, addictions, anxiety disorders, depression, and PTSD. Ten years later, it is no longer merely a curiosity, but a genuine therapeutic tool that is stimulating, innovative, and effective.
Sabrina Gineau
Psychologist
I incorporate this technology into brief therapies lasting two to four months, with one session per week. I begin with relaxation techniques and, when patients are ready, we proceed. It makes it much easier to expose people to these situations.
Noël Schepers
Psychologist
Virtual reality can enrich and personalize treatment, facilitate patient-therapist collaboration in developing the treatment plan, and add a playful dimension. The possibilities for development and application are immense and extend to every area of psychology and psychotherapy.
Mélanie Boucherot
Psychologist
The value of this technology [C2Care] lies in offering new possibilities for therapeutic support and expanding the range of tools available to healthcare professionals.
François Maltese
Psychologist
For several months, we have been using virtual reality in habituation therapies. Before the procedure, patients are progressively and immersively exposed to their future medical environment and psychologically prepared to accept it.
Dre Marie-Claude Roberge
Doctor of Psychology
Since 2022, we have been using virtual reality therapy with the C2Care platform to simulate exposure to aversive stimuli and triggers that cause anxiety. Exposure therapy is used to treat specific phobias, including fear of heights, enclosed spaces, flying, dogs, emetophobia, and many others.
Dr Laure Du Pouget
Urologist
Using a virtual reality headset for self-hypnosis during prostate biopsies creates a calm atmosphere for a procedure that can sometimes be uncomfortable, even with effective local anesthesia...
Delphine Py
Psychologist
Thank you to C2Care for providing innovative virtual reality solutions to support CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy)! A major step forward in making exposure exercises easier and helping our patients overcome their phobias.
Elphinston et al. — Virtual reality psychological therapy for the treatment of driving phobia
Psychological therapy using virtual reality for treatment of driving phobia: a systematic review
Scheveneels et al. — Mechanisms underlying virtual reality exposure: anxious expectations and habituation
Underlying Working Mechanisms of Virtual Reality Exposure: Exploring the Role of Fearful Expectancies and Habituation
Kaussner et al. — Treatment of driving phobia using virtual reality exposure
Treating patients with driving phobia by virtual reality exposure therapy - a pilot study
Wald et al. — Preliminary efficacy of virtual reality exposure for the treatment of driving phobia
Preliminary research on the efficacy of virtual reality exposure therapy to treat driving phobia
Bazhanov et al. — Virtualization of therapy for alcohol-related disorders: a systematic scoping review
Virtualizing Alcohol Use Disorder Therapy: A Systematic Scoping Review
Discover
Depending on your patients' needs, other areas may also be relevant to explore. Discover the different environments available in C2Care.
Create a free account to discover all exposure scenarios and subscribe directly online
FAQ
Here are answers to questions practitioners often ask about treating the fear of driving with C2Care.
Amaxophobia is a specific phobia: an intense and irrational fear of driving a vehicle, sometimes also of riding in one as a passenger. The word comes from the Greek amaxa, meaning cart. It often leads people to avoid motorways, limit journeys, or even stop driving.
At the wheel or at the thought of driving, fear manifests through physical signs similar to those of a panic attack: a racing heart, sweating, dizziness, and a feeling of suffocation. These are accompanied by a fear of losing control or causing an accident, and avoidance behaviours that gradually restrict journeys.
C2Care offers virtual reality exposure therapy environments dedicated to amaxophobia, the fear of driving. They allow practitioners to expose patients to realistic road environments safely, as part of a gradual course of care.
C2Care offers a variety of environments: motorway entrances, traffic jams, overtaking trucks, tunnels, night or daytime driving, and heavy traffic. The practitioner controls the weather stimuli and driving context according to the patient's needs.
Yes, the practitioner can choose the patient's virtual position in the car, as either the driver or a passenger. This option accommodates both driving-related phobias and those experienced as a passenger.
C2Care also supports the treatment of claustrophobia through tunnel environments with adjustable traffic, speed, and weather. Graded exposure promotes gradual habituation, following the same approach as for amaxophobia.
In vivo exposure involves inherent risks for both the patient and the practitioner. Virtual reality makes it possible to recreate anxiety-provoking contexts without road-related risks, while helping the patient engage in treatment.
Yes, the practitioner progressively controls the weather stimuli, the day/night context, and the patient's position in the vehicle. This control enables tailored, graded therapy according to the patient's progress.
Yes. The simulation gives the practitioner indicators of the patient's progress when facing driving situations they previously feared. It does not replace an assessment under real-life conditions: preparation for a return to driving then continues on the road, with support.
In vivo exposure involves inherent risks for both the patient and the practitioner. C2Care allows patients to be safely exposed to road contexts without the risks of real driving.
A driving school simulator is used to learn driving skills: handling the steering wheel, pedals, and gears. Therapeutic virtual driving is used for gradual exposure to the fear of driving, under the control of a practitioner who grades the feared situations. It complements therapy and does not replace driving lessons.
It is a virtual reality headset that places the person in a simulated road environment: a motorway, tunnel, city, or mountain setting. In therapy, the practitioner chooses the patient's position, as the driver or a passenger, and adjusts the weather and daytime or nighttime context to grade the exposure.
Practitioners can access virtual driving through a C2Care subscription, at €99 per month with no commitment or €799 per year, which provides access to all environments. For a patient, the cost of a session depends on the practitioner offering it.
