I am not on my own, am I?

Even though I have been for counselling for over a year now, the word "agoraphobia" hasn't actually been used, but I know that it's what I am plagued with. I feel that I always need to have a "safe escape route" available to me at all times. This means that although not housebound, I feel that I cannot go more than a few miles from home before I begin to get knotted up and start looking for reasons to return home. This must be in my own car. If I get stuck in traffic I begin to feel anxiety, and I find that if I walk more than, say, half a mile from the car, I begin to keep checking my anxiety status mentally, even though I try not to. It has actually got worse for me since I began therapy, we tried the graded exposure method, and I think that might have had a negative effect. Last winter I suddenly found that I was struggling to get anywhere near the places I felt comfortable with, and have now slipped backwards and lost a lot of ground. Travelling to work in the morning is a problem, and although I can do the journey effortlessly in the evening, I find it a stressful trip in the mornings. Rain seems to make driving even worse. When it snows I find that I feel trapped, as I worry that the roads will become blocked, and medical aid would be unavailable.
I know I am not alone here, as reading a few of the other posts have told me, but I do feel that the problem I have is running away with itself.

Heya Sir


There must be a source to this problem, but only you can figure that out by examining your own life. You just need to find the time during your day to stop... ...and then think about what the hell is happening to you. It's possible to trace problems back to a source.


I think the Avoidant Personality Disorder section might interest you:

http://www.psychforums.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=137