I can relate to all that you all are saying. I was agoraphobic for many years. Luckily I found a P/Doc who also had assistants called "In Vivo Therapists". These therapists first worked on my "stinkin thinkin", such as "I cannot go out, I always have diarrhea". When it fact, I did not ALWAYS have it, but feared I would. I learned to rephrase my internal thinking.....stopped using the words MUST, HAVE TO, and replaced with "CHOOSE". It gave me back some of the power, to not allow "the beast we know as agoraphobia dictate my thoughts". once I was better with my thinking, the therapists took me out to places I had feared.....those places that I "thought" caused my panic. It was slow going at first, as my brain and body were so used to kicking into the "fight or flight" gear, but slowly, I realized it was my own thoughts causing my panic attacks. One of my biggest avoidances was the grocery store. "Places, nor people" cause panic attacks... our thoughts do. My thoughts were "I ALWAYS have a panic attack in here", or "What IF I have a panic attack and run from the store, who will put my groceries back on the shelf", etc. I over came that "stinkin thinkin" by visualizing those VanDeCamp fish commercials on TV where the frozen fish jump up from the freezer, and focused on laughing inside how foolish it would be to be afraid of them. I also visualized Juan Valdez Coffee commercials - and thinking how funny it would be to see that burro in the next aisle. Once I trained myself to STOP thinking my negative, stinkin thinkin thoughts, I started overcoming more and more places I avoided. This type therapy is one of the best for panic/anxiety/agoraphobia. For me, that therapy was in 1990, and while I DO take medication, I have had not a single panic attack, nor am I agoraphobic (however, I will not fly). **THERE IS LIFE AFTER PANIC**

Although I have not been here much lately, I plan to be around more. I will be more than happy to share ideas and information. I returned to college after my agoraphobia abated and am a licensed In Vivo Therapist (currently retired and taking care of my terminally ill Mother-in-law). Feel free to toss me a private message anytime!