r/Agoraphobia

Five days in a row, I have gotten outside and gone for a walk.

Getting Outside Challenge, getting outside everyday. One foot in the front of the other and repeat.

The moment I start to get ready to go for my walk, my body knows. Open the front door and then close it, that feeling hit, and then the sweating and dry mouth. Today the walk was okay and Everytime my body said stop, I kept going.

Five days in a row

You Can Do it 💪

https://www.scribd.com/document/895129897/knuts2015

This study more or less proves that the more time you spend outside, the better, and that recovery speed is directly connected to how much effort you put in

While these specific people were using antidepressants and were not compared to people who do not, it's very well established that antidepressants will not cure agoraphobia and even this paper highlights that the fact they take medications is unlikely to influence the results much

It's quite funny to think about the fact that pretty much any standard agoraphobe without comorbidities could be more or less cured in like 1 month maybe even less

I walked outside a few houses away. I got anxious and walked back. For me I usually can't even make it out of the front door. Does this still count as progress? I get nervous when I see cars because of my PTSD from being robbed by someone with a car. When I saw a car I turned around and went back home. Also any tips for getting the courage to just do it?

Hello

I first started sending in fit notes in March of 2024. Because I was late sending in a fit note (no gaps) two months after application, they cancelled it.
Being mentally ill, I asked about it a few times, no answers, i left it. Now an organisation is helping me fill the form out. Will it be backdated?

Thanks

I just dont get it there are so many symptoms that cant be explained . The only positive about this condition if any is that it exposes people for who they are .

I recently started CBT with a wonderful therapist (psychologist). I only had two sessions so far, but I rarely have experienced such empathy in a therapist. It was expensive, though, so I had to stop smoking in order to be able to afford it.

My former psychiatrist never gave me my diagnosis, despite me asking at least 7 times. It's also illegal, refusing to disclose it to the patient, at least in my country. They only kept saying that agoraphobia is just a symptom, and I had "something way worse" (their words).

I am not a fan of self diagnosis, but I believe I have C-PTSD, which led to hypervigilance and eventually to agoraphobia. I coped with overintellectualizing my life, overanalyzing thought patterns and not showing emotions, as I would constantly be chastised, ridiculed, or ignored for being emotional since my early childhood.

Yesterday, I saw a video on Instagram from a C-PTSD specialist. They say that when it comes to treating C-PTSD, CBT is at best unhelpful, at worse dangerous. But then, CBT is what is generally prescribed for agoraphobia.

How can I manage this catch 22? Should I keep my CBT therapist and focus mainly on the agoraphobia, or should I avoid it, because CBT apparently worsens the overintellectualization by working on thoughts and patterns, contributing to staying emotionally numb, and feeding the C-PTSD dissociation?

What is your experience with CBT? Did more emotion-oriented therapies work better instead?

Anyway, I have an appointment tomorrow with my therapist, and I am planning to bring this topic up to them.

Hello guys - in 2024 I flew back to my home country for over 24 hours. I got so sick, I couldn’t properly eat and function for 5 days. The anxiety and panic just was too much.

I tried to expose myself after that for just a couple of hours flights, ended up driving the way back for how badly I was.

In January 2027 I have to attend a friend’s wedding which is about 3 hours flight. If we drive, it’s a 24 hours drive (so obviously over 2 days, Australia for you). I would like yo visit my family too in June 2027. I want a better solution please.

I HATE BENZOS, I don’t know how they work for others; for me, my brain starts overthinking while my body is numb. That makes everything worse. The only thing that has worked is alrpozolam with a very small dosage. However, it’s all just temporarily. My partner wants me to try some 🍄 or other similar drug$ that are being patented in the world (Australia has trials, but they are not open to the public, correct me if I am wrong).

What treatment have you done that really worked for you? I AM DRIVING!!!! Something I haven’t done in over 7 years and I am so proud of myself. Please share your experience.

To start, I’d like to say that this affliction has followed me since I was about 10 or so and I have always known it, but I’ve only recently realized how big of a fear it is.

throughout my life, there has been a pattern that when I’m alone in a space, I am very productive and operate well. I have fun, feel emotions, do chores, and pursue things I enjoy (so much that if I’m not careful I will rarely leave my house resulting in eventual misery). However as soon as another person enters the space, particularly someone close to me like my family, i become inoperable. I feel very little real emotion, I do very little outside of tasks that could be easily done privately in an armchair and absolutely cannot bring myself to do the things that need to be done, even crucial things like laundry or making food. It’s like I’m overwhelmed by a nameless fear.

for one example, as a teen I once decided that i needed to start working out. My parents were very supportive of that idea and encouraged me to do it. The only issue was that our area to lift weights was right next to the tv that everyone was watching that evening. I started my workout with much anxiety then eventually slipped into another room and cried intensely (muffled of course)

right now I am living in an apartment with my brother who is out most of the time due to work. I was looking forward to today because i thought he was going to my parents for the weekend, but it turns out that he’s staying here and has no plans to leave the apartment. I was devastated to hear this. The apartment is a mess and i planned on cleaning, but now i know that the day will be spent bed rotting. My recently ex-girlfriend suggested we go see a fireworks show so I can get out of the apartment but now I’m caught between not existing for a day and doing something that I probably shouldn’t.

i don’t know why I feel like this. I love my family and they’ve been very supportive of me (to an extent which I can go into if we think it’s prevalent). But whenever I’m wanting to do something I feel like a heavy tarp is laid over me whenever they are around and i can’t do anything but wish they’d go away so I can enjoy the day. I don’t feel like this in public places around strangers. I suppose i would get a similar feeling around friends, but typically when I’m around friends, that’s all I have planned for that time. this dynamic in my life even made it hard to be in a relationship (recently ended) because I felt as though I couldnt exist around her.

if anyone knows what this could be or how to help i would greatly appreciate it. I’ll be responding to comments today and tomorrow probably

Its been more than 2 years since i got this thing But due to college and other stuff i was not able to give my full attention to this illness,not i want to get rid of this thing for good so anyone why had fully recovered i mean FULLY (he/she may have a panic attack but handle it like a normal person)and gotten rid of the anxiety also Give me every advice u have any advice small bigg anything you observed BUT NOT ANY COPING MECHANISM Thank you

I was recorded having a panic attack in public while trying to do exposure therapy. Now that I know I got recorded it's killing me that everyone I used to know saw me in this vulnerable position.

i honestly just need to vent about this. yesterday and today it’s been 100+ degrees and last night we lost power, and now it seems we won’t have it back for days. i honestly want to cry. i am so tired and can’t sleep because the heat and just struggling to sleep in general. we just got a new air conditioner literally yesterday after years of struggling in the heat and lost power a few hours later. (unrelated to the AC, thousands of people are out because the storms.) my electronics are almost dead so i’ll literally just be sitting in darkness, it’s 80 degrees in here now and it isn’t even hitting the peak until way later. has anyone dealt with anything similar or have any advice? 😭

I’ve been on mirtazapine 30 mg for about 2 months, and I’ve been taking Effexor XR 37.5 mg for a month. I haven’t noticed any improvement yet, but I also haven’t had any side effects. I’m about to increase to 75 mg and I’m really hoping it starts helping.

Since my panic attacks started, I’ve become pretty agoraphobic and hardly want to leave the house. The depression has been hitting hard, and my biggest fear is that I’ll be like this forever. I keep thinking about how I’m going to have to go back to driving, going places, and just doing life on my own. The strange part is that I already did all of those things before the panic attacks. I just can’t seem to convince my brain of that now.

Has anyone else been in a similar situation and eventually gotten better with Effexor or over time? I could really use some encouragement.

Today is day four of Getting Outside Challenge.

It's a good day for me because today is normally me staying inside and mostly sleeping and playing my Xbox. Though today I thought about it and said to myself to get up and get outside, and I did.

I even did a different walk today, about 2200 steps. I feel good that I got out today.

You Can Do it 💪

I rarely leave the house unless I'm going to appointments and I'm always in bed. I've been so deconditioned to the point where I’m scared I'll never recover from the symptoms I've gained in this state. High heart rate without arrhythmia (sinus tachycardia), muscle fatigue, momentarily blacking out when standing up (even worse when it's too fast), tremors and losing the ability to balance (especially when intentionally trying). This obviously could be more than just deconditioning, but I've not been moving much, so I’m pretty sure this is a huge factor in why.

Recently I've not been able to sweat, despite the warm weather. Everything I read points to an autoimmune disorder, but my agoraphobia makes me scared to have it investigated.

I’m in my 20s ffs, why do I have to be so mentally ill that I’m now getting physical symptoms?

39F, sorry for the typos and bad grammar, as English is not my first language. I have suffered from anxiety from as far as I can remember. I am pretty sure I have C-PTSD due to abuse during my childhood (sexual abuse from half-brother; enabling mother; narcissistic, indifferent, cold as ice father). They are divorced and live far away. We barely text, a few times a month, no phone calls, they can't be bothered.

I always felt like an "undercover" agoraphobic holding on to dear life. As I was younger, I tried to mask and keep going to uni, clubs, coffee shops, concerts, sports events, and even traveling solo; but still doing so with this everlasting feeling of imminent doom, and that becoming housebound was after all inevitable. After my studies, I struggled with keeping jobs and friendships.

Now, I have been housebound since 2024, and I lost my online job to AI. I live in a tiny one room apartment, no garden, and I have no chances of getting something bigger. My city is way too expensive and I cannot live in the countryside, as I don't drive. I can go outside only if someone is with me.

I have a boyfriend since 2023, and I am sure that made me feel like I could lean on him and unconsciously, I gradually lost my autonomy. He is an artist, a struggling one since Covid; so he basically doesn't work, vapes, and play phone games all day long. He has his apartment, but when he is at my place, I cannot stand us being unemployed and lacking of purpose any longer.

I know that it sounds judgemental, but it feels like Groundhog Day, living in a loop of nothingness. Thinking that this could be our future forever and ever makes me extremely anxious and has reinforced my agoraphobia. Sometimes, I hide on the bathroom just to have some space. He then leaves, saying I will eventually dump him. And then I am trapped, because I cannot go grocery shopping, so I can spend days without eating properly. He offers to bring me food, but I refuse, I don't want our relationship to be this way. I have to face the agoraphobia, and I don't want to be pampered or taken care of, just because I cannot get a grip.

I feel bad because I loved the active man that I met at the beginning, and I was myself an active person, going to museums, concerts, working and being the founder of an association, while constantly suffering in silence. Now I can't help myself but think that we have become losers. He is fine with this situation, but I feel useless and stuck, and I am starting to have fits of anger, something I have never experienced before. I scream in pillows or hit myself, and that has started to terrify him. I feel very sorry, but I feel so stuck, I am starting to have very dark ideas. I have a terrible relationship with my psychiatrist, but it's free, and I cannot afford full-price therapy.

The only people I talk to are the ones at hotlines in order to vent. I cannot vent to AI or to the 2/3 friends I have left, they live far away and I am too afraid to lose them by being negative. I am fairly new to online relationships and feel clumsy and awkward about it.

I am browsing this subreddit for similar experiences and some recovery stories. I did often CBT exercises, and it never really worked, as I pathologically am completely immune to the feeling of pride. Even when I went to live in Berlin by myself for 3 months, I felt deep shame each time I had to cancel plans. I do not remember a day in life when I didn't experience a burning shame. My whole life has been canceling plans on repeat, losing jobs, and seeing my acquaintances fade away. I do not have dreams anymore, I feel like this is purgatory.

Thank God for the World Cup and later the Tour de France; at least it gives me a sense of escapism and a reason to feel less shameful being homebound in front of my TV. Thank God for knitting and crocheting as well. It's the only thing keeping me somehow afloat. And language learning, maybe I could talk to foreigners without going outside and traveling metaphorically speaking.

I feel really ashamed posting this and thought of deleting it multiple times; but maybe posting it is somehow a first step to at least own that shame. Thank you for your patience if you have made it so far.

My first one was bad, I had to change my dr and it was much better but not what I expected to be.
So now I’m being recommended a great therapist but she’s quite pricy.

HiHi everyone! 👋👋

I help moderate a mental health Discord server specifically for people with agoraphobia, and it’s been a lot easier connecting with others who already get it.

Whether you’re housebound, able to get out sometimes, or somewhere in between, it’s okay to still be struggling 💙 you don’t have to justify or explain yourself.

The community is very active and supportive 🌱

🎬 We watch movies and TV shows together almost every day

🎮 Play alot of different games in VC every day

💬 There are also dedicated channels where you can share your hobbies, wins, vent, or ask for advice and support related to agoraphobia/Mental Health!

If you’re interested, here’s the invite link 🔗✨️ (I've heard that the link can be buggy so if it doesn't work please feel free to reach out to me on here and I can directly invite you through discord!!)

https://discord.gg/catchmeinside

There’s a short application to keep bots out, and a moderator is usually around to approve entries pretty quickly!! 🌺❤️🫂i

I’m really struggling in trying to find the point in getting better here.

I don’t know how many people will relate to this, because I have OCD as well as Agoraphobia; and for me they are very closely related.

Every SINGLE time I have gone out this year, someone has reinforced my fear of going outside.

The other day when I was taking the bus, a very overweight man sat next to me and put his arm around the back of my chair. He smelt so disgusting I genuinely couldn’t breathe. Then, when it was my stop and I had to squeeze past him, he moved his hand to brush his fingers along my thigh.

When I got home I scrubbed at my thigh in the shower until I bled.

I know there are weirdos everywhere and it’s not personal, and that being a woman makes me more of a target, but that doesn’t comfort me. Again, things like this happen every time I go outside.

My OCD says; if this happens everytime I go out, and if I was someone who went outside every day. By law of probability, I would eventually find myself in a situation like that but with someone much more dangerous.

I have also been stalked before, I won’t go into too much detail, but everything is fine now and i’m not worried about him stalking me again.

One would think it should comfort me, that the worst case scenario has happened and everything was fine.

But I just can’t help myself from thinking; I don’t go outside at all, but even so I still got stalked, something worse will happen if I increase my odds.

I don’t know if I want to get better if i’m right.

If anyone else has had a similar mindset, how did you deal with it?

stuck with my family this summer and they make me feel horrible. all of my friends are too busy and never ask me to hangout. i feel too embarrassed to ask them to hang out because im always the one asking. and i cant go out by myself because i get horribly anxious. i feel awful. i wanted to have a good summer.

i am on, no joke, my third migraine in two weeks. the day i made my appointment was the second - and last - day i unknowingly had in-between migraines two and three. i was really hoping last night it'd be totally gone by today but unfortunately it wasn't. i still woke up with a bit of a head + neck ache.

so, i took some tylenol with breakfast and went anyway :D

the hair stylist(?) was so so nice and i finally got my hair cut the way i've been wanting it cut for years. the woman i was seeing before is my mom's hair stylist and she's older so i think she didn't know how to do a haircut like i was wanting. but this woman was amazing and even gave me a hug after and told me it was so nice to meet me :')

basically it went perfectly! i panicked a little at a couple points but it was very quick and i just sat through it and kept talking :D really proud of myself, and i am going to make sure i go back regularly for bang trims since she only charges $12 for them!!!