Crowd anxiety

I dont raeally like crowds, its like an information overload i need to observe all the people coming towards me to make sure there not a threat (mugger etc..) asin crowds i really got my work cut out. My way of dealing with this is to walk very quickly through the crowd. Im concentrating so much on working my way through the crowd that i dont start watching for potential trouble. This is the way i handled crowds for years and it always woks for me. The problem i started seeing this girl who usualy wheres heels and walks quite slow. Last saturday we went shopping on our high street idid my usual thig as walking through crowd but she slowed me down asked me to walk slower. As soon as i did, information overload im hyperventilating alittle and at the start of a panic attack. I tried explaining i to her and she seems to understand but im worried my crowd phobia is gonna happen everytime im with her. The problem is how do i overcome it... if i avoid crowded spaces then that will make it worse right... if i try and desenitise myself to crowds only to have a big panic attack i could make my phobia 100 time worse or do i just keep going like i am and say to the girl hey wher crowd im gonna have walk really quickly now... feel like im in a catch 22 situation. By the way , this only trivial problem its not something which is ruling my life im not in fear of becoming agorphobic or anything :P

Thanks for reading

Badfish

 

Badfish, i totally understand. after my nervous breakdown and the agoraphobia that came with it, my awesome mum would take me to a little shopping centre, then a slightly bigger one with more people, until she had me at a huge mall, quite unfazed by it. but its still a huge problem for me. i have plans in the city on saturday night, going right into Sydney for a festive girls night out, and i am already SO anxious, the city always makes me anxious- no room to move, breathe, so many people etc (i live an hr outside of sydney in a rural district with wide open spaces!) so this is tough for me and i totally understand how you feel.

you are not alone in feeling this way, i bet there are hundreds of other AP sufferers who feel the same- i know i do! keep your chin up and be strong, and know that i respect your journey.

Maz XX