I have the same problem. I have to fly in a week's time and am afraid. I hope I will expose my panic and will let it kill me :) (and then it will stop):):):)
Hi!
I can relate to your problem because I've suffered from agoraphobia as well. Now I have slighter anxiety and phobia that means I have overcame agoraphobia and I am not suffering from it anymore.
Good news for you is that, looking at my experience, it is possible to overcome it. And, I think the program on this page really helps to overcome agoraphobia because it is designed (if I may say so) by little steps leading you further and further. Set up little goals and use baby steps!
Yes, I totally agree, EXPOSURE is not so easy (to say it in mild words :D) but it is worth it! I have fought almost all of my "dread spaces and situations" and now the biggest one comes- airplane.I am flying in 2 days. Guess what? I myself bought the ticket and noone pressed me to do that. Why did I do that? It's a part of an exposure work. Sometimes I feel paralysed because of fright that I have to fly and sometimes I think I will be able to handle it no matter what.
Here are some things for you to consider:
- What's important is to experience the discomfort and see that you can survive it without using typical avoidance techniques;
- To master the fear, you have to experience it, to get used to it;
- Anxiety doesn't lead to death, insanity or heart attacks. If you practice managing situations that make you nervous, the anxiety eventually goes away. It's that simple.
I am trying to keep these things in my mind before and while flying.
Wishing everybody good luck on his/her exposure work! :)
Fireman1...just some already known things to add
If you feel OK driving 6 miles away from home, next time drive 7 miles, next- 8, next- 9 etc. You know what I mean :)) Step by step :)
If you remember, I have been complaining that I have to fly in a short time and I am very worried and stressed and so on. Well, in this weekend I had a successful flight. I did not have any claustrophobic or panic feeling in the airplane (only a bit nervous). It was a part of my exposure work. I am not very proud of my "hero work" because I took anti-anxiety medicine before. My doctor was not very happy when she heard that, she wanted me to rely on my own strength not on medicine. I took medicine because I felt REALLY bad before the flight, I had different anxious thoughts, was shaking and felt like I am going to vomit. But flying was successful and I am now at home. I am planning the next flight in few months, want to try to do it without any medicine, just ON MY OWN.
What I wanted to ask...as it is a kind of exposure work, does it count if I took anti-anxiety medicine? Or exposure must be done without any medicine?
As I've done some exposure work, I can move further to lesson 5 (lesson 4 told not to move futher if no exposure work has been done, so I've been quite obedient..lol)
I am satisfied with what I have done and I am going to continue this exposure to airplanes (although this exposure is quite expensive..lol).
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