agoraphiobia sydney treatment 0450 458 410

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So what is agoraphobia anyway?
Technically it is "fear of open spaces" but there are many complications to this emotional state.
Indeed, the origins of the word show one of the most common complications. It comes from Ancient Greek and the word agora means market-place.
Or, as we would say today, "shopping centre". Add the term phobus, another Greek word, meaning fear, and you have agoraphobia.
Although it can be created by specific fear-inducing experiences, once that phobia is established it is largely driven by the unconscious experience of fear of loss of self, which is the same emotionally as a fear of death, so of course it ranges from scary to terrifying.
What this means is that the connection between the conscious self and the physical self is undermined and the emotional response to that is as though life itself were under threat although there is no apparent danger.
The person's emotions lose touch with reality (in this context) and function independently of their will.
To use a metaphor; instead of their sense of self being firmly embedded in the body, it "floats" on top of it like being in the ocean unable to touch the bottom with your feet, being pushed this way and that by the waves, thinking about sharks.

Because the process of disconnection is out of awareness, s/he has no control over it and so panic ensues.
Then, over time, the victim understandably develops a fear of those feelings and even a fear that s/he is going insane.

Thus the agoraphobia becomes agoraphobia-phobia, and even the thought of going outside or to a shopping centre, or whatever the trigger is, ignites the feelings, although to a lesser extent.
So, effectively, the victim is in a special kind of emotional trance where his or her feelings are out of conscious control.
It is not the standard type of hypnotic trance because that is marked by consciousness itself being out of their control.

Agoraphobia Wakeup Technique

The Wakeup Technique is designed to bring the victim out of that emotional trance and reconnect their emotional state with their body's present-reality orientation.
Once this reconnection is established they have a reality-based, rather than fear-based, connection with the world again.

An example; Bernice had been in 5 auto accidents. She was indeed agoraphobic and had not been helped by various doctors telling her to "try not to have any more", perhaps not that helpful since she was the passenger in each of the accidents!

When I said to her "You must use a lot of public transport", she replied "One of them was a bus!"

Well, in the end it came down to Bernice's fears being locked onto the taste in her mouth when she thought of being outside.

The emotion Fear has a taste that goes with it from the chemicals the body produces.
The way we broke her free of the trance was for her to suck on some mint toothpaste when she thought of being outside then using a peppermint lozenge and actually going outside.
The reality of peppermint overrode the trance-inducing effect of the fear-taste from bad memories.
Once she found she actually could control herself, she no longer needed the peppermint.

As a side -benefit, a year or so later, she was working at a 7-11 when she saw her ex-husband parked outside. Her response was anxiety, due to the messiness of the separation, but she told me with a self-satisfied smile that "I got a peppermint and put it in my mouth and felt strong again immediately."

Although there is online training in the basics of getting emotional control, the most reliable results with phobias are achieved through one-on-one work.

Jon Lonergan 2016
Sydney Australia 0450 458 410
ABN 48 005 020 140

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