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Review appeared in the January, 2004 edition of the
CityBike Newspaper
BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN
OR HOW TO OVERCOME FEAR OF RIDING
AFTER A MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENT
By Brenda Bates
Brenda Bates has authored a small and interesting psychological paper
dealing with the issues that arise after a rider has had a motorcycle
accident.
The paper begins with two photos of Bates as a twelve-year-old riding
with her parents. A reassuring start for the reader that Bates is one
of us. She has pretty much ridden most of her life, better still, both
on and off road. Off road for close to thirty years, on road for twenty.
In fact in one early chapter of the book she lists eleven ways to know
if being a motorcyclist is important to your identity. I answered yes
to all eleven and if you are reading CityBike on a regular basis then
you probably would ace that list too.
Bates has a Masters in Counseling Psychology and is also a certified hypnotherapist.
Her office is in Southern California.
Her book contains 12 chapters entitled Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,
Individual
Identity and Motorcycles, The Existential Motorcyclist, Existentialism
and Death, Post Accident Stages of Emotional recovery, and finally, how
to overcome fear of riding.
You can tell Bates has a lot of educational backup from the start of this
mental health journal and she writes in a forthright, no-nonsense style.
She also uses plenty of quotes to illustrate her points. She cites William
Blake's famous line, "If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything
would appear to man as it is, infinite."
Picasso, Einstein, Sartre, even Emilia Earhart, "Courage is the price
that life exacts for granting peace."
In Chapter Five, Bates begins. "The question of why some people become
avid motorcyclists has often been asked. It has been said that a satisfactory
answer has never been given to this question. From a psychological perspective
and certainly from an existential one the answer is simple; because it
adds meaning to life and is an aspect of one's individual identity."
Bates cautions later on in that same chapter: "Be careful that you
don't devalue the significance that motorcycling may add to your life."
Amen to that.
She also touches on the fact that you crashing may represent all motorcyclists'
worst fears. And your riding friends may have difficulty discussing your
injury with you, feel guilty for their coolness but still be unable to
get close to you on that particular subject.
In Chapter Seven, dealing with Fear and Anxiety, Bates writes about the
process of actually tracking down your fears logically and individually
bringing them to your conscious mind.
Once there, you can begin to examine each fear for what it really is and
from where it really originated. Bates quotes author Susan Jeffers book
Fear the Fear and Do It Anyway. Jeffers writes "fear may look like
a psychological problem, in most cases it isn't. I believe it is primarily
an educational problem"
Jeffers is further quoted as saying, "Pushing through fear is less
frightening than living with the underlying fear that comes from a feeling
of helplessness." Since a sense of helplessness is often a symptom
of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, a post-accident motorcyclist may not
only feel afraid of motorcycles, but may also begin to fear their own
choices and feel helpless to make any sound decisions.
Chapter Eight goes on to deal with Existentialism and Death. Bates cites
an interesting case where Severe Death Anxiety can actually cause a person
to become paralyzed with fear. The actual cause of the anxiety however
might not be fear of death, but fear of life. Fear of dying without really
having lived.
Heavy stuff like this is found throughout Bates' paper. You get the sense
that she has been face to face with many motorcyclists who have struggled
mentally to get back on their bikes after a bad spill.
Next month we will continue part two of Brenda Bates' interesting psychological,
thriller with actual techniques to be used and practiced to reduce stress
and anxiety and help you control your own mental and physical well being.
To order a bound copy of Brenda's paper, send a check or
money-order for $23.90 (includes S&H), payable to Brenda Bates, to:
Bates Counseling & Hypnosis
2360 A2 Mendoceno Avenue #105
Santa Rosa, CA 95403-3115
Also available on the web at: www.bikepsych.com
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