Never realized, until recently, that my trouble with car washes wasn't a phobia....I always used to say "I'm afraid of the car wash"....which most people find amusing in an adult....not in a mean way....just in a "really? the car wash? why?" sort of way. A friend of mine has taken me through them a couple of times....thinking it would help me get over it...(sigh, heart is in the right place)...and she said "You are just the face of terror".

Now, I can take it apart and I KNOW that its the noise and movement that really takes me apart when I'm in one. I hit overload almost immediately and when you couple that with being claustrophobic....well, the car wash is a house of horrors for me.

But - how do you manage trigger places for you when you can't avoid them?

(06-06-2012, 12:34 PM)Malynn Wrote: Never realized, until recently, that my trouble with car washes wasn't a phobia....I always used to say "I'm afraid of the car wash"....which most people find amusing in an adult....not in a mean way....just in a "really? the car wash? why?" sort of way. A friend of mine has taken me through them a couple of times....thinking it would help me get over it...(sigh, heart is in the right place)...and she said "You are just the face of terror".

My mother was always terrified of automatic car washes and flat-out refused to go through them. She was not SPD, she just hated the sight of all that water coming at her.

I meditate and force myself to "sleep" during the car wash. I do the same thing with Storms. I am not really asleep, but by simulating it it helps keep me calm until it is over.