Agoraphobia Panic Attacks

Agoraphobia panic attacks can occur when a person is afraid to be in places where they feel out of control, places that they feel are away from their own comfort zone, or places that they feel trapped.

In extreme cases, a person might even be afraid of leaving their own home.

Agoraphobia panic attacks occur when the person is exposed to the phobia itself. This can be compounded by the fear of a possible future attack.

Avoidance tendencies

Panic attacks can produce such fear when they occur, that people can start to develop avoidance tendencies.

Meaning, if they had a panic attack at a shopping mall, they become afraid of shopping malls, and avoid going there. They might also be afraid of people noticing that they're having a panic attack, and might want to avoid potential embarrassment.

This of course can make the panic attacks worse, because of anticipatory anxiety -- in this case, the fear of another panic attack.

If a person begins avoiding places where they've had a panic attack, there could eventually be fewer and fewer places where they feel safe to go.

It's important to mention that panic attacks can occur with or without agoraphobia.

Professional treatment

Talk to your doctor if you think you have agoraphobia or panic attacks.

Professional treatment is really a must. Seeking treatment through your doctor and therapist is definitely what you should do to seek help for this phobia and for panic disorder, and for agoraphobia panic attacks.

What started to happen in my own life was that I began fearing panic attacks, certain places that I had them, and I started to get the urge to avoid certain places.

While I started to get the urge to avoid certain places, I never did.

I was fortunate enough that I had spoken to my doctor about this and he discussed this with me, telling me that I should continue life as normal, as I had previous to experiencing panic attacks, or else I could risk making the situation worse.

I had even asked if I should take time off of work, and he said no. He said to keep working and living my life as usual.

What I did begin doing was carrying my prescribed anti-anxiety medication around with me to make me feel more safe. That behavior didn't help matters. That sort of protectionist behavior was my own way of telling myself that I feared panic attacks.

As I searched for a way to overcome panic attacks while following the treatment advice of my doctor, I began questioning whether or not panic attacks were dangerous.

The fear of an attack

My doctor had told me that panic attacks were not dangerous.

If panic attacks are not dangerous, why should I fear them?

Through a great deal of research, and through counseling, I learned to recognize that the fear of panic attacks was really what gave panic attacks their power. As soon as the fear of a panic attack was removed, the attack itself was somewhat defused.

Following that, I learned how to cope with a panic attack, learned to cope with stress better, learned to manage time more effectively, learned to relax, and practiced relaxation techniques daily.

Eventually I learned to welcome a panic attack. In other words I thought to myself, "bring it on". I simply no longer cared about panic attacks, and whether or not I got one in the future.

I think that in my own life seeking medical treatment, with some time with a professional therapist, as well as the application of common sense stress management principles, really helped lessen the impacts of panic attacks on my own life and eventually helped me overcome them completely.

More About Panic Disorder