8 years ago l suffered from severe anxiety disorder. So scared to eat, drive or even walk out my door. l was this way for about 6-7 months, then l got the guts to just drive far away by myself. l do not remember how l did it know though. My fear of being in public is back, l am scared of something happening to me while l am surrounded by nothing but strangers. What can l do? l hate medications! Any advice?

l used to be the same. but one day many of my friends forced me to go to town with them. l saw some people on a street corner giving free hugs. my friends all joined in very quickly l did too. l got very used to hugging strangers. l still get nervous eating & talking alot. but it was really fun!! we just stood there with big signs & hugged nice people :) maybe u should not jump to something that extreme but u could try just going out to eat somewhere that you've beent o before.

l had a comparatively milder form of public anxiety, and l had a therapist who asked me what seemed like a really simple question: what is the worst that could happen? And has anything that I've feared every actually come to fruition? l was able to ''talk'' myself out of it by reasoning with myself. Good luck!

l used to have severe social anxiety too & had a very difficult time leaving the house to even go grocery shopping because l was so scared of what people thought of me, if they were judging me, if someone was going to hurt me, etc. it sucked so much!

What helped me eventually get passed my phobias was a realization that l had no control over anyone is actions except my own. Knowing that l can control how l react to certain things gave me power over the anxiety.

l still get nervous from time to time, but it is not nearly as bad as it used to be. l hope this helps!

Negative emotions (like sadness, stress, anger, etc.) causes ur Serotonin production to be low; when ur Serotonin level is low, u r more prone to getting Anxiety, Panic Attacks, Depression, etc.

Medication like Antidepressants (SSR l - Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor) helps to boost Serotonin level.
But there r natural ways to do it without medication. There is this strange herb called ''St John is Wort'' - it is said to be more effective than Prozac. No, it is not for mild depression only & ignore those sayings. In fact, it does help anxiety & panic-attacks as St John is Wort works like prozac. Other natural ways will be exercise, diet, more exposure to light, etc.

The problem is that, even if ur Serotonin is balanced. u have that ''learned behavior'' in ur mind. You need to break that initial cycle to destroy that learned behavior - Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) does this. A technique that u can use without CBT will be Distraction. There r several other techniques to help cope them!
Ok, to use Distraction: Firstly, try to..

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