Understanding Agoraphobia Panic Disorder
Agoraphobia panic disorder is a term used to to describe people with severe or chronic panic attacks. Most people will experience a feeling of fear and anxiety some time in their life, especially when placed in dangerous or threatening circumstances. When these fears seem to come with no clear trigger, they become what is called a panic attack, though they tend to follow periods of intense stress in our lives (such as important deadlines at work or school).
When a person seems to have frequent panic attacks, usually about once a week or more, and without a clear trigger or stressful stimulus, the person may have what is referred to as a panic disorder. They may begin to worry that they might have a panic attack at any given moment. They fret that any of the common symptoms (dizziness, racing heart, trembling, sweating, fears of having a heart attack or dying) may spiral out of control and escalate into a full-blown panic attack.
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Because of this, they might begin to avoid situations where they feel they may not be able to escape from should a panic attack occur. They may avoid crowds, driving in heavy traffic, public transit, small and enclosed spaces, and in extreme cases even leaving the house. This is what we call an agoraphobia panic disorder.
Once, a few years back, I was in a car accident and totaled my car while driving down a busy street in Phoenix, Arizona. I remember the screeching brakes and the sound of crunching metal upon impact. Fortunately, I was physically fine. But in the weeks that followed, I began to feel uneasy when it came time to drive to work, or at the end of the day when I would drive back home. One day, I found myself at lunch one weekend with a few friends and out of the blue my palms started feeling sweaty, and I started breathing quickly. Soon my arms started to feel numb like they were asleep and I felt dizzy. My friend, noticing something was wrong, took me to the hospital. All the tests showed I was completely healthy.
I experienced something similar a few weeks later and began to wonder if the doctors at the hospital somehow missed something when they were testing me. I started to feel uncomfortable going to the places where my attacks had occurred. I had a few more panic attacks and began to worry when the next one would occur. What if it was on the freeway? What if I lost control of my car and crashed into someone? I soon could barely bring myself to leave the house even for essential things like buy groceries. I had a full-on agoraphobia panic disorder.
To find out how I began my recovery from agoraphobia panic disorder, read agoraphobia panic attacks (page 2).
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