Hey All fellow agoraphobia sufferers. My name is Ian. Been a life long sufferer and last year almost lost my family due to my avoidance, couldn’t leave the house and found myself in debt. My wife helped me to reach out and start my road to recovery. It’s only been 2 months but my life is feeling much more hopeful now. I am educating myself on agoraphobia and working with a therapist doing CBT. I also enrolled back into college courses to finish out my degree. As part of my recovery process I am trying to be more sociable and open about my experiences. Also share and help others who have been dealing with much of the same symptoms. It’s weird that 3 or 4 months ago I felt so alone and as if no one else ever had or experienced these same symptoms. Now I realize how long it has been an issue in human history and don’t feel as overwhelmed and alone. I wish everyone the best free life possible. Thank you for reading this.
Hi, good to hear your story. I've struggled worse the last 10yrs of life vs before that time. Although it was prob more zig-zag when trauma kicked up. As these yrs click by it becomes harder and harder due to job loss and covid. The Isolation was...a LOT. Recently, the loneliness has been increased from changes both family, social and moving from the area near a few friends I had.
I don't know if theres a name for me having a rough time keeping up with way too many 'maintenance-type' of medical dental appts. They just start snowballing -very overwhelming when your psysicality all falls apart at once! The cost ends up being an excuse to me to not go as well.
Congrats on taking big steps to address your mental health especially enrolling back into college courses.
@Littlesis7
Thank you reading my story and replying, it has been helpful to know I’m not alone with these symptoms and circumstances. And I can relate to the job loss and Covid , trust me , quit my job during Covid due to panic attacks , I was doing maintenance and found I couldn’t even enter into people’s apartments without feeling like I was going to be robbed or shot due to my thoughts. I quit that job after I had worked hard there for 2 years to start a job in a warehouse because I thought the job was the issue, well it wasn’t. I continued that pattern until last thanksgiving when I left the last job after about 6 different jobs in 8 months and i felt like a complete failure. My family was giving up on me and told me that if I don’t get help I’ll be alone. It was hard because I felt overwhelmed and unsure where to start or who to reach out to for help. Finally after about a month of calling various places got into a therapy program that specializes in CBT. It’s only been 2 months but I feel my confidence and feelings of self worth returning , I also started reading this book called Unagoraphobic , the author suffered with his condition for over 30 years so it has been really really helpful reading his struggles and techniques to overcome the same obstacles. I also understand the isolation, my best friend died the beginning of last year and that was extremely difficult to cope with and then to want to try to open myself up to find new friends dealing with such a loss was hard , I was being distant from every one and every thing and that was the opposite of what I should’ve done. And i also understand what you mean about the appointments, that was very overwhelming for me at first , now it’s just making sure I have dates in order. I had to read some time management books because I didn’t have any structure to my days or life so that helps with the appointments but at first I had my family help to remind me so if I forgot or try to say I forgot they would remind me and I would have to go or if not my thoughts would be so negative they would feel worse than going to the actual appointment. A big thing that has helped me through the early stages was the support system, family , friends, doctors, animals. They really helped me keep focused on why I’m trying to change when I forget or feel unsure or just feel like resorting back to my phobia because it’s safer than facing the unknown or so I use to think. You can always reach out to me and I will help too, I know how hard it is , I’ve had my ups and downs since around middle school. Just don’t give up it’s your life and you can make the most of it and find happiness and freedom. Thank you for your congratulations