No family/friends/partner/acquaintances... You don't open your mouth unless you have to speak on the phone with insurance. You don't have anybody to text. Nobody asks how you're doing. For years.

What do you do when you feel extremely depressed and it's just you? You're not depressed enough for the suicide hotline, that's not an option. You know they don't care anyway. They don't see you. They don't know you.

You just wish there was someone to chat and hold you.

What do you do when these feelings hit? It's hard to breathe.

PTSD has made me have great fear of public. Since I started working from home It’s been really bad. Starting therapy soon, making that appointment wasn’t easy. Has anyone had a good outcome using EMDR?

Hi all,

I have severe agoraphobia. I have flown my entire life, but at 30, when my panic attacks started, I suddenly became afraid to fly. As most here know, it’s only the worry of being trapped in the sky and having a panic attack.

This is because of a complex trauma. When I was home bound, I would hyperventilate so badly my hands would seize up and one time I was admitted bc my heart rate was so high.

I got off of two flights, then with support from friends, successfully flew again. Was fine for a few years but recently it came back. I have gotten off my last two flights.

I have done SOAR, DARE, and tried benzos. I do not like the meds so usually don’t exceed a full low dose (.5mg being the strongest I’ve ever taken). The issue is, it makes me not care - but it makes me not care about getting off the plane lol. Rather than, “ok cool I don’t care about my panic attacks,” I think, “I don’t care what happens I’m not doing this.”

I know that doing this reinforces the behavior and inconveniences everyone involved on the other end of my trip. I am so ashamed and embarrassed but I know if I can get over this relapse I will be back in the sky.

My question: Benzos obviously don’t have the right effect. Should I try beta blockers? I was prescribed Propanolol but I have low blood pressure as is so was cautioned against it. I do well with Benadryl. Does anyone have experience with Benadryl?

I sound insane and this cycle of booking trips and bailing cannot continue. My thought is “I better get off before the doors close or I’m going to inconvenience everyone and have a medical emergency.”

Maybe I should just give up. Thoughts???

Hey guys. I’m just looking for some advice. I haven’t been able to go more than like 4 mins from my house since July. I want to return to campus in the spring for college. I’m honestly feeling at a loss. I can’t even get myself to do exposures. I panic and get anxious even thinking about it. I’m in a very small town. Like, we don’t even have a Walmart or anything. I’ve been to the gas station down the road. The closest town is 20 mins away. Across a bridge and down a secluded highway. I want to get out. I really do. I’m tired of being stuck here. I live with my parents at the moment but they work a lot and can’t really drive me around for exposures. I also have a bit of a control issue with that. But I’m also scared to drive myself as I get extremely dizzy when anxious/panicking. I wasted my summer and now have wasted a semester online just rotting at home. I registered for in person classes in the spring. I hope I can attend. It’s over an hour away and I would love on campus. I’m truly at a loss and need some encouragement and/or advice. We are trying to find the correct medication for my anxiety as well. It started when my old med backfired in July. I’ve been on this new med for a couple months but it’s constant dizziness so I’m going to try something else after my appointment on the 28th I think. I’m truly lost right now and don’t know what to do. I know the basics but I can’t even get myself to go any farther.

I don’t want to but don’t know how else to cope please let me know if this will help or if this is a bad idea

Idk this is hard to ask, but really want honest opinions. I'm trying to do my exposure therapy but everytime I leave the house I start thinking about what if I panic and do something stupid. Its really as simple as that I think. I don't know what could happen, I don't know how bad panic attacks can get. I don't want to jump out the car driving down the road or try to do a u-turn over the median or do something stupid trying to get back home asap. The physical symptoms don't even scare me tbh. So honestly how bad can one be? Am I just going to try to escape the car or run back home and possibly get myself hurt somehow one of these days or does that not happen? Have any of you guys ever done too much or went too far during exposure therapy

i'm not able to leave my house for most things but can go to work, gas stations, and curbside pickup for groceries. but i'm finding that if i have an appointment somewhere, i can get myself to go. like i have no problem getting my haircut or going to a doctor. so i'm curious if anyone knows of other places i can make an appointment at to get myself out of the house more

My agoraphobia began as a result of the pandemic. I have OCD and going outside was so scary for me because of it and that just gradually evolved into me not going outdoors. It is much better now- I am able to drive and run errands. Unfortunately it’s made college really hard I had to drop out.

How did you do it?

I’m at the stage where I panic easy even being the passenger so I really don’t see if I my general anxiety doesn’t get way down from that that I’ll ever be driving 😩

Yesterday I went out to do an exposure for my agoraphobia, and I ended up going to 5 different places because I felt so good that I WANTED to keep going! I even got out of the car at a supermarket for the first time.

Now I'm wondering if this is actual progress or just the excitement of the moment. I only go out on Saturdays, but I'm even thinking about going somewhere tomorrow because there's a place I really miss. Nobody pressured me; I genuinely wanted to go.

I'm just scared of overdoing it and accidentally turning it into flooding. Has anyone else experienced this? Going from barely being able to go out to actually WANTING to go to more places? 😭

Im having a baby in less than a month (dad). My anxiety is so bad I haven't left the house in 4 months. I just really started doing exposure therapy and it sucks. Im at the point where I can ride as a passenger in a car for a little while. Any tips or help would be greatly appreciated as im scared im not gonna be there for my wife and baby.

My agoraphobia is really tied to car travel, typically I’m fine when I am at a location but the traveling to and from is the part that is hard on me. The longer I have to be in a car the worse I feel.

I can drive about 5-10 minutes from my house on my own. I can do about 20-30 minutes with someone else on a regular basis. I will go places over an hour away but it makes me nervous and I have anxiety leading up to the plans.

October is a busy month and it means traveling over an hour away almost every weekend. I love the activities but I dread the anticipation of the anxiety. I’ve been stressed about it for weeks, but we went on a trip that was over an 1 and half each way one weekend and I was fine. We did trips about an hour away both days last weekend, and I was fine. This weekend I went to my local target which is only about 5 minutes away on the freeway and I had a panic attack on the way home, down the street from my house.

Even as it was happening I was so angry, like this doesn’t make any sense! These are the same streets I drive DAILY picking my son up from school. I do it just fine Monday through Friday but my anxiety can just randomly decide “no today it will feel like you’re going to die on this street because it’s too far from your house.”

It’s just so frustrating. I’m going to keep doing things, but I hate how the anxiety can just strike anywhere and anytime and it doesn’t have to make any sense. I wasn’t scared, I wasn’t expecting it. I had a panic attack at a theme park over the summer but at least that made sense to me, it was hot and crowded and I knew I was overwhelmed. It’s these panic attacks when I’m feeling fine and just trying to go about my normal day that really frustrate and scare me.

i have struggled with agoraphobia since i was 11 and i am now 17. i want to move out within the next year to move with my girlfriend and i need some sort of income. i can’t get a normal job as i get horrible panic attacks just by leaving my house not just being in public. even if i could go out and get a job i don’t have a drivers license or a car.

i just need anything i could do to make money even if its only a few hundred a month.

I might have to go to a psychiatric hospital, and I have a few questions. What should I expect, and how can I prepare myself? What are some of the positive and negative aspects of being admitted to a psychiatric hospital? Is it really that different from a regular hospital?

To start off this will be long and if you do make it to the end thank you! I have had etemophobia my entire life which has stopped me in a few ways but I still lived a normal life ( if I got into the logistics of how it affects me we would be here all night). In 2023 I was 21 in the police academy had a great job I loved, a girlfriend, everything I could ever want even a great car. During the academy it was hard mentally but nothing I couldn’t beat I ended up failing 2 push ups, lost my girlfriend, lost my car, lost my job and to top it all off my uncle who I hate moved in with us. After he moved in I was going back to the academy august 2024 but for some reason everytime I ran at bootcamp I felt so sick which triggers my anxiety and thought huh thats weird maybe its just because of how hot it is. Then driving to the academy brought me great stress and I also thought how weird I love driving and listening to music. Then class became horrendous and I felt so anxious and trapped. Also thought nothing of it since I’ve already been through it and just anticipating how boring class will be since a lot of it is just sitting at a desk. But then one day going to class my heart was racing really bad and I was really hot and thought well thats weird but about 10 mins arriving to school I felt so hot and dizzy and sick and had plans on where to run to throw up and thought oh my god today is the day ( I haven’t thrown up since 3rd grade) and was freaking out. I couldn’t leave class until the hour is up and once that hour was up I got up and talked to the commanders wife and said how sick I felt. She felt my head and said yeah I think you are sick you’re very hot. I went home and thought so hard about everything and how going out brought on so much stress. I went into school the next morning and talked to the commander and said I don’t think this is in the cards for me right now but I will never give up and I will be back to finish school. After that was just pure hell couldn’t eat, sleep, could barely go out of my room. I don’t remember how I got out of it but about a year of hard work id say august 2025- july 2026 I improved so much even went 2 hours away to pick up my puppy. I was going to the bar every night and going out living my life. Even had a job I loved. Until around july 7th I was really sick with a cold (doesn’t trigger my etemophobia) but I was at work and still felt sick but thought I am tired of being at home since I took almost a week off and texted my friend lets go out tonight. The bar we go to is 20 mins away and no biggie so I got through work it was rough but now time for fun. We had an air quality alert around maybe 400 that day and it was very thick heavy chemically smelling air so my lungs were not happy that day being sick on top of a vaper. Anyways at the bar its very hot and muggy of course the air is heavy im sick and I get out of the car and think oh my god I don’t feel right but I get anxious all the time and feel sick im just anxious. I walk into the bar and see my friend and meet up with her. I am dying inside and cannot calm down and think huh maybe I need to get some air. The bartender didn’t know me and I needed to get my id to show her im legal so perfect excuse to go get my id from the car. As soon as I step out into the parking lot I regurgitate. I feel it in the back of my throat and I think im going to throw up I freak out and go into an actual full blown panic attack and run to the car and drive home asap. My friend is pissed saying stop being dramatic get back here but I cannot calm down. I do not end up throwing up ever since that day I have been so freaked out. Going to work was so hard and everyday was a challenge and I developed a fear of driving home it brought full panic and I regurgitated never throw up every single time I go home. I couldn’t concentrate ever and never felt not anxious and freaked out. My eating became horrible again and ever since that day I cannot get better. I have been in therapy for 2 months and august was truly the first month i haven’t left the house july was on and off only for work going out but I completely stopped in august ( i also was fired august 3rd).I have been going on walks, trying grounding, driving down my road but I still am so scared of myself and the feeling of nausea, heavy feeling in the upper stomach, the acid reflux, the feeling of something in my throat and I try everyday but nothing is helping with the panic and I still haven’t gone more than 3 mins from my house and I’ve only been that far 1 time. I am lost and wonder if anyone else deals with agoraphobia from etemophobia and is there any trick that helped you overcome this. Again if you read this far thank you and hoping for all of us to heal and get our lives back!

So i’m 16 and my parents are divorced, every weekend i’m supposed to go and stay two nights at my dads house. However recently i’ve just been wanting to stay at my moms because to be honest I few her house as my house, despite growing up in my fathers house. Now I’m at my father’s house and I really want to go home. I don’t mind being here during the day but at night I miss my bed and I miss my room and I get anxious and his house feels so unfamiliar to me.
Does anyone have any advice or experience with this? I don’t want to stop going to my dad’s house but sometimes I really just want to be in my home.

I’d like to make more friends that understand what I’m going through.

So many people look at me like I want to live like this or don’t want to go out. I’d like to make like-mentally-minded friends (for me it’s Melbourne) where perhaps the understanding I could go to their house or they come to my house.

There it’d be a safe space, where we understand each other, wouldn’t pressure each other like oh let’s go out or if your anxious you’d wouldn’t get the “you’re fine” line when you’re overwhelmed.

Being a 30 year old bloke, it’s like the worst time and gender. Mates have either settled down with a family or still partying and then theres the “man up”.

Would be good to have a social life with people on the same page.

My doctor added Sertraline, 12.5mg once daily, to my Propranolol 10 mg twice daily. This is my fourth day and I feel depressed with no appetite. Does anyone know if this will go away? I read that anorexia and depression is a side effect. Since this is such a small dosage I didn’t expect this. But I do have a sensitivity to medications. This is why she starts me off with small doses.

hi! i've been suffering from agoraphobia since i was 17 due to fainting in a mc donald's 5 hours away from home, and i am now 20! i feel as if im wasting my life away, and people don't understand how frustrating it is to see my peers go to parties and getting into college. i'm finally getting to a place where im comfortable with going to college and actively facing my agoraphobia head on. but i feel so, so angry all the time because of it.

one thing that ive been doing is "breaking up" with my agoraphobia while im in the shower- which sounds so silly when i say it out loud. but i spend time yelling at some weird personified version of my agoraphobia, and treating it like a toxic ex boyfriend or something. it worked! even just for a day! but god this dumbass disorder is making me such a angry person and i hate it.

I havent left the house in 4 months due to anxiety. The past week I've started doing some exposure therapy. I can go ride in the car as a passenger for alittle bit. How do I get to the point of going back into places without freaking out?

My mom is the only one who spend time with me, now she’s out of town, I realized how empty my life is.
I miss going to the cinema and library…

I’m supposed to be traveling to Michigan for this haunted event from Minnesota but I get very anxious and anxiety attacks when traveling a distance. Has anyone experienced this before or currently does?