Agoraphobia treatment and then some?!

Agoraphobia treatment and then some?

I have it and I am getting treatment. has anybody ever get over it completely, I mean going to trips abroad, taking airplanes, visiting counties/ cities than are nothing but a big plain? (not just getting out of your house)

I knew a girl once, from Chicago, who could not stand being away from crowds where she was shoulder to shoulder with people. I don't know whether that is agaoraphobia related. I am just the opposite I can't stand to be closed in. My theme song is the old song "Don't fence me in," give me land lots of land under starry skis above etc.

It seems to me that it all depends on how you are raised. If you are raised in a big city where people are crowded together and you get your security from those people and close proximity to their artifacts and evidence of them. Then "open spaces" make you feel less secure leading even to panic attacks. I was raised in the country where our family of five had no neighbors with in a mile, there was no telephone, no TV's and the radio was a novelty enjoyed occaisionally on weekends. I get insecure when closed in a room or in large crowds of people because I learned how to survive in the wide open spaces on my own.

I have gotten over any panic or feeling of fear at being in a city by just facing what I feared and doing the things I feared (like public speaking) and finding out there was no real danger involved. It was mostly imagination.

I think you can do the same for your fear of going out into the open by making sure you know ahead of time how to get back to your secure environment and build on that. I think I would still have fear of being closed into a small box though. But I'm also sure I would fear being abandoned alone in a desert with no transportation and no cell phone. You see it is a matter of degree.

I don't know whether you are a religious person but one thing that helped me was the belief, "You are never alone; God is there wherever you are." Seeing as how I had to believe I was not in a private world of my own making at any time and that the one that was always there cared, it helped me be more secure with strangers and their artifacts around.

The girl from Chicago married a soldier and they were posted to lonely places all over the world. She was secure with him and learned to love it.

Good luck, Good health, Peace and Love!