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[thousandoaksgirl]

I'm 22 years old and I have been suffering from agoraphobia since I was a child. I has gotten progressively worse over the last 5 years. I afraid that my life will just one anxious sitution after another. I want to be able to travel, but how can I travel when I'm too afraid to leave my home. I have no friends and I'm afraid to get friends. I just want to be a normal 20 year old who moves away from home and goes to college. HELP

[Bridgie]

Sorry to hear it Oaks! Welcome to the forum, and know that we are your friends! It must be very difficult for you to have had this all your life.

Have you seen a Dr. about your problems? Or is it too much to be able to go there? Are your parents supportive and trying to help you? I hope you can find some help here! We are here for you!

:lol: :lol: :lol:

[brickyard_red]

Welcome thousandoaksgirl! I'm glad you found this forum. You will find that you are not alone here, that there are others that feel what you do and experience what you do. You have found a bunch of friends, we try and help each other, even if it's just a listening ear.

I think you have taken a big step in just introducing yourself here on the forum, that can be a scarey thing. Congratulations and know that I'm proud of you. It will be o.k. sweetie, there are people out there that will help you. Hang in there and know you're not alone.

Cath :)

[shoe]

hi thousandoaksgirl, Agoraphobia must be difficult to live with :( I'm curious, have you been home schooled or were you able to go to school?

As far as friends go, you can make them online, here's a good place to start =)

Overcoming agoraphobia is a tough challenge to overcome, it requires a lot of patience and hard work, and its probably best to do with a therapist. It would help to work on the at-home portion of therapy with someone you feel safe with.

Usually therapy involves analyzing your fears and thoughts, changing certain patterns of thinking, and then having you face your fears at a slow pace. Facing fears for agoraphobia would be taking small steps outside of your comfort zone, even just a few feet, and then patting yourself on the back for it and then trying again later to make more progress. You can challenge yourself by staying outside your comfort zone for longer periods of time or going further each time, but you try in some way to keep your anxiety level in check. This stuff is a part of CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) that has proven to be one of the most effective treatments for anxiety disorders.

There are also medications and natural remedies for treating the anxiety, but neither of those will get at the underlying causes for the fear. If you do use anxiety suppressants you should probably do it alongside therapy to get the best results.

dan