Agoraphobia and Anxiety Panic Attacks

Many phobias, including agoraphobia, can be linked to panic attacks. If a person experiences a panic attack in certain situations, like I did, then you simply associate those circumstances as being the trigger for future panic attacks and we tend to avoid them at all cost!

For example, in my case I was in a busy grocery store when I had my first panic attack. I mentally, subconsciously linked the supermarket to the panic attack so the best way to avoid another one was to avoid all supermarkets. Not good logic I agree, but this is how a sufferer of panic attacks feels.

Having a panic attack in a public place generally leads to the person developing agoraphobia. Agoraphobia is the fear of open spaces or crowded areas such as supermarkets, malls or shopping centres, schools, trains,  etc. You deem your home as a safe place where you feel secure and in control and avoid other areas where you feel less in control in order to prevent more anxiety panic attacks.

There are different levels of agoraphobia; some sufferers are able to leave their safe place as long as they have someone with them. This gives them comfort and makes them feel less vulnerable in case of another panic attack. They feel shielded from the world.

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Others may be able to leave their home or safe place for short periods of time but still suffer some level of anxiety about having another panic attack; it is constantly on their minds. This anxiety makes them unable to relax and enjoy whatever they are doing. They often just rush out to get food or items they require and hurry home again to safety. When outside of  their comfort zone they are always on edge and subconsciously scanning faces and people to find someone that looks nice and friendly so that in the event of another panic attack they can be helped. Have you noticed yourself doing this? It becomes second nature.

This type of anxiety builds up over time and could lead to the severe form of agoraphobia where the person becomes totally housebound, scared to leave their safe haven for even a short period of time.  Sufferers have been known to spend many years totally house bound, some with very little contact with the outside world.

If they even attempt to leave their front door they can experience all the horrible and terrifying emotions of a full blown panic attack. Some may be able to put the garbage out under the cover of darkness, but on the whole they have built up this incredible fear of the outside world.

This is no way to lead your life! Whilst you feel totally vulnerable and your anxiety and stress levels are extremely high there is help available to you. This is not a hopeless situation even though it feels like it is to you at this point in time. In fact to receive help all you need is your computer and the courage to take that first step to anxiety panic attack freedom.

You can really begin to help yourself by examining your feelings and emotions. Keep a journal of your good days and bad days. What happened to make you feel good? What made your bad day bad?

Look at how you feel or relate to your surroundings. Every day, ask yourself why you feel safer at home.  Is it the fact you have a telephone handy so you can call for help if needed? If so then get a cell phone as this does the same thing. This should bring you some degree of comfort and security knowing you can call someone immediately if you need them should you venture outside.

In all honesty, your surroundings have nothing whatsoever to do with your panic attacks. In our minds we have created our safe area, there is absolutely no reason why a panic attack cannot happen at home as it did when you were away from home.

The reason panic attacks tend not to happen at home is because your level of anxiety at home is low because you 'feel' safer and therefore you yourself have lowered your anxiety levels making it less likely an attack will happen. Believe it or not, once you grasp this concept you are half way to recovery!

Anxiety creates the likelihood of our body over-reacting to situations. Once you gain control of your anxiety, panic attacks will become a thing of the past and you can begin recovering from agoraphobia.

Anxiety panic attacks are not life threatening, they are harmless in themselves. It is the build up of anxiety in your body that causes the release of adrenaline from your adrenal glands as your body reads the signs of your increasing anxiety as a need to fight or flight, or escape.

As soon as adrenaline starts pumping through your blood supply you get the immediate symptoms, emotionally and physically of a full blown panic attack. Your heart starts racing, you sweat, you may get chest pain, you feel disoriented, you have this urgent need to escape, you start shaking and on and on the symptoms go. If you get more anxious the symptoms will get worse as more adrenaline will be pumped into the blood stream.

Once you begin to get control over your emotions the feelings subside. The panic attack is over and you feel drained and exhausted. All these symptoms are purely from the release of adrenaline which is triggered by anxiety, not a location, place, person or thing. Just plain old anxiety.

Did you die from your last panic attack? No! Otherwise you wouldn't be here reading this now ;)  Did you get rushed to hospital for treatment? If so, did they do any form of life-saving treatments on you? No! They probably just gave you some medication to help you relax which made you feel better. You would have recovered without resorting to medication and that’s a proven fact.

Once you start looking back at your recent panic attacks and really analysing them you will come to realize that while they are a complete pain in the neck and make you feel dreadful, they are not in the least life threatening.

Understanding this concept takes time to fully absorb but once you realize there is no need for a safety net, everything that has happened to you is due to your anxiety levels, and nothing to do with the outside world then you can begin to recover from agoraphobia.

I know first-hand how terrifying a panic attack can be. I know how hard it is to push yourself out of your comfort zone. But if you want to truly be free from anxiety and panic attacks then you need to put some effort into your recovery. No one else can do this for you. You are the one that must take that first step.

I remember making myself go outside on many occasions, I trembled and quaked internally but I kept pushing myself to do things that I knew I needed to do in order to get better. And guess what? I didn’t die! In fact as long as I kept myself busy and preoccupied I really enjoyed it. This was amazing to me as I expected not to enjoy being outside, I expected my fears to overwhelm me. Admittedly there were times when I felt the fear welling up and I made a hasty retreat indoors but I still kept pushing forward. Baby steps every day.

I was sick and tired of being a prisoner in my own home. I learned that when I felt the onset of a panic attack I just breathed deeply and let it happen, naturally. I stopped fighting it and I stopped fleeing. Running away from the feelings made me a prisoner, so I decided to battle it head on, and guess what? It worked! I learned to control my reactions to a panic attack. It is your reactions that increase the level of your panic attacks.

Gaining control over situations is empowering! I am not going to lie and say I was instantly cured. No, it takes time and it takes persistence. But I did come out the victor and you can too.

Take action today; click here, with the help of this program you too can live free from anxiety panic attacks.

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