GET YOUR LIFE BACK: You can recover from agoraphobia.

Agoraphobia is a syndrome that is characterized by an intense fear and avoidance of situations where escape might be difficult or where help is unavailable. People often become avoidant after experiencing a panic attack.

People who suffer from agoraphobia might avoid things like:

• being alone
• crowded places
• leaving their home altogether
• public transportation
• wide open spaces

The avoidance behavior is in response to fear of dying; "going crazy;" having a panic attack (most common fear); or "losing control" while in these situations. This fear is often accompanied by a fear of doing something embarrassing in response to the fear that the person is feeling in their body. This part of the syndrome led many researchers to describe agoraphobia as a "fear of fear."

I use a multi-pronged approach to help people to recover from agoraphobia:

1. I educate people about the fear response and the neurobiology behind it, using plain language that they can understand.
2. I teach anxiety management strategies, such as diaphraghmatic breathing, to support the nervous system in getting to a regulated state during times of heightened anxiety and stress.
3. I provide individual therapy that is deeply informed by trauma therapy models, including EMDR to address the root causes of agoraphobia
4. When necessary, I refer people to more intensive, specialized programs (usually short-term) to directly address symptoms using CBT, ACT, and DBT models
5. I facilitate psychiatric referrals for people who might need the support of medication during their treatment process  

My work supporting people to recover from agoraphobia is informed by my lived experience with the disorder. I was almost completely housebound from ages 15 - 27. I was fortunate to connect with practitioners who were doing pioneering work in the field of anxiety and agoraphobia and made a complete recovery.