Get the Support You Need

Learn from thousands of users who have made their way through our courses. Need help getting started? Watch this short video.

today's top discussions:

logo

Challenging Worry

Ashley -> Health Educator

2024-04-20 11:42 PM

Depression Community

logo

Hello

Linda Q

2024-04-11 5:06 AM

Anxiety Community

logo

Addiction

Ashley -> Health Educator

2024-04-08 3:54 PM

Managing Drinking Community

This Month’s Leaders:

Most Supportive

Browse through 411.749 posts in 47.054 threads.

160,533 Members

Please welcome our newest members: BXAMUELLE CHRISTIEN, Heinz57, eggmegrolf, PearlCat19, mima

GGGRRRRRRRRRRR EXPOSURE WORK


17 years ago 0 8760 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Gal, Ok, so break this goal down into smaller pieces. * Visualize yourself driving, once you are comfortable with that, move on to... * Sitting in the car with someone. * Sitting in the car by yourself. * Sitting in the car with the engine running. * Pretending to drive with visualization. * Backing out of the driveway. * Driving a small distance and increasing that distance until you reach your final goal of driving your son to school. * Expand this goal to new further distances. In your session diary, just past your symptom tracker, you'll find a tip sheet for conducting exposure work. The key is to have a plan for trying to control anxiety before entering exposure work and tolerating some level of anxiety in exposure work in order to try to gain control. Please don't be too hard on yourself and start changing that thinking. You are not going to fail, you are learning about yourself and your anxiety. It is only through learning that success can be achieved. Isabella & Rowan, Keep your focus on your achievements. You will have ups and downs. This is normal. Tess, Here is the link for the post you're looking for: http://paniccenter.net/support/viewmessages.aspx?topic=3077&forum=10 If ever you need to find a post, use our search engine in the top right of the forum. (Icon that reads SEARCH MESSAGES). Type in a keyword like catastrophizing or your username and threads will appear. You can then bookmark them in your browser for future viewing. Hope I've answered some if not most of your questions. Please feel free to ask more as knowledge does give you power. Danielle __________________________ The PC Support Team
17 years ago 0 16 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Thanks Isabella for your kind words. I see you really understand what it means to do well and then have setbacks. I seem to have lost my optimism, and my glass is always half empty. I live at the other end of the world from you, in Argentina, medicine is good here and not as expensive as in the US or Canada. I have good kind doctors, but I'm not out of the woods. I found the Panic Center by sheer luck, surfing the web. I'm prone to catastrophizing, I wrote about this on the forum and got some very good advice from one of the support specialists. Problem is I can't find my post now or the answer, which I would like to read again, as it was very helpful. Let's keep our chins up!!!! :)
17 years ago 0 2101 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Isabella and Tess, I totally sympathise. I have that too. But i also agree with you Isabella that at least we have good days :)And that staying positive will get us through this. Wise words on your part. Thank you :) -Diva
17 years ago 0 207 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Tess, I can really relate to that. I have been doing good lately with getting out and going places and going to school but I still have those days when I have a bad panic attack and don't want to leave the house or feel like I am going crazy. It is very difficult to take and it is also extremely frustrating for me too. I try to tell myself that it took me 3 years to learn to be this way so it will take me 3 years to unlearn it so as long as I keep having more good days than bad, then I am doing good. But I totally understand what you are going through. It is hard to be optimistic when you do so good then the next day you can't even leave the house. Well...atleast we have some good days, right? It could always be worse I guess. Be strong, be positive(as much as one with panic attacks can be), and be hopeful that things will get better. ~Isabella~
17 years ago 0 16 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
HI Rowan and everybody, my problem is similar to Rowan's.- Once I've had a successful experience, then I have days of setbacks. Pretty difficult to deal with.
17 years ago 0 32 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Hi Gal. I am having trouble with exposure work too. My problem is that whenever I have a good experience, such as going out for some drinks last weekend and ending up staying up til 5am having a good time, I then get a week or so of real lows and even though I have managed to go out to a bar one day the next day I am petrified of going for a coffee with a close friend. All I can tell you is that if you keep on trying you do get some successes and these should encourage you. Whenever you feel to scared to do something imagine how great you will feel once you've got out and done it and you come back home. Sometimes its worth the terror you feel when you go out to just put up with it and get the reward of knowing you're strong and you can do it. xxx
17 years ago 0 71 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
hi all thanks for giving me some support here and for the ideas on how to get this started im trying on a daily basis to get some of the EXPOSURE WORK started my main thing is leaving the house with someone other then my husband and i dont drive my son will be going to school next year so i have set a goal to atleast drive to where he will be going to school and back home which is just a few miles from home but cant seem to break this goal down (just the thoughts of driving alone brings on some anxiety) thanks again trying to smile Gal
17 years ago 0 799 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Hi Gal, Fantastic advice from your fellow members! I would like to echo what they have said. Try to break down your goals into smaller ones. Step by step you can work on increasing them as you feel ready. You mentioned in your post you have already noticed some progress, ie. being able to go to dinner etc... Let these positive experiences give you the strength and encouragement to take on bigger challenges. But remember, you are in control - take it slow and work at your own pace. Keep us posted, we all learn from each other. Casey __________________________________ The Panic Center Support Team
17 years ago 0 11 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Hi Gal! Angel has right! I think you shouldn't be concentrated on failures. If you will fail it is not a tragedy. Next day you will try again right ? I agree with Angel that if you have trouble doing exposure, you should make smaller steps. But remember that you must feel some anxiety. It is important to feel drop of anxiety during exposure so there must be some fear at start. Good luck and let us know how you are doing! Milosz
17 years ago 0 375 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Hi Gal! Dont be so hard on yourself. Check out a recent post called "exposure", we give some tips on how to go about doing the exposure work. It may help you!!! Also, we all fear failure. But this program teaches you not to fear it. Failure does lead to success. However, it leads to success only if we keep trying no matter how many times we fall! We just gotta get back up and try again. I know its hard. I know that you may put urself down and not believe in your ability to do this. But dont' do that. Just believe that you can do this.....maybe not overnight.....but step by step you can do this. Maybe you should make your steps smaller. Ur goals should broken down so that they are acheivable!! Just have faith in yourself. Things will get better, I promise. So get out there and start the exposure work. No matter how mcuh anxiety you have, just remember that NOTHING CAN HAPPEN TO YOU!!! I'll pray for you!!! :)

Reading this thread: