Agoraphobia & Social Anxiety Support Group
Agoraphobia is an anxiety disorder, often precipitated by the fear of having a panic attack in a setting from which there is no easy means of escape. As a result, sufferers of agoraphobia may avoid public and/or unfamiliar places. In severe cases, the sufferer may become confined to their home, experiencing difficulty traveling from this "safe place."
xpax
Hello fellow sufferers,
i hope someone can shed some light on any aspect of anything i write, however small to you it may be big to me.
My psych says i was born with three minority brain wirings: Aspergers, Highly Sensitive Person (Sensory Processing Sensitivity), and high Introversion.
Due to childhood, since about age ten i have been clinically and suicidally depressed with social anxiety disorder, panic, and some agoraphobia. Ten.
Now, i have spent the last 4 months unable to attend the church i go to (now seriously) that i initially went to with my psych's recommendation that it would be a "safe place" to work our my social anxiety disorder. However ingrained it may be.
After 2 years of having my first positive group social experience of my life (at about 53 years old). Then a closet narcissist about 75% up the scale arrived, over the last few years developing in me because of all my disorders a panic complex that made the anxious and depressive agoraphobia that kept me from church (Nov 2014 to Apil 2015) oops that's more than 4 months. Shock.
In January the firm idea that i'd never go there again gave me a mild emotional breakdown that made me bawl like a baby for weeks at the slightest sad thing. Thankfully i have stopped that.
Now, i can only go outside if i am going nearby, to the 7-11 convenience store, or the Bank, just down the street.
There is a food bank (i''m on disability) a few blocks away that i haven't been able to get to for three appointments now (one per two weeks).
Now today we had a big day at the church i was to attend, and couldn't.
i attended two previous "big days" recently with my narcissist friend because i hadn't accidentally insulted him yet in an email (Aspergers - not always knowing the social consequences of what i write), so now he won't drive me although he's known for since my diagnosis 12 Mar 2013 that i accidentally insult, and has endured and forgiven me in the past.
Now, to go to the bus stop not far away, simply, to go anywhere farther than nearby, is next to impossible.
i have made it a few times during the months to a nearby Grocery store to buy food, but that's it. Otherwise it is Disability-paid-for cab rides to psych and doctor appointments AND
once i am OUT THERE
i can GO ANYWHERE
but i can't get out the freakin' door to start with! especially to the bus stop.
i have no other ride options like a friend (i'm aspie, people find me too socially uncomfortable to be friends with) to drive me, or enough money for a self-paid taxi fide to church (Disability doesn't pay for church rides).
Now, i deeply feel i must be attending this church every weekend.
But for months i cannot get out the door.
For at least 2 months prior to total avoidance, i was pushing panic attacks to get there. Finally the mental and physical pain was too much to face and i simply began and did not stop missing church.
Any help is appreciated, even if you think it too small, it may strike "that chord."
Thank you all for your time and attention. xpax
i hope someone can shed some light on any aspect of anything i write, however small to you it may be big to me.
My psych says i was born with three minority brain wirings: Aspergers, Highly Sensitive Person (Sensory Processing Sensitivity), and high Introversion.
Due to childhood, since about age ten i have been clinically and suicidally depressed with social anxiety disorder, panic, and some agoraphobia. Ten.
Now, i have spent the last 4 months unable to attend the church i go to (now seriously) that i initially went to with my psych's recommendation that it would be a "safe place" to work our my social anxiety disorder. However ingrained it may be.
After 2 years of having my first positive group social experience of my life (at about 53 years old). Then a closet narcissist about 75% up the scale arrived, over the last few years developing in me because of all my disorders a panic complex that made the anxious and depressive agoraphobia that kept me from church (Nov 2014 to Apil 2015) oops that's more than 4 months. Shock.
In January the firm idea that i'd never go there again gave me a mild emotional breakdown that made me bawl like a baby for weeks at the slightest sad thing. Thankfully i have stopped that.
Now, i can only go outside if i am going nearby, to the 7-11 convenience store, or the Bank, just down the street.
There is a food bank (i''m on disability) a few blocks away that i haven't been able to get to for three appointments now (one per two weeks).
Now today we had a big day at the church i was to attend, and couldn't.
i attended two previous "big days" recently with my narcissist friend because i hadn't accidentally insulted him yet in an email (Aspergers - not always knowing the social consequences of what i write), so now he won't drive me although he's known for since my diagnosis 12 Mar 2013 that i accidentally insult, and has endured and forgiven me in the past.
Now, to go to the bus stop not far away, simply, to go anywhere farther than nearby, is next to impossible.
i have made it a few times during the months to a nearby Grocery store to buy food, but that's it. Otherwise it is Disability-paid-for cab rides to psych and doctor appointments AND
once i am OUT THERE
i can GO ANYWHERE
but i can't get out the freakin' door to start with! especially to the bus stop.
i have no other ride options like a friend (i'm aspie, people find me too socially uncomfortable to be friends with) to drive me, or enough money for a self-paid taxi fide to church (Disability doesn't pay for church rides).
Now, i deeply feel i must be attending this church every weekend.
But for months i cannot get out the door.
For at least 2 months prior to total avoidance, i was pushing panic attacks to get there. Finally the mental and physical pain was too much to face and i simply began and did not stop missing church.
Any help is appreciated, even if you think it too small, it may strike "that chord."
Thank you all for your time and attention. xpax
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Let me Keep It Simple Silly.
With a genetic predisposition to stay home, i find i am trapped home simce Nov2014 to NOW Apr2015 from walking out the "big bad door" out anywhere not within easy and familiar distance.
This was brought on by a panic complex from being verbally bullied, strangely enough at my age, because of my genetic predispositions.
Now, panic complex or whatever, i cannot even walk the farther blocks to the food bank for food, it is that deep and ingrained.
Any idea is a good idea. One never knows if even a small idea will create that "spark" or set off "that chord" in my ever-lovin' brain that will be a help.
So please don't be shy and contribute whatever is on your mind. What i truly need in this isolation is Reality only you out there can see!
Thank you kindly, xpax
As a highly introverted aspie, sadly i have no friends, only lots of friendly acquaintances not familiar enough to ask such a thing of..
But the house owner, of which i rent a basement room (for over 4 years now) is a great guy. Rahul. He might drive me someplace ONCE if it were a PINCH. Trick is he works nights, so days are his sleep time. Then again he's young and doesn't need much sleep (i'm 55 -- 9pm to 5am). TMI
The Winnipeg congregation of our church reflects Winnipeg's well-known thrift. Getting someone to come down to the "deep south" to pick me up is not easy. The narcissist pal i depended on i had a partial falling out with, so i'm stuck.
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i haven't seen TV since September 2010 and it made me a more content person. i don't go around as gloomy as most others, but in my case, not as undepressed either! Ha.
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Thank you for the ideas to chew on.
xpax
So it stopped me for a long time. Till I made a list of what's important to me and what i want out of life. Once I was armed with that list, all I had to figure out was a way to do what was important to me.
How about a wheelchair? You can rent one of those or if you are on disability they may give you one? Have you tried a wheelchair? Or a walker so you have something to hold on to.
It may sound silly but a crutch like that can work.
If your church is vital to you, then call the church, explain your situation and ask for someone from the congregation to come get you and drop you off again.
A book I love and that has helped me greatly: http://www.amazon.ca/Adventures-Phobic-Colette-Carner-ebook/dp/B00QOEUE34/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1429974404&sr=8-1&keywords=Adventures+of+a+Phobic
Hang in there.
As for your Aspberger's, from your post you sound like you have a strong personality and sense of yourself! Screw brain wiring! You're pretty neat.