False msafiri 103

False msafiri WELLBEING 104 Attacking agoraphobia Melissa Murphy is an ex- agoraphobia sufferer and the author of the forthcoming book, Overcoming Agoraphobia ( www. overcomingagoraphobia. co. uk). Murphy suffered from the condition in her early twenties. Things got so bad that she was afraid to leave her home in case she had a panic attack: “ My whole life was affected, I couldn’t go to the supermarket, work or even go out for dinner with friends. “ I couldn’t bear to be in any situation where I might panic and look stupid in front of other people. I was really worried that others would think I was weird. At the same time I was totally freaked out about the horrible physical sensations of anxiety my body was swamped with.” Murphy used a combination of techniques – including psychotherapy and medication – to overcome her phobia. She says: “ It’s possible for anyone to overcome their fears but it certainly isn’t easy! “ The key to overcoming any phobia is to gradually expose yourself to your fear until you learn how to be calm in that situation. Learning some relaxation techniques helps with this and the trick is to build up your confidence gradually.” For example, if you are terrified of spiders, Murphy says, don’t expect to be in the same room as a tarantula without getting fearful. Instead, sufferers could start by looking at a picture of a spider and then progress to watching spiders on TV. The next step might be to look at one in a zoo. She continues: “ If your phobia is controlling how you live your life, you need to get help. If your phobias are severe then you should see your doctor and they can advise you on whether medication is appropriate. They can also refer you for counselling or psychotherapy.” Of the available ‘ talking therapies’, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, or CBT, is the most effective treatment for phobias. Support groups are a great source of information and many also run helplines. Social phobia Another common ‘ complex’ phobia is social phobia: an excessive fear of social situations, including public speaking and groups of people at parties. Sufferers typically fear strangers being critical of them; they may also fear making a fool of themselves and blushing in public. Along with agoraphobia, the condition sometimes has other implications – sufferers can be prone to excessive drinking as they feel they need extra courage before being faced with a stressful social situation. The good news is that people often recover from a social phobia. David, a 31- year- old living in the UK, has suffered from social phobia for about ten years – especially since leaving the army. David says his condition has worsened over the last two years, partly due to a “ messy divorce” and starting a college course. He says: “ I feel there is a total lack of understanding by doctors and society as a whole. One minute I am calm and the next I feel my heart pounding and I begin to sweat. It is made worse by feeling people will look at you because you are acting differently, and sweating.” Despite the challenges of the condition, David says he is determined to beat it by lowering his stress levels and finding ways to relax and switch off. Another social phobia sufferer by the name of Karen says her symptoms began when a three- year relationship ended, followed by a severe outbreak of acne: “ From then on I became a totally different person, going from a confident, happy- go- lucky person to the complete opposite. “ I began having very bad panic attacks, started blushing profusely and getting excruciating headaches before having to go out somewhere. I was terrified of people noticing I was blushing or sweating.” However at the age of 35 Karen is now phobia- free, describing herself as happy and confident. “ I learnt that changing my thoughts was the only way to overcome my phobia and that I had to learn to accept myself and care less about what others thought of me.” Facing her demons by attending events she would once have avoided has also helped her to recover: ” Healing is a gradual process, but slowly the panic attacks subsided and I began to enjoy the social events and not hide from them.” The support of others, including her husband, also provided Karen with strength. Complementary therapies Complementary and alternative therapies such as hypnotherapy and NLP ( or Neuro Linguistic Programming) are often used to successfully treat simple phobias of specific situations, animals or objects. Chris Smith uses hypnotherapy and Emotional Freedom Techniques ( EMT) to help people overcome phobias. The first approach involves uncovering a person’s emotional strategy used to frighten themselves. He explains: “ Someone who is phobic of flying will experience their first bouts of anxiety way before they fly – perhaps at the time of booking their tickets. phobia facts Up to 5% of the US population suffers from clinically significant phobias in a given year, according to US website www. anxietypanic. com Phobias occur in people of all ages. The average age of onset for social phobia is between 15 and 20 years of age, although it can often be traced to childhood. Traumatic events can trigger the onset of phobias, which are slightly more prevalent in women than men. People with phobias, especially social phobia, may also have problems with alcohol or drug abuse. Phobias are strongly linked with panic attacks – intense bursts of terror accompanied by unpleasant physical sensations such as clammy hands, feeling nauseous and feeling faint. There is a long list of so- called specific phobias. These include emetophobia ( fear of vomiting), choking phobia, monophobia ( fear of being alone), toilet phobia and injection phobia. When we are born we fear only two things: loud noises and falling