Are you Content with having your phobia?

[kashameets]

I read a lot of posts on here from people with phobias who are very unhappy and want to get better but hand on heart i dont really feel the same way

I have agoraphobia..social phobia and ocd but i feel very different about them..ocd i feel is an illness which i suffer from..its kind of attached to me but i feel like agoraphobia and social phobia are part of me..my personality just as much as loving all animals and being sarky is..i dont feel like its an illness that i need to make better or change

I have wondered for a while if i have Avoidant Personality Disorder and not agoraphobia and social phobia as i have been like this since i was a child and have no idea why
I do have days where i think wouldnt life be easier if i could go out on my own or days when i think why am i not like other people? but most the time i am content just being me
I am just starting treatment but to be honest i have no idea how it is going to work as just thinking about being able to go out on my own or not feeling scared makes me feel like i wont be being myself if i do that
I wondered if anyone else feels like that?

[Spy]

Hi Sara,

I think the longer you suffer with an illness the harder it is to seperate yourself from it, its natural to define yourself by your phobia's when they are a huge part of your life. If you get treatment and start to overcome your fears you will still be the same person, as people we always change grow and adapt but who we are fundamentally stays at the core. Change is scary...

Tc xx

[ajones473@yahoo.com]

I`m ok with being emetophobic, It`s the idea of throwing up that I can`t stand!

[Tessar]

hi kashameets - i'm definitely not Content with having phobias. one is spiders - i nearly got hypnotherapy for that earlier this year then a load of stuff kicked off that was more important. my other one (far worse) is emetophobia. that one is quite a handful. i was talking to my counsellor about it last week & also have confided in 2 colleagues this week about it. no-one's judged me; they have all been supportive. talking to them doesnt change my phobia but at least with my colleagues, they probably understand some of my behaviour that before might have seem a bit over the top.
i used to have social phobia but dealt with that. I say "dealt" - what i mean is i combated my fear, i faced it. ( have learned to live with it. now i can go out & not be self-obsessed. instead i practice putting my focus outside myself & am able to enjoy evenings out with friends or socialising with colleagues. its not always easy still but i wont let myself "go back there". i'm keeping on top of it with the skills i learne din CBT.
i can be like you; sometimes i crave attention from others & am desperate to be close to someone. other times i'm at the other extreme - - it wouldnt bother me to be on my own for a day. but underneath it all, i need others alot & couldnt live alone or without friends.
i think it's right to have the treatment. because when we are affected by phobias, they make our thinking distorted. it isnt until we are dealing with it & have a fresh perspective (from CBT or whatever means introduces us to a new way of thinking) that we begin to realise we are missing out on quite alot & that our phobias are controlling our lives & preventing us from experiencing enjoyable things. i heared a brilliant lyric recently "Never let your fear decide your fate"...... I keep that in mind when i feel like avoiding something or running away(avoidance is one of my coping methods but it's not really very constructive!).
i can relate to you saying "makes me feel like i wont be being myself if i do that". i know how that feels but i do believe you'll still be yourself. in fact, you'll be almost more like yourself. you can discover your "true self" when undergoing treatments like CBT. i'm much more natural now than i used to be. ok, at times i did wonder if my life would be ok if "i got better" (or stay better as the case is now). but it is worth the effort to get better & then do things to keep you better. at the moment i'm still applying skills i learned several years ago doing cbt. i congratulate you on starting treatment & look forward to hearing more.

[Rls1994]

Umm sometimes I am, but most of the time I certainly am not!

My stupid phobia has stopped me from doing most things, and gives me a lot of physical symptoms like nausea which I HATE so much.

Then in some way, I'm content with it because I rarely catch any colds and viruses anymore.