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Anxiety: must be a cure?

Hope

I have had anxiety for most of my life, but it did not become disabling until around the age of 14/15. The anxiety takes the form of OCD (checking oven/lights and other appliances to make sure they are off, washing hands, fears around getting ill, and losing control); hypochondria (over-preoccupation with the body, interpreting tiny aches as signs of serious disease, which then brings on panic, hyperventilation, tension, and a feeling of dread, hyper-vigilance and a need to escape. The anxiety and bodily tension always disappears when I reach my home; mild agorophobia, brought on by the aforementioned hypochondria and panic  -it is easier to stay at home and not to venture too far away from familiar places.

I also have specific phobias: thunderstorms, dogs, lifts, crowds etc.

I am fed up with the anxiety. It stops me sleeping and relaxing, living life to the full, venturing too far from home, and generally prevents me from enjoying life.

I have tried CBT - it has not worked. I see a support worker 15 hours a week, and she has been invaluable in helping me to become more flexible with what I eat (due to contamination fears), and helping me to shop and cope better with crowds. But the extreme inner anxiety is still there, and it is making me unhappy. I have had CBT two times, to no avail. Is there no hope? What do I do? I have tried a short course of physiotherapy, which helped a bit, but the effects did not last.

I do not smoke, and  I eat a very healthy/balanced diet.

Parents

  • I am particularly worried about tomorrow at the moment. I have a job that requires me to be out in the evening now and again. I get particularly anxious about being out in the dark, even as early as 6pm in the winter, because it is harder to see potential threats in the dark. Last time I went out in the evening, I had a panic attack when a youth approached me with a bull terrier type dog off the lead. I had palpitations, felt sick, and VERY anxious, to the point that my legs felt as though they would give way.

    To repeat, I am really worried about tomorrow - worrying whether I will have another panic attack. The place of work is a 10 minute walk from the train station, and all the dogs I am scared of seem to come out in the night-time, plus groups of drunken youths, which I always find threatening. What can I do? Should I ask someone, for example a work colleague, for a lift to the station so I can avoid my fears?.

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  • I am particularly worried about tomorrow at the moment. I have a job that requires me to be out in the evening now and again. I get particularly anxious about being out in the dark, even as early as 6pm in the winter, because it is harder to see potential threats in the dark. Last time I went out in the evening, I had a panic attack when a youth approached me with a bull terrier type dog off the lead. I had palpitations, felt sick, and VERY anxious, to the point that my legs felt as though they would give way.

    To repeat, I am really worried about tomorrow - worrying whether I will have another panic attack. The place of work is a 10 minute walk from the train station, and all the dogs I am scared of seem to come out in the night-time, plus groups of drunken youths, which I always find threatening. What can I do? Should I ask someone, for example a work colleague, for a lift to the station so I can avoid my fears?.

Children
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