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"Fearful" is experiencing panic attacks and is afraid to leave the house.

Your answers were:

I know exactly how you feel. I have been suffering from agoraphobia for many years. Please don't get discouraged. There a self-help groups for people like us. I feel that by meeting with others like myself I am able to better understand my condition.

What exactly are you afraid of? Is this for real or are you just hiding out from the realities of life. You say that you are a nice person. Does that mean that you let people walk all over you and then go and hide rather than face your own anger and resentment. Oh I forgot, you don't get angry. You sound very much like my mother. She never got angry either, she just controlled the rest of us with her "condition". Get some professional help and stop running away.

Fearful, you sound like a very articulate and well educated person. Is it possible that one of the factors affecting your condition is that you intellectualize too much. Rather than experience your feelings you analyze them. Rather than experience life you attempt to understand it. You didn't give us much background or history, but you appear to be proud of the fact that you let people take advantage of you. There is nothing wrong with standing up for yourself or getting angry. Maybe if you learned to be more assertive you wouldn't feel so afraid.

Dear Fearful Why does it happen to any of us? I'm not sure the answer matters. What matters is that they have pretty good treatment for Panic Disorder these days. And people who get treated early enough often don't ever go on to develop agarophobia. They have confidence in the effectiveness of the medication and have no fear that an attack might occur unexpectedly. I'm assuming that your doctor has made sure that you don't have one of the physical illnesses that can either mimick Panic Disorder or actually cause panic attacks. If so, go back to your doctor and ask him to put you on medication. Your life will change. The attacks will stop. You'll be able to stop questioning yourself and get on with life again. You have a treatable illness. Count your blessings.

"fearfull"??? .... No ...... It should be "prejudiced" ....... "nerve pills"??? ....... You're one of these people who still lump all psychological problems together as "nerves". You think that they're going to give you tranquilizers to "quiet your nerves" and you'll be "doped up". Forget about being "nice" get educated and come out of the dark ages. You're the one who has to understand. You're just sick. You'll get treated and you'll get better. What's hapenning to you is that your predjudice against mental illness is getting in the way of accepting treatment

If you're going to get a heart attack or lose your mind, it should be in a shopping center where people will notice and maybe call for help. It's better than getting a heart attack all alone at home. We all get sick if we live long enough. You're not living. If we could avoid getting heart attacks by not going shopping maybe even I would give up my charge card. I always think that I'll get my heart attack when I get the bill.

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