Does anyone else suffer with a fear from open spaces.

[Cozabear]

Since year 9 I have struggled with a fear of open spaces. Every-time i leave my house i feel detached from my body and get an overhwelming feeling of panic. I am wondering if anyone else is struggling with this and what have you done to help yourself? I am getting to the point where i just don't want to leave my bed anymore.

[NMTB]

Hi Cozabear,

I will pose some questions, although entirely up to you as to whether you answer them and in what detail.

When you say "open spaces" do you mean you would get anxious faced with a space where there was no other human presence and no possibility of human presence? or;

do you mean you get anxious in a situation like eg. going out to get the mail, where there may be some neighbours out in the street or the possibility of neighbours emerging from their houses?

You say you have struggled with this since year 9, how did it first manifest itself? About how old are you now and how has the fear developed/expanded over the years?

Have you previously talked to your GP about this or had any psych help?

Sorry for all the Q's, I have had agoraphobia for several decades and I am just trying to gauge your experience against my own. There are no simple answers but I can share my relevant experience.

To reiterate, please feel absolutely free to answer any or none of my questions 🙂

Cheers.

[Ell43]

Hey Cozabear,

Welcome to the forums! I'm so glad you've come onto here to look for some support/advice.

It sounds like you're experiencing some really crappy anxiety at the moment. I'm sorry to hear it.
I thought I'd recommend using the word NMTB has used, "agoraphobia" in a google search followed by the term "BeyondBlue Forum". You might find this will bring up some other threads from this forum that might help answer your question about whether or not others have the same experience as you when it comes to a fear of open spaces. You might also find some of the advice thats been offered to them might be helpful for you.

What we do know about mental health issues, and in particular panic and anxiety, is that lots of people have similar experiences. I'm sure you're not alone!!

Ell

[Cozabear]

Thanks for your reply to my post! I’m more then happy to answer your questions. Being completely isolated in a space with no other human presence would be my ultimate nightmare. People don’t worry me it just so happens that in most large spaces there is lots of people. I’m most anxious in halls, shopping centres,ovals and bridges.

the first time I encounted this fear I was playing on the oval to sport and I had to lay down in the middle of the oval. All I remember is quickly jumping up and leaving the oval as soon as possible. I am now 19 and my anxiety is fine some weeks and worse others.

I have spoken to a GP a psychologist and even seen a hypnotherapist. No one has seen to have helped me yet. But I am due to see another psychologist so fingers crossed.

[NMTB]

Hey Cozabear,

Found your response really interesting. Our experiences are very different! For me it is the fear of encountering other people in public spaces, of embarrassing myself in front of them (eg. tripping over, something silly like that) which would bring on a panic attack. What I have just described is fairly typical social phobia leading to agoraphobia. Now agoraphobia as a diagnostic category is reasonably wide and could encompass what you describe, but it doesn't seem to fit that well.

I'll just pause here to say I am no psych and I'm glad you are seeing one, this is just me with no qualifications passing on info for what it is worth, I am not pretending to have any more authority than that!

So, I did a bit of digging and you may have already heard the term "Kenophobia" which means fear of large/empty spaces or voids. People who have the phobia suffer the usual heightened anxiety symptoms (shortness of breath, racing heart etc as well as an urge to get away from the situation). Would be interested to know if your last psych mentioned this or whether the new one you see knows of it - that is of course if you wish to share 🙂

Anyway, hope this is of some assistance and if not, at least a bit interesting!

Cheers.