How I Conquered Agoraphobia
Agoraphobia anxiety disorder is a phrase used to to describe individuals with acute or debilitating panic attacks. Many people will suffer from a sense of concern and worry sooner or later in their life, specifically when put into risky or harmful cases. When these anxieties often feature no obvious spark, they develop into what is termed a panic attack, though they are likely to accompany instances of severe tension in our day-to-day lives (just like significant deadlines at the office or school).
If an individual gets constant anxiety attacks, commonly about each week or more, and with no specific cause or tense stimulus, the person has what is referred to as a panic disorder. They will often start to be concerned that they might have an anxiety attack at any moment. They worry that the standard warning signs (wooziness, rushing heart, trembling, excessive sweating, anxieties of suffering a heart attack or death) may spiral out of control and advance into a full-blown panic attack.
For this reason, they may start to keep a distance from circumstances where they think they might not be able to get away from should a panic attack arises. They may steer clear of crowded areas, driving a car in intense traffic, public transit, compact or claustrophobic places, and in intense cases even leaving the home. This is what we refer to as an agoraphobia panic disorder.
Once, lots of years back, I was in a accident and destroyed my car while going on a rather busy street in Phoenix, Arizona. I cannot forget the squealing wheels and the noise of crunching steel upon collision. Thankfully, I was physically good. However in the 2 or 3 weeks that followed, I started to get anxious when it came time to drive to the office, or near the end of my shift when I would head back to my house. Eventually, I was hanging out one Sunday with a group of friends and out of nowhere my hands began to feel sweaty, and I found myself breathing rapidly. Before long my arms started to seem numb as if they were just dangling dead at my side and I was feeling dizzy. My buddy, realizing something was going on, took me to the medical center. All of the lab tests revealed I was perfectly healthy.
I felt something very similar a few weeks later and began to question if the medical doctors at the hospital mysteriously forgot something when they were examining me. I started to feel uncomfortable about to the places where my attacks had happened. I had one or two more anxiety attacks and began to get worried when the next would happen. Imagine if it took place on the freeway? What if my car spun out of control and crashed into somebody? I fast could barely push myself to leave the home even for important things such as grocery shopping. I had a full-blown agoraphobia panic disorder.
I thought I must be going mad! I was stuck in my life and I was drifting away from good friends since I was so afraid of heading out and maybe having agoraphobia panic attacks. I was fearful if I left my home, I would suffer an anxiety attack. And if I got a panic episode, I could be rendered susceptible and fully at the mercy of the location I might be in and also the people that might be out there.
I presumed that I would be at less risk in the house where I would not have to worry about experiencing agoraphobia panic attacks in risky circumstances like driving or experience the humiliation of going insane” in public.
What I’ve consequently come to understand, is that my life was collapsing in on me and getting to be smaller and smaller due to the thinking that there was a “protected zone.” In other words, I believed that I could be safe at home and somehow walking outside, I might somehow be less protected. I now realize that there actually is no safe zone. Sitting in my home is equally safe as walking down a packed street. I’ve suffered from panic attacks in loads of situations and in various different locations, and I am still living at well. If left to themselves each one of my agoraphobia panic attacks would’ve passed by itself even without professional attention. I might have even had one out in the woods and although it might be horrific, it would inevitably go away and I would be fully alright-with no treatment, no psychologists, and no security anywhere to be found.
How about you? Even following your most severe agoraphobia panic attacks, where you were definitely sure you were about to perish, aren’t you still here perfectly fine?
Sure, it is recommended seek medical care if you’re experiencing a severe physical problem like an asthma episode, diabetic issues, or other sorts of substantial physical illness, but no doctor on earth will notify you that you would be more safer at home than at the store or the mall. There isn’t any safe zone.
Trust me I’ve had the experience and I have had to get over all the dread and anxiety. If you can fully grasp this idea, and come to feel it on a gut level, it will improve how you begin to see the world and it can grant you back your freedom. This little idea was indeed life-transforming after I grasped it deep down inside. It started the process that helped me get my agoraphobia panic attacks under control by altering just how I viewed the world.
I know you can get back on your feet. Why? Mainly because I got over it, myself. Nowadays, I am a firm advocate in the notion that what one individual can do, someone else can do. The road will not be the exact same, however, you can get control of your life as well.
If you found this article helpful and you want to learn more ways to deal with and manage agoraphobia, check out Agoraphobia Anxiety Disorder and Panic Attacks and Agoraphobia.