Did you ever experience a fear in social situations? Anxiety?

Anxiety disorders classically include generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, agoraphobia, specific phobia, social phobia, acute stress disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Some authors also describe: anxiety disorders due to general medical conditions, substance-induced anxiety disorders, adjustment disorders with anxious features, and the residual category of anxiety disorder not otherwise specified.

Anxiety disorders are common and widespread across all human cultures.

Agoraphobia is a fear of having of having panic attacks while being in certain locations. “Agora” means “market” and “phobia” means “fear”.

It is an anxiety disorder. Pervasive disorder. At the present time psychiatrists understand agoraphobia as anxiety about being in situations from which escape might be difficult such as traveling in a car, bus, or airplane and staying in crowded area. Also agoraphobia might be an avoidance of being alone outside of your home and other similar situations.

Most people, who develop agoraphobia, suffered an onset of another panic disorder previously.

Some authors say that as many as 1 in 20 people suffer agoraphobia in a year. I do not know if is really true (probably you need to count mild grades of the disorder too).

Laurie Lupold describes an agoraphobic experience:

"It's an Agoraphobic's World

     I think one of the main things I have learned about being agoraphobic
or am I defined social phobic, I really don't know. Perhaps that's an issue
for another newsletter. One thing I have learned is, baby steps. Baby steps
are very important. I don't really think you can get over your fear by
outright jumping into the middle of it without any form of escape. You have
to know there is that safety blanket, that way out, that security or your
going to be less likely to try.

     Another thing I find to be very important is rewarding yourself for
even the smallest accomplishments. For example, I went outside my home three
days last week. That is a remarkable accomplishment for me. Though my sister
did go with me on one of these outings I tended not to feel as comfortable
as in the past because we had not done it in quite some time so I still
consider it an achievement.

     I'm a little more at ease at the doctor's and therapist's office. I
have even caught myself more able to make eye contact from time to time.
These are all remarkable things for me. Now I don't know if I will be able
to do this tomorrow, next week, or several weeks from now but I know I make
what accomplishments I can when I am able to make them and continually pray
I will improve.

     Some of us improve without ever taking strides backwards. We head on a
road to recovery and the path is continually progressive but for others of
us, it's an uncertain path and all we can do is pick ourselves up, dust
ourselves off and try again.

 Some of you might find the idea of agoraphobia as imaginary. Afterall, people are just people how can anyone be so afraid? it really isn't a fairy tale. In fact, I had such a bad case of it that I would always get physically ill before going out.

 My heart felt like it was beating so fast it would beat right out of my chest at any moment. As you can imagine, this, would cause me to panic. The first thing you think is you're having a heart attack and going to die. Now you can see why learning to rethink your thoughts is important.

 If the panic progresses you will likely become sick to your stomach. I have always had a fear of vomiting so you can imagine, now things are made even worse. Then came the incovenience and embarassment of the diarrhea. Sometimes I'd end up missing an appointment because I'd have to run back to the toilet.

 Eventually I learned to take an anti-diarrheal medication before having to leave home but there are times when you have to leave home unexpectedly. This puts you in a most inconvenient position.

 Because you can't always predict the events of a day, I had to learn ways to deal with the illness prior to take medicine. One thing I found useful, and don't think I’m crazy, but coaching yourself is the most effective tool I found.

 When you panic your mind is saying, "I'm scared of....". What you need to do is tell yourself, "It's ok.....I’m not going to be sick....no one's gonna hurt me, etc." That type of thing is very helpful.

Controlling your breathing is also important. Quite honestly, I found that difficulty to do unless I said silently to myself, "Slow down your breathing...breathe in, breathe out, and so on". You see, it's all about training your mind. These things: rapid heart rate, quick breathing, cold sweats, and so on; are all natural responses to fear. As you can learn to read, write, or whatever; you can train your mind to decrease the fear and perhaps one day, it will disappear. "

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Tags:  Anxiety disorders generalized anxiety disorder panic disorder obsessive-compulsive disorder agoraphobia specific phobia social phobia acute stress disorder post-traumatic stress disorder

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