emma81
08-09-08, 21:19
Hi everyone - sorry if this is a bit long i will try and explain it as best i can.
I saw a new therapist today - a consultant-neuropsychologist to be exact. I was interested in something she said about agoraphobia which i guess could be applied to all phobias in general. Having seen psychiatrists, cpn's, gp's etc and they all have tried to treat the problem - me not leaving the house to go more than a few yards in 3 years - well this therapist wants to take a different approach (seeing as the exposure work i have had so far doesnt seem to be working).
So anyway her approach is that i have not to think i am agoraphobic. I am not scared of the outside world (her words not mine) - it wouldnt matter if i was 5 mins from the house or 5 hours from the house - the distance/place/environment is not the issue.
The panic attack is.
She said to me it will not help me to think of myself as having agoraphobia because what i actually have is a fear of having a panic attack. So it does not matter what my environment is or distance from home is because i dont fear that - i fear the panic. Any time i have been anywhere and felt anxious my natural instinct is to avoid that place in future incase that anxiety develops into a panic attack. So really it doesnt matter whether the fear is leaving the house, being sick, health problems, or anything else that people develop phobias about - because the actual phobia behind it all is panic attacks. She said that most if not all phobias become phobias because people experience such severe irrational terror and panic to something that they then avoid that because they never want to feel that panic again. So it is not the act of leaving the house or being sick or whatever that is the phobia - it is the result of doing so - the repeat of the terrifying panic attack. Does that make sense?
So this therapist has now decided that exposure work is not going to be based on seeing how far i can go or how long i can stay in a certain place - instead she is going to try and teach me how to deal with panic attacks, how to distract myself when i feel anxiety building up, how to calm myself when they occur and so on. Then it will not matter whether i am trying to go to the local supermarket or travelling on a plane to the other side of the world because i wont need to think oh god im getting further and further away from home - all i will need to think of is if i feel panicky how to calm it down again. Im kind of skeptical about this approach as i have done my own research through books and online on how to control a panic attack for 3 years now and it hasnt worked at all.
So i really just wondered what fellow phobia sufferers make of this approach?
Emma x
I saw a new therapist today - a consultant-neuropsychologist to be exact. I was interested in something she said about agoraphobia which i guess could be applied to all phobias in general. Having seen psychiatrists, cpn's, gp's etc and they all have tried to treat the problem - me not leaving the house to go more than a few yards in 3 years - well this therapist wants to take a different approach (seeing as the exposure work i have had so far doesnt seem to be working).
So anyway her approach is that i have not to think i am agoraphobic. I am not scared of the outside world (her words not mine) - it wouldnt matter if i was 5 mins from the house or 5 hours from the house - the distance/place/environment is not the issue.
The panic attack is.
She said to me it will not help me to think of myself as having agoraphobia because what i actually have is a fear of having a panic attack. So it does not matter what my environment is or distance from home is because i dont fear that - i fear the panic. Any time i have been anywhere and felt anxious my natural instinct is to avoid that place in future incase that anxiety develops into a panic attack. So really it doesnt matter whether the fear is leaving the house, being sick, health problems, or anything else that people develop phobias about - because the actual phobia behind it all is panic attacks. She said that most if not all phobias become phobias because people experience such severe irrational terror and panic to something that they then avoid that because they never want to feel that panic again. So it is not the act of leaving the house or being sick or whatever that is the phobia - it is the result of doing so - the repeat of the terrifying panic attack. Does that make sense?
So this therapist has now decided that exposure work is not going to be based on seeing how far i can go or how long i can stay in a certain place - instead she is going to try and teach me how to deal with panic attacks, how to distract myself when i feel anxiety building up, how to calm myself when they occur and so on. Then it will not matter whether i am trying to go to the local supermarket or travelling on a plane to the other side of the world because i wont need to think oh god im getting further and further away from home - all i will need to think of is if i feel panicky how to calm it down again. Im kind of skeptical about this approach as i have done my own research through books and online on how to control a panic attack for 3 years now and it hasnt worked at all.
So i really just wondered what fellow phobia sufferers make of this approach?
Emma x