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Today, we continue with the theme from recent weeks with another sub-area of Anxiety Disorders: Agoraphobia with Panic Attacks. 

AGORAPHOBIA (from the Greek for "fear of the market place") is experienced as an overwhelming fright of being around groups or crowded public places. The affected individual is afraid that s/he will be unable to easily extricate him/herself from the threatening situation, or experience a panic attack in public without help being readily available.

A panic attack is an abrupt-onset episode of intense nervousness or overwhelming fear in situations that hold no real or apparent threat/danger. The attacks typically have a brief duration, although the physical and psychological after-effects might linger for hours.

I trust that you've been reading about the other anxiety disorders in our previous mailings, and are ready to jump right into a wonderfully informative and entertaining video on the topic. This 2-parter is simply super!  However, I can’t take any of the credit.  Once again, it is the creation of one of the stellar graduate students (Thanks, Kara!) in my teacher-training program that develops expertise in working with youngsters who possess severe emotional and behavioral disorders.

In Part 1, we meet Paige, a 14 year-old girl with dyslexia. Formerly a sociable youngster, highly involved in activities, she now has become increasingly isolated, depressed, and fearful of crowds.  She experiences panic attacks in school.

"We fear the thing we want the most." Robert Anthony

Part  2 identifies specific symptoms, risk factors, diagnostic criteria, complications that often accompany the condition, and interventions for in and out of school.  We then check back with Paige, hearing of her progress due to the interventions being implemented at home and school.

"We have nothing to fear, but fear itself." Franklin Delano Roosevelt

There are plenty of intervention strategies identified in the videos. Here are some others:

1. Engage a Shaping Plan: A pre-designed series of steps are implemented in order to de-sensitize the youngster to the fearful situation and/or build successful behaviors for those circumstances.

2. Download a relaxation audio into the individual's mp3 player for listening previous to, during, and after anxiety-producing events. Here's a free sample of such an audio.

3. Natural remedies that have a calming effect on anxiety.

4.  If you are the parent or teacher of a youngster overwhelmed with anxiety, check out Dr. Gary’s page of supports and materials on the issue.  You’ll find books, games, and more that are geared toward helping children and youth ease the social strain. 

   en Espanol!

 Why does this puppy run away from social situations s/he wants to be a part of?

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What's on the agenda for next time? It's Autism awareness month, so I've planned something EXTRA special for teachers and parents of youngsters whose challenges are located on the spectrum. Spread the word!

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Author: Tom McIntyre, Ph.D. at DoctorMac@BehaviorAdvisor.com

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