Practice Overcoming Agoraphobia
You must practice overcoming agoraphobia in order to find recovery.
Practice, practice, practice! I cannot stress enough about the important of
practice.
I understand how dreadful this idea is to many of you. I wish I could
tell you that there is an easier way. I know I wanted an easier answer, but
I assure you, there isn't any. If there was, I would have found it! In order
to recover, you must practice and there is no other way around it.
Just like anything else that you are trying to master, whether it be
cooking, playing a musical instrument, or even a specific profession, you
have to practice overcoming your agoraphobia. It is true that the more you
practice the better you will become. You want to practice so much that the
skills will become second nature to you.
As long as you practice and practice often, you cannot lose the battle
with agoraphobia.
At first, you will make many mistakes when you practice, but you learn
from those mistakes. The more you learn firsthand for yourself, the easier
it will be for the skills to stick with you. Just like learning to ride a
bike; it may be difficult at first, and you might even crash a few times;
but if you persist, before long, you are riding with ease, crashing less and
less. You have to think of overcoming agoraphobia the same way. Practice
makes perfect....well almost!
So how often should you practice?
If you are serious about overcoming your agoraphobia, you will practice
often. If you can practice four times a week, then you are heading in the
right direction. For me, I found that there were certain things that I
needed to face daily. Whatever your biggest avoidances are, these will take
the most effort and need the most attention.
There is no daily number of practice that is right for everyone. Practice
overcoming agoraphobia at your own pace. We are all different and I believe
we all know where we struggle the most. The stronger urge you have to avoid
something is a good indication on how often you should approach it during
practice!
Practice opportunities are exhausting! Mostly because when you practice,
you are provoking anxiety symptoms. When you practice overcoming agoraphobia
you are exposing yourself to feeling those sensations that you so
desperately want to be over. So you definitely want to pace yourself in your
practice.
It's okay to take a break when practicing. When you practice
overcoming agoraphobia it can be exhausting. So be sure to allow
yourself a day off here and there, but be sure not to allow too much
time in between practice sessions. The longer period you have
between sessions, the harder it is to get back to work! So allow
yourself a break but once that is over, get back to business!
If you are severely agoraphobic and have a particularly hard time with
the body symptoms associated with practicing, you might consider seeing your
doctor about using a mild tranquilizer. However, if you don't like the idea
of medications, there are natural alternatives that are non-addicting and
have very few side effects. Just be sure to talk with your doctor or
pharmacist before taking natural supplements. To learn which natural
supplements work effectively for anxiety symptoms, be sure to visit
natural
stress relief.
It's important that you understand that you will experience anxiety and
perhaps panic sensations when you are practicing overcoming agoraphobia.
This is normal and very acceptable. In order to conquer your agoraphobia,
you need to work through those body symptoms. So even if you take a mild
tranquilizer or a natural supplement to help with the body symptoms, you
will still feel some anxiety. It is important to recognize that medications
and supplements are meant to help lighten your symptoms, not take them away.
Recommended Reading
The Agoraphobia Workbook: A Comprehensive Program to End Your Fear of Symptom Attacks
by C. Alec Pollard Phd. This workbook deals with the many unique conflicts and fears specifically
associated with agoraphobia.
Return from Practice Overcoming Agoraphobia to Agoraphobia Symptoms
Sound-Mind.Org Homepage
|
