solent
15-03-11, 15:13
Hi,
When I was nine years old I threw up on a school coach trip. It made a terrible mess and was hugely embarrassing, and gave me a massive fear of vomiting.
The trouble was that I threw up so infrequently (I'm 41 and have only thrown up twice that I can remember) that I have no idea what it feels like to be about to be sick.
So, as I developed through my teenage years I would get anxious that I was going to throw up, got panic attacks in my A level exams and missed so many university classes that I had to drop out.
Over the next twenty years or so I avoided any situation I was scared of, and gradually withdrew into my own world (I also had/have social phobias).
Fast forward to three years ago and all I did was go to work and go home again, and the journeys to and from work (by car) where often petrifying - looking back I have no idea how I coped with it.
Then something snapped, got in the car one day, got to the end of my road and decided there was no way I could carry on. That was the start of six months off work.
At the time that happened I contacted a therapist who I had earlier found through an internet search who did EFT and also did therapy over the phone.
He's been wonderfully patient with me (especially realising that I hate being told what to do and being set tasks), and was always willing to keep going over and over a problem area even when it seemed like there was no progress being made.
So, I made it back to work, initially just for a couple of hours in the afternoon. And my therapist worked on so many areas of my life, not just my fears but also delving back to childhood issues and problems with my relationship with my parents.
So, now I am back at work and functioning normally, I don't mind the drive to work. I feel generally relaxed (before I was wracked with tension and felt I could never just 'sit down').
I still have many areas to attack, in particular I have a fear of traffic jams which holds me back from driving further during the day, and I need to work on getting a social life. But I feel so much more confident, outgoing and generally enjoying life.
I just want to send a message going through similar problems to not give up and keep at it - thinks can and do get better.
Mike
When I was nine years old I threw up on a school coach trip. It made a terrible mess and was hugely embarrassing, and gave me a massive fear of vomiting.
The trouble was that I threw up so infrequently (I'm 41 and have only thrown up twice that I can remember) that I have no idea what it feels like to be about to be sick.
So, as I developed through my teenage years I would get anxious that I was going to throw up, got panic attacks in my A level exams and missed so many university classes that I had to drop out.
Over the next twenty years or so I avoided any situation I was scared of, and gradually withdrew into my own world (I also had/have social phobias).
Fast forward to three years ago and all I did was go to work and go home again, and the journeys to and from work (by car) where often petrifying - looking back I have no idea how I coped with it.
Then something snapped, got in the car one day, got to the end of my road and decided there was no way I could carry on. That was the start of six months off work.
At the time that happened I contacted a therapist who I had earlier found through an internet search who did EFT and also did therapy over the phone.
He's been wonderfully patient with me (especially realising that I hate being told what to do and being set tasks), and was always willing to keep going over and over a problem area even when it seemed like there was no progress being made.
So, I made it back to work, initially just for a couple of hours in the afternoon. And my therapist worked on so many areas of my life, not just my fears but also delving back to childhood issues and problems with my relationship with my parents.
So, now I am back at work and functioning normally, I don't mind the drive to work. I feel generally relaxed (before I was wracked with tension and felt I could never just 'sit down').
I still have many areas to attack, in particular I have a fear of traffic jams which holds me back from driving further during the day, and I need to work on getting a social life. But I feel so much more confident, outgoing and generally enjoying life.
I just want to send a message going through similar problems to not give up and keep at it - thinks can and do get better.
Mike