[Roy21]

The last few weeks have been getting really hard for me. my anxiety / panic situations are starting to spead into more and more situations. About 2 months ago i noticed i got a sudden panic response when i was in buildings with high roofs.

Ive noticed whenever i look up in a building with i high roof i seem to get a response that makes me feel like im actually looking down from a great height and being afraid of heights this sends me into a very scary panic situation. I know that its just my mind playing tricks on me and theres no possible way im going to fall because im looking up and im standing on the ground but yet these thoughts and panic response continues.

The last week its got really bad even in buildings with roofs maybe 2 and a half to 3 meters high im starting to get it and also when im outside with the sky above me im starting to panic more and more. I hate this because i know there is no danger but my mind keeps telling me there is.

Ive been trying to fight it with the techniques ive been taught for beating anxiety but it feels like the panic response is too strong to overcome it. I work town halls and they have very high roofs and its a real problem. I didnt want to tell my boss what my fear was because i know he wouldnt understand so i told him im going away for afew weeks and wont be able to work. Im heading upto my uncles place for afew weeks to try and get away from this problem for awhile.

Im starting to get abit nervous about public places aswell coz i keep thinking that people will notice im panicing and will think what the hells wrong with this guy.

I want to be put on something like zoloft for this. I believe this is definatly panic disorder but my doctor wont change my anti depressant medication from avanza. She keeps saying the avanza will work just give it time but its been over 3 months now and its still not doing a damn thing.

I really worry that my doctor is to caught up in the fact that she believes that medication isnt the answer to these problems but any little bit of relief i can get i want to have and i believe that means going onto something like zoloft. I have enough trouble trying to get by with the fact that im suffering from derealisation i really dont need this closing the walls in on me even more.

If any of you have any ideas how i should try and aproach my doctor about this to try and get her to change her mind your opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Roy

[Roy21]

I just found a website that lists the name of the fear of looking up at high places i was talking about. Its called anablepophobia.

[Butterfly_Faerie]

Hello Roy,

the best thing you can do in a siutation like this when you are feeling anxiety ridden is to continue to go to places with high roofs. Deal with it with postive self talk, reassure yourself that nothing will happen. That is key.

Try not to avoid anything that makes you become anxiety ridden, that is giving into the anxiety and then it will become a phobia.

There are alot of tecniques to help you deal with this issue.
Even self help books can teach you coping methods, therapy, talking to someone about this fear.... and doing something everyday that makes you anxiety ridden.

I'm sorry that you are having such a hard time right now.

Hang in there.

[Myzen]

Hi Roy,

I've been there and I empathise with you on this.

One thing I came to understand (after years of working through panic disorder) is that the anxious mind invents the worries. We think that we are afraid of a certain thing in our environment, maybe high ceilings, social situations, or (in my case) the fact that we are vulnerable creatures in a definitely scary universe. This is the frightened mind projecting outside of itself. It's a kind of trick.

I realised that I was afraid of my own fear. The long, and slow process of recovery was, for me, learning how to be afraid, how to experience and deal with the fear.

It doesn't happen overnight, but it can be done, and a good counsellor or therapist will be able to help the process along. In the meantime I hope that you get the right medication and some short term relief.

Good luck, Myzen

[Roy21]

i know the fear isnt reality based and stuff n i know it will take some time to overcome this fear but i hate having this kind of stuff ontop of my psychosis and psychosis induced derealisation. Sometimes it just gets too much for me and it dosnt help with unsupportive doctors who wont try n help me with the medication side of things but the problem is i cant afford a better doctor to treat me. I am going to a government run treatment place for my psychosis n they have basically dont know what to do to treat the derealisation since the anti psychotic medications seem to have stopped working. It just really anoys me that the things i used to be able to do without thinking like going to the train station or being in places with high roofs seem to be such a panic inducing situation now. Not being able to drive due to the derealisation is a real prick of a thing but i am starting driving lessons again on friday even though i already have my licence i thought i need to try n find ways to deal with this stuff because it dosnt look like its going to be going away in a hurry.

Roy.

[sqrlb8]

Hi Roy, sometimes something so simple can affect a profoundly difficult situation. My brother has a similar symptom as the looking up at high places. He is also agoraphobic. This worked for him: a wide brimmed hat. I'm not kidding. It's not fool proof, but affords him a greater measure of mobility. If the brim of the hat obscures his vision of the height of a place, or the sky, he can manage not to look, and it seems that it is the looking that triggers him as opposed to simply the fact that the ceiling is high. I know it's a long shot, and sounds absurd, but there you go. Good luck, mate.

[Roy21]

yeh i actually tried that lol but i find when im at work i because i work in town halls at computer sales markets they have very high roofs and i have to constantly look up at the people im selling things to so i can talk to then n i always get the high roof in my vision behind me and start to panic straight away then i get a strange look from the customer because they think i was scared of them. My psycologist thinks that whats happened is that somehow looking up at heights has become connected to my fear of heights and thats why this is happening. She wants me to try graded exposure techniques to overcome my fear of heights but ive had a fear of heights for so long that i doubt i will be able to get over them. I was thinking about seeing a hypnotherapist but i have been warned that sometimes hypnotherapy can make anxiety worse. Im still considering the idea whether to try it or not. Thanks for your help sqrlb8.

Roy.