Making More Progress With CBT4panic

[AuntieMoosie]

Hello all,

I just wanted to give you a quick update on me.

I'm continuing to make progress using CBT4panic:)

I have been agoraphobic since 2004 and had been completely housebound, not going out anywhere:weep:

When I joined NMP I saw the CBT4panic programme and thought I'd give it a go, seeing a CBT therapist a couple of years ago did not work for me unfortunately.

I have been make steady progress:)

I had a trip which tested me to the limit this morning:ohmy: I had to go to my surgery for my B12 shot, I'm busy having the loading doses at the moment and had shot number 5 this morning.

It was heaving down with rain, I really don't like travelling in heavy rain, plus there was pools of water on the roads making driving pretty tough. Had to travel back through the town, on a one way system which is always really busy...I hate being caught in traffic, it makes me feel trapped:unsure:

So together with the heavy rain and bad traffic I had to manage my anxiety. It did keep coming up but I managed to get it back down again using the exercises given in CBT4panic:)

I do have to work really hard at it, it sometimes takes full concentration, I have to be aware of what my anxiety is doing so that I can control it.

I have to say that I didn't find the trip very pleasant, but the best thing about it and the positive outcome is that I DID DO IT! and I COPED WITH IT!:D

I would definitely recommend CBT4panic, I have found it much more helpful that I did when seeing a therapist. My advice to anyone, is give this a shot IT DOES WORK! It is hard work but it is soooo worth it, I'm starting to get my life back and that is the best things that has happened to me in such a long time:D

I will keep updating and letting you all know how I get on.

Anxiety and Panic = CAN BE BEATEN! WE CAN ALL DO IT!

:hugs::hugs::hugs:

[merlotsmum]

Well done :)

[MRS STRESS ED]

awh im so pleased for you thats great, i started cbt for panic in a group last week and i felt better after the first session ,so i hope it works for me like it did for you xxxxxxxxxxxxxx:D

[Annie0904]

Well done :yahoo: I am finding it helpful too :)

[AuntieMoosie]

Thank you all:D

Just hang in there and stick with it. I think the secret is don't rush yourself, take baby steps, get everyone around you to be really supportive and, above all, be kind to yourself. Don't beat yourself up if things don't go quite to plan, that's what I used to do:weep: I've now learned to think of it as just another experience :)

We're all on a learning curve and we'll get stronger as we go.

Sending you all hugs:bighug1::bighug1:

[Elle-Kay]

Great news Moosie, I'm pleased for you :D

I'm also using CBT4Panic, and making slow but steady progress. This time last year I was travelling a 120 mile round trip to work in the next county twice a week, without fear, so my goal is to get back to at least that with the help of CBT4Panic.

[AuntieMoosie]

Hello Elle,

Me too, just slow but steady progress.

Like you, I can remember when I could just get up in the morning, go to work, travel about the place on my own and not even think about it.

Then way back in 2004 I started getting panic attacks. I was nearing the end of an IT course and had just started doing my exams. The panic attacks only seemed to happen when I was out, so before I knew it, I had become housebound, not going anywhere full stop!

My goal is to get back to where I was, being able to just get up, go out without even thinking about it. I couldn't face going anywhere on my own yet though, I go with my daughter or partner.

I so hope that that we both reach our goals, I'm sure we will in the end.

Wishing us both luck. WE CAN DO IT :yesyes:

[xiand2]

I have also made progress with CBT4Panic, but I'm not endorsing it until I'm cured.

That's what it claims to do, and anything short of that is complete failure. Period.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I didn't sign up just to manage agoraphobia, I signed up to rid myself completely of agoraphobia.

It has taken me longer than expected and I'm getting very impatient.

AuntieMoosie, did you do your exposure work planned and gradually or in a more ad hoc manner (or both)?

[robinhall]

Hi xiand2

Sorry to hear that you are feeling frustrated with your progress - I know that feeling well.

Can I suggest that you go over the books and vidoes again and just make sure you are understanding everything at that level where it all 'clicks'.

And I remember that I had to see my own frustration at slow progress as perhaps another subtle form of resistance which ironically fuels the fight or flight response. It is very understandble to feel frustrated because we so desperately want to be free of panic - but desperation is a form of anxiety.

The thoughts and behaviours that fuel panic can be so subtle that we don't even realise we are doing them sometimes.

Can I ask if you have filled in the worksheets and so on and kept a regular panic diary and what sort of exposure work have you carried out - did you consider the interoceptive exposure for example - many people overlook that not realising how powerful it can be.

Please feel free to PM or email me with any questions and I will try my best to help

Keep at it - you will get there

Robin

[Laura123]

fantastic, well done for facing your fear, keep going!!! xxx

[AuntieMoosie]

Hello xiand2 it's nice to meet you hun:)

I know, and understand exactly what you're saying. I was like you in my desperation to get rid of anxiety a few years back and I tried to go out and failed miserably:weep: I gave up again, didn't even try any more, just accepted that that was going to be my life.

Then I became badly depressed and, to cut a long story short, had to really think about my life, I made up my mind that I had to do something. I didn't want to go back to see a therapist, the first one put my right off, didn't like her attitude with me. I then read and studied everything I possible could about anxiety/panic and agoraphobia, but none of it really helped me to be honest.

I then came across NMP and I found reading other peoples stories and reading the threads helped me, in as much as I knew I wasn't on my own and I particularly liked to read about progress that others were making. It was then that I found CBT4Panic:)

Now as regards my progress, firstly hun I just studied the programme, kept reading it over and over and it was making so much sense to me, I recognised myself in so much of it.

I found that my confidence started building up, I found the strength to tackle it.

I'm not awfully good at planning things, I'm getting better though. I'm having to learn not to let my anxiety talk me out of it. I'm learning as I go along to challenge my negative thoughts, bit by bit.

I do actually believe in fate, I unfortunately have just been diagnosed with a medical condition which means that I have to attend appointments quite frequently, so this kind of pushed me a lot and made me more determined to overcome my fears.

So you're right in that some of my outings are planned and some aren't. I've learned to accept the anxiety and panic and not fight it, if I get panic welling up, I just go with it now, I don't like it, but I manage it. I'm getting better at it as I go along.

Robin is 100% right in that "The thoughts and behaviours that fuel panic can be so subtle that we don't even realise we are doing them sometimes" and that's exactly what caught me out a few times during my trip out on Monday. I have to really think about what I'm thinking and what I'm doing, I do an awful lot of comfort stuff, which I'm trying to address now.

Hun I'm not saying that this is easy, in any way, shape or form, but it is working for me and I'm sure that it will work for you too. The way that you want to try it is your choice hun, we're all different and we will all do it in different ways, it doesn't matter, do whatever you find works for you.

I always take my CBT4panic hand book out with me, in fact in lives in my handbag!! along with my "don't panic, Ted is here" teddy bear:) Yes I know they're comfort things, but I still need them at the moment and that's fine, there are no hard and fast rules.

Hun try not to be too hard on yourself, I can feel your frustration in your post, and that is what I used to be like, I would get angry at myself all the time.

I know you said that you don't just want to be able to "manage" agoraphobia but you want to be "rid" of it, and I completely understand that but I've found that in order to be "rid" of it, you kind of have to manage it as it's when we learn to manage it that we learn to not be frightened, therefore we learn to think differently and behave differently and, with time, we progress.

I've still got a long way to go yet, I'm just taking it as it comes and doing it at my own pace.

Keep at it hun, and be kind to yourself:)

Keep letting us all know how you're going, I love to read how others are getting on and we can all learn something from each other and support each other.

I hope I've helped you a little, trying to write this post with heavy eyelids as I'm just off to bed!! got another trip out again tomorrow so I need a clear head for that.

All the very best to you hun.
:bighug1::bighug1::bighug1:

---------- Post added at 23:03 ---------- Previous post was at 23:00 ----------

Please forgive me, I'm forgetting my manners now lol

Laura thank you for your kind words, I appreciate them hun:)

Robin many thanks for your valuable input:)

Best wishes
:bighug1: