Reddit Reddit reviews The Agoraphobia Workbook: A Comprehensive Program to End Your Fear of Symptom Attacks

We found 6 Reddit comments about The Agoraphobia Workbook: A Comprehensive Program to End Your Fear of Symptom Attacks. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

Books
Self-Help
Anxieties & Phobias
The Agoraphobia Workbook: A Comprehensive Program to End Your Fear of Symptom Attacks
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6 Reddit comments about The Agoraphobia Workbook: A Comprehensive Program to End Your Fear of Symptom Attacks:

u/FatNoMo · 10 pointsr/offmychest

You sound just like me! However, I've got 20+ more years of coping with this than you. IBS is different for everyone, but I'll share what's helped me the most:

Physical symptoms:

  1. Reading and following the advice in this book and books like it, has made a huge difference! I still have some trouble balancing my nutrition, but I'm doing much better now stomach-wise.
  2. High level of soluable fiber supplements. I know this seems extremely counter-intuitive for IBS-D, but my gastro recommended it and it's helped a lot. When I first started, I complained that it wasn't helping and he explained I wasn't taking enough! That was a surprise!
  3. Probiotic supplements. There are ones formulated specifically for IBS and I couldn't believe how much it helped with the bloating etc.
  4. Keep working at ruling out triggers. Caffeine is a huge trigger, as is alcohol and smoking. Some people are also sensitive to fructose or gluten, which masks as IBS.
  5. Use OTC meds when you need them. I never go anywhere without Imodium in my bag! And if you have a long trip coming up, use it preventatively. However, be careful not to use it too much, because you can end up with rebound symptoms.
  6. Know where your washroom stops are! This helps me a lot, too. If I start having a problem on my way to class or work, I know where to go and don't panic wondering where the loos are. (My dad taught me this tip. He has terrible IBS.)
  7. Stash a change of clothes and tissues in your bag so if the worst happens you've got options.
  8. For me, breakfast often starts an attack going, so I don't eat before leaving for work. I'll go to work early and eat there. :)
  9. Leave extra-early for everything. If you budget time in for bathroom stops, you won't be late!

    Psychological Symptoms:
    I hate to breaks this to you, but you've developed agoraphobia. I didn't believe it either when my doc told me, but it is true. It is important to recognize this because it affects how you tackle the problem. Your therapist has the right idea of doing CBT and exposure therapy. It is scary as fuck, but it really is the only way. You have to do what scares you, when it scares you, otherwise the fear will rule you. I'm still fighting this, but you can beat the anxiety back. This workbook has helped me understand the problem much better. You can look at quite a bit of it for free online.

    The important thing to remember is that your anxiety about the problem is not in line with the actual problem. With the proper tools and support, you can get your life back. I've had jobs that have had four hour round-trip commutes that included a ferry ride without a bathroom on board. I've done jobs that have required me to travel for hours by car to do research. My husband and I flew 12 hrs each way to go to Hawaii last year! It isn't easy, but you can live you life if you take the literal steps to get out the door. :) :) :)

    If you want to chat privately, feel free to PM me. I'm happy to help. I wish Reddit, and the Internet in general, had been around when I was your age. I might not have suffered alone for so long.
u/gshhpy · 4 pointsr/Agoraphobia

I read through the agoraphobic workbook, and they have sheets and everything you can work through. https://www.amazon.ca/Agoraphobia-Workbook-Comprehensive-Program-Symptom/dp/1572243236

u/owlcart · 3 pointsr/Agoraphobia

Fainting is actually my root fear with agoraphobia, and it's never even happened to me. "Almost" did once, and that was the catalyst/trigger for my agoraphobia.

As I understand it, this is a pretty common fear among agoraphobics. Most of us have some "catastrophic" symptom we live in fear of that keeps us anxious and holed up. It may be specific like fainting or vomiting, or more ambiguous like "going crazy" or losing control.

Being abused to the point of passing out sounds like it must have been extremely traumatic and could easily have led to it being something your brain keeps going back to. It was your body protecting itself in that moment--it doesn't mean you're a "fainter." If you haven't fainted from severe pain (or being high, or anything else) since you were younger, you probably know how unlikely it is on a logical level.

What kind of therapy did you do? CBT would likely be really helpful, if you're not currently doing it.

This workbook https://www.amazon.com/dp/1572243236/ actually specifically addresses the fear of fainting in it, and it's more than just a blurb about it. The book is essentially a CBT/exposure "at your own pace" guide, I'd really recommend it.

This page (and entire website) is written by a doctor of psychology who specializes in anxiety disorders; it specifically addresses the fear of fainting also: http://www.anxietycoach.com/what-panic-attacks-can-do-to-you.html

Good luck. You're absolutely not alone. Get back into therapy and you can beat this!

u/BKLYNPSYCHOTHERAPIST · 3 pointsr/AskNYC

Most clinicians using CBT to treat specific phobias, have a manualized approach--meaning they literally work out of a workbook and will likely have you use a workbook meant for the patient to keep.
I would start by getting one, perhaps like this: https://www.amazon.com/Agoraphobia-Workbook-Comprehensive-Program-Symptom/dp/1572243236/ref=pd_sbs_14_2/144-6929571-8112562?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1572243236&pd_rd_r=12b14d46-2258-4f9c-ad4c-b0bbd1ff5c2a&pd_rd_w=Civq1&pd_rd_wg=T91Sl&pf_rd_p=d66372fe-68a6-48a3-90ec-41d7f64212be&pf_rd_r=EDVW1FRHK0QYG613PSRX&psc=1&refRID=EDVW1FRHK0QYG613PSRX


On a side-note, "Evidence-Based Practices" like CBT (or REBT) have been around for forever and have undeniably sound principles. However, more and more clinicians would agree today, that things like CBT function better as an intervention used within a psychodynamic psychotherapeutic approach, rather than a solitary modality. Evidence-Based Practice has really been capitalism's answer to public mental health--not necessarily deployed to solve problem, but to create and maintain a market.

CBT can teach your mind/body to protest less to feeling exposed, but it has no mechanism that helps you understand why you fear exposure. More significantly, your fear of exposure, at some point in your life, provided an essential protection to you (either physically or emotionally). That defensive strategy might be obsolete and unneeded in your present life--and therefore irrational or intrusive (as CBT would call it), but without understanding it, you risk removing a symptom without searching for the cause of the symptom.
CBT has a high success rate because it is operationalized with a very narrow definition of success. CBT for nail biting works well because people stop biting their nails. But nail biting is often a coping mechanism for anxiety--if the source of the anxiety isn't understood (which CBT doesn't do) then that symptom will certainly surface as yet another (perhaps, even more disruptive) undesirable behavior. [Edit: because I just woke up...]

u/namminam · 2 pointsr/Agoraphobia

I got it off amazon. Just started looking through it! Will let you know if it is helpful. http://www.amazon.com/The-Agoraphobia-Workbook-Comprehensive-Program/dp/1572243236

u/justahermit · 1 pointr/Random_Acts_Of_Amazon

Would love to win this book although it's not going to be the most interesting.

this one would also make me very happy