I know it's a selfish thing to say, and really I wouldn't wish it on anyone, but sometimes I can't help wishing that everyone experienced panic/anxiety (esp when it leads to agoraphobia) at least once in their lives, then they would understand. I know it's not their fault, but as so many people on here have said, unless it's a physical injury people can see, they won't understand. There is still a large stigma attatched to this and many people do still believe it's a sign of weakness. Do they really think we would choose to be like this? And the hardest thing is, most of us know how to recover i.e change our way of thinking, keep facing our fears until they no longer scare us etc, but putting it into practise is harder than anyone can imagine. They think you can just say "right I'm not going to be scared anymore" and you are cured overnight. There is nothing worse than to be told you are getting worse, not better, when you are constantly battling your fears and keeping going, no matter how much it wears you down. I have to keep reminding myself, we are not the weak people - it's easy for them to do things without a second thought, as we all used to be able to, as it doesn't scare them. We are the strong people by constantly putting ourselves in situations which we know will scare us, that is true bravery.