how do you explain agoraphobia to someone?

[emily67]

hey.

for those of you who are agoraphobic like myself, when someone asks you.. why are you agoraphobic?. what's making you anxious?. how do you respond to that.

it's always been a question i could never answer- i mean how can i explain a fear?

if you're scared of elevators for example and someone asks you why you are scared of elavators, you just don't know... you know you're afraid of them, but why

when someone emails me or asks me on a site what makes me agoraphobic, i've no ideas.. so what to know what you say in those types of situations

thank you x

[sial72]

I always say it's a fear of being in places or situations where I don't feel safe or I can't get away from easily. And when they say, but why don't you feel safe? I say because I feel so much anxiety that it feels as if I am going to die.
People kind of understand but they don't, because unless you have been through it you can't.
I have a friend who recently started having panic attacks and agoraphobia and she said to me one day: God!!! Now I know what you have been through for so many years!!

[MyNameIsTerry]

Hi Emily,

I guess it's the same for any anxiety disorder and like Sial says, they will never truly know. The same can be said for medical professionals, lets face it a doctor wouldn't presume to know what a broken ankle feels like on the basis of twisting an ankle in the past so how could they relate normal emotional distress to a disorder?

I've said before to people "if someone ran up to you with a knife and demanded your belongings how would you feel? Well thats me just brushing my teeth".

[ricardo]

Emily

What medication are you on. I believe you said you were bi polar and I guess you are very young as well, and that's really sad to read.

I know some people will say it's dated but try and read Claire Weekes "self help for your nerves" as a start.It is not all relevant but is an easy read.I would advise that before you get into the more technical and high brow stuff and countless links, that you often find published on here.

One step at a time.Good Luck.

[Ditapage]

I tell people imagine a tsunami was coming towards you and you felt like you couldn't run away, because that's how my body reacts to the most normal situation as the fight or flight system built in us is unable to differientate between real and imagined danger. I've had success with that because it has made people understand that I am not DOING this since a common, ignorant misconception is we are putting it on, faking it, etc.

[Idontwannago]

I liken it and panic disorder to a traumatic experience like a shark attack for instance. If a shark attacked you, you wouldnt want to go back to the water where it happened and you may have flashbacks of the event. I get flashbacks of my last big panic attack and am not going to where i had it.

Hope this helps

[panicface]

like someone encased your legs in concrete and dropped you in the ocean with a snorkel. Just at the point where the water fully covers your head by a foot of water, but where you can still use that snorkel.

then imagine that every wave that comes over fills up the snorkel and you have to blow out the water in order to keep getting air, while you're still under water freaking out, with no chance of ever getting out of that ocean.

that's what it feels like.