I had to reply im in the exact same boat i fear leaving the house mainly because off becoming ill when i hav my toddler with me. Im just trying to learn to cope with this. I liked reading all the comments of others. X
At some point you need to get you life back and they may come at the cost of "forcing" yourself to trust/try a therapist again and/or trying meds. Anxiety treatment, any medical treatment in fact, is not always what we want unfortunately. Alankay
I'm starting to get back out again. I find small trips to places I can get out of work the best, like walk in CVS, look around, leave if it's too much. (the mall in other words wouldn't work!) I'm getting out more and more and even though it's tough I feel better about myself. I will say my mom couldn't even go to her mailbox at the end of her driveway for months when she was in her 20s. This is the same lady that in her 50's has been cruising the world! She travels 7-8 months out of the year and if panic hits she just figures 'screw it', I can do it!
Keep it up. Eventually it gets easier. I would not avoid the malls. Put yourself there also. Eventually this will all be behind you. I had agoraphobia and put myself in stores and malls almost every day. Malls were the worst. After I started to get used to the crowd in malls I started to pay attention to what was causing me to have panic. What I found was I would start to feel panic when people would pop into my peripheral vision. Panic comes from fear of the the illness not fear of being in crowds. What I found was every time I started to have panic I would pay attention to the sensation and fear it because the sensation is horrible. Fear fuels panic, so try to ignore it once it wants to hit. Divert your attention to something other than the sensation. Another thing I caught myself doing was when I would walk into a store I would immediately look to see how many people are in the store. I now just walk in and pay attention to what I'm there for not how many people are there. No matter how much anxiety or panic wants to come on ignore it and go about your business and eventually the panic wi dissolve into nothing.Originally Posted by atcmom
Keep it up. Eventually it gets easier. I would not avoid the malls. Put yourself there also. Eventually this will all be behind you. I had agoraphobia and put myself in stores and malls almost every day. Malls were the worst. After I started to get used to the crowd in malls I started to pay attention to what was causing me to have panic. What I found was I would start to feel panic when people would pop into my peripheral vision. Panic comes from fear of the the illness not fear of being in crowds. What I found was every time I started to have panic I would pay attention to the sensation and fear it because the sensation is horrible. Fear fuels panic, so try to ignore it once it wants to hit. Divert your attention to something other than the sensation. Another thing I caught myself doing was when I would walk into a store I would immediately look to see how many people are in the store. I now just walk in and pay attention to what I'm there for not how many people are there. No matter how much anxiety or panic wants to come on ignore it and go about your business and eventually the panic wi dissolve into nothing.
Agoraphobia can be a very debilitating condition, I know because I've been there before, you must understand that what your experiencing is only an emotion not an illness, you are suffering from too much of the emotion of fear, your mind is constantly sending out risk assessments to search for a potential threat, but in anxiety disorders...no real threat is present in our environment, so we automatically create the fear and we start to send out risk assessents, "What if" i leave my house and everyone laughs at me etc, the way to overcome anxiety is to retrain your amygdala (a small organ in the brain responsible for emotions) into knowing your safe, feel free to drop me a private message and I'll explain more
Thanks
Great post Greggs2583Agoraphobia can be a very debilitating condition, I know because I've been there before, you must understand that what your experiencing is only an emotion not an illness, you are suffering from too much of the emotion of fear, your mind is constantly sending out risk assessments to search for a potential threat, but in anxiety disorders...no real threat is present in our environment, so we automatically create the fear and we start to send out risk assessents, "What if" i leave my house and everyone laughs at me etc, the way to overcome anxiety is to retrain your amygdala (a small organ in the brain responsible for emotions) into knowing your safe, feel free to drop me a private message and I'll explain moreThanks
I love your concept of emotional risk assesment.
"Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol, morphine or idealism.” - C.G. Jung
I have been keeping my self safe and not going anywhere afraid of dying . My bf lives about an hr away and my first ride out was horrible ! I had to call the crisis line to talk to me almost the whole way out . Second time was coming home it wasn't as bad but I still had a panic attack( this weekend I drove out here but I bought audio books to listen to .. Anxiety and phobias and purpose driven life and what a difference it made ... Baby steps .. I have to fly in 2 weeks and I am freaking out!!!!! Not sure how to deal with this one ??? Any help would be great
planes can be tricky..
I consumed myself in a MP3, Kindle books, movies, and engage in chatting with people and for me that put the reality back into the situation.
I felt out of my body and so connecting with another human, made it alright for me.
I also found keeping busy with 3 to 4 small tasks to do, made me busy and before I know it, I had arrived with no problem.
It does get easier, trust yourself.
Nobody EVER as died from an anxiety attack.....
This too shall pass.. My fav saying when I am going through one.
SD
I constantly feel like I'm losing my mind too. You're not! People do not go crazy from anxiety or panic attacks or agoraphobia. You still have a grip on reality right? As hard as it is you have to look for a new therapist. When you call them, tell them how hard it is for you and tell them you really need help just even getting to the office. I guarantee you they will help. I go to mine every single week and every single week I don't want to, but those days that it is the hardest are the days you need it the most. We have anxiety and panic attacks, but those disorders do not define who we are, don't forget that! No matter how horrible you feel, you will get through it and you will come out stronger than ever. I hope this helps!
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