Sometimes it helps me to go at the problem indirectly. For example, I might say something like this to a therapist: There are things about myself that I'd like to share with other people, but I always freeze and can't get it out. Can we talk about fear and why I'm so easily blocked?

Maybe something bad happened to you, or maybe you did something that you feel dreadfully ashamed about. Or maybe you were born with a hyper-reactive nervous system. Or a combination of all three. Those are some of the things that can tie a person in knots with fear.

Fear drives us deeper into shame and despair. Sometimes the fear becomes such a big problem for us that it causes us more trouble than the thing we're terrified to talk about.

If you allow your therapist to help you deal with your overwhelming fear, anxiety, panic or shame, you may eventually be able to open up about the specific upsetting event(s) that happened in your life that triggered your fearfulness.

I wish you courage in talking to your therapist. Remember the old adage, courage is not the absence of fear, it's going into the unknown despite all the fear.

Courage, my friend.