Complete Idiot's Guide to Conquering Fear and Anxiety

Page 135They seek out all night supermarkets or convenience stores for their shopping to avoid standing in line.If they must be confined, as when taking public transportation, or when in a dentist's or hairdresser's chair, they try to have a protective companion accompanythem.They devise legitimate excuses for escape should they have a panic attack­a headache, sick stomach, need to make a phone call, worry about a sick child.Though avoidance provides relief from panic, this relief comes at a cost: avoidance furthers avoidance behavior until it quickly dominates your life and intensifies youragoraphobia. The number of "safe zones," the places you can visit in relative comfort, narrow. Some, like Alicia, become increasingly imprisoned within their ownhomes (real and psychological).The following is the common sequence of agoraphobia:1. Panic attack occurs out of nowhere2. Anticipatory anxiety of another attack3. Overreaction to bodily cues that can intensify into a panic attack4. Avoidance of panic provoking situations5. Relief reinforces avoidance6. Narrowing of the number of "safe places"7. Sufferer becomes houseboundFrom Staying Close to Home to Staying HomeIn some people, agoraphobia is so strong they haven't left their houses for ten, twenty, thirty years. In her book Triumph Over Fear, Jerilyn Ross reports of anagoraphobic woman that she successfully treated in 1978, who had not been out of the house since 1948! Some don't even open the door, lest terror fly in.But not all agoraphobics become buried in their own digs. In fact, people can live relatively normal lives, with only mild avoidance, and with people unaware that theyare agoraphobic. People go to work but may need to be accompanied to go shopping, to the movies, or to drive in a car on the highway. Often the illness fluctuates:During milder periods, you feel greater freedom of movement and especially when with a trusted companion.