Hi there. I just thought I would share something that really helped me. I had severe agoraphobia for 3 years. Eventually, I got some treatment and started taking Celexa and Clonazepam and going to a Cognitive Behaviour Therapist. They were very helpful. I started getting out of my house occasionally, but my panic attacks were severe. I was getting frustrated by feeling that everything was one step forward and 3 steps back.

After about 5 months of this, I decided to do something that my psychiatrist thought was drastic. I hadn't worked in 4 years, but I decided I wanted to go back to full-time work. I saw a job I wanted and I applied for it. My psychiatrist didn't think I was ready, but my CBT told me to go for it.

He called it "flooding." It's something that some therapists walk their patients though, but I decided to do it by myself. I had reached a point where I just wanted to get on with my life. I was tired of THINKING about doing things and WORRYING about doing things. I just wanted to DO them! I went to the job interview and got the job. (For some reason, job interviews have always been very easy for me and I didn't find the interview process panic-inducing.)

I was terrified about going back to work, though. I was at a point in my recovery where I was only leaving my home for short periods of time each day and still having panic attacks. I was still too phobic to get on a bus, but I decided to challenge myself in a big way. I played the "What's the worst thing that can happen?" game with myself. I figured that the worst thing that could happen would be that I would get to the new job, have panic attacks constantly, freak out, not be able to handle it and have to leave and never go back. It would suck, but it wouldn't be the end of the world. It was a risk I was willing to take. I wanted my life back. I felt like I had wasted too much time already.

I ended up succeeding. Anticipation of the first day was so nerve-wracking, but I found that once I was at my new workplace, I was so distracted, so focused on learning new things, doing my work, meeting new people, etc. there was very little time for the panic to sneak in. Distraction has always been my best defence against panic attacks. I wasn't having to force distractions, though. There was so much going on, I was just naturally distracted from the panic. I still had panic attacks occasionally, of course, but I learned to deal with them. I reminded myself they were going to pass and I reminded myself that I didn't want to go back to sitting in my flat alone every day. Over time, it got much, much easier. I'm almost panic-free now. I have an even better job now that's much more demanding and I feel like I'm almost back to being the person I was before I got sick. I don't think I would have gotten to this point this quickly if I hadn't just jumped in and taken a "sink or swim" approach. I did it out of desperation, but it worked for me.

To help me along with the stress of going back to work, I did lots of walking and did yoga a few times a week. I find that exercise clears my head, calms me down and alleviates a lot of my anxiety. Yoga is amazing for relaxing me and yogic deep breathing is incredibly useful in everyday situations when you want to calm anxiety or get through a panic attack.

Just thought I would share what worked for me in case it's something that could work for someone else in a similar situation.