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Submenu : Understanding Agoraphobia

How it can all start

Let us assume that a middle-aged man loses his wife, and is later made redundant. Perhaps, some time later, to cheer himself up, he goes off to watch a local football match. During the match, in amongst the huge crowd of people, what with the noise, and the excitement, he unconsciously starts to think of his plight, or his circumstances. He feels anxious, starts to sweat, and becomes terrified.

He starts to get a panic attack, but doesn't know what is happening to him. He feels uncomfortable in the crowd, so he gets up to leave, and rushes home. As he rushes home, he uses up the adrenalin, and the glucose, (energy) so that by the time he manages to get back home, take off his coat, and slump in his chair, he has become more relaxed and comfortable, and no longer feels panic stricken.

He feels safe. However ... What his mind and body have learnt, is, that being in a crowd, feeling alone or powerless, negative thoughts, or poor self esteem... whatever;... he has set himself up to fail, again and again. His mind has convinced him that in a certain set of circumstances, he will feel a great deal of discomfort. He thinks he will always react like that, and that he is always going to Feel that way. He has now set himself up for further panic attacks, phobia and failure.

Some weeks, or months later, (perhaps he feels he needs to treat himself again?) our friend thinks about going back to the football match. He decides to go; only to find that, as he is putting on his coat to go out, he unconsciously remembers what happened to him the last time he was there. He begins the following symptoms:- sweating, dry mouth, wanting to rush to the toilet. uncontrollable shaking, etc. and the need to get out and run to a safe place. (all symptoms of adrenaline being pumped into the body.) In effect he is now reinforcing in his own mind that he is frightened of going out, or being near crowds, or being away from his home or being outdoors.

Sound Familiar ? So, to recap very simply:-
If you are in a frightening situation, and you are unable to cope with it, then it can develop into a full blown panic attack along with associations...such as birds, bats, snakes, heights etc. Fear triggers fear. If you are frightened, and are in a 'situation', then a similar set of circumstances can then make you feel very uncomfortable. The discomfort can turn into fear and the fear can result in a phobia.

You can also suffer with mental reminders which "trigger" anxiety.

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