Posted by zinya on June 21, 2003, at 13:46:30
In reply to Driving a problem?, posted by mercedes on June 21, 2003, at 4:16:05
hi Mercedes,
how exciting for you - will this be your first grandchild?
i quite empathize with your sense of agoraphobia... I've come to realize in recent weeks that i may have become agoraphobic at least to some degree myself during this depression... I don't feel panic about going out but i feel a sense of fatigue that takes over, sometimes in the throes of dressing to leave for somewhere and, if it's at all optional, i wind up deciding not to go, repeatedly. It is some sort of anxiety but kind of generalized...
It's a bit ironic to me cuz some years back my work led me to being aware of some research on agoraphobics and one thing i know is that a breakthrough point for some at least is realizing that the trigger for panic is actually the *anticipation* of panic. Meaning it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy once one believes that a panic attack is likely to be triggered by a certain setting...
Easier said than done, by far, but this means that if it's possible to deprogram one's first thoughts that an event might lead to panic, perhaps with a ready set of counter visualizations (like recall of pleasant past road trips? or of your envisioned grandchild) to draw on might help...
Wishing you a peaceful road trip - and maybe a diverse repertoire of tapes for any mood that might strike, from belting out some oldies but goodies all the way to more mellow stuff like Cher suggested (Enigma *is* great!) ...
hugs to you!,
zinya
poster:zinya
thread:13781
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030619/msgs/235860.html