Scanning

Scanning is the constant monitoring of one’s own body for strange or unusual symptoms. Some agoraphobics engage in obsessive scanning because they do not trust their bodies and many suffer from hypochondria. As with most people with phobias, agoraphobics are prone to catastrophic thinking and can be extremely vulnerable when it comes to taking on new symptoms they hear about, even symptoms of other disorders.

When I had agoraphobia, I got very nervous about whether or not the vital organs of my body would continue to function.

The dreadful sensations produced by panic attacks made it feel like my organs might be failing on a regular basis. As I said before, I often felt like my lungs were about to collapse or that my heart was about to give out. Other times I felt like I couldn’t swallow food. When I got really dizzy or felt numb and tingly I worried that my arteries were no longer circulating enough blood through my body. All of these feelings made me wonder what kept my body working and how I could be sure that my vital organs and bodily systems wouldn’t just give out.

I stayed pre-occupied with this question when I suffered from panic disorder and agoraphobia, so much so that I became a hypochondriac. Like so many others with anxiety disorders, my hypochondria led to long hours spent lying in bed scanning my body and trying to detect anything that might be wrong.

I overreacted to minor pains and sensations. For instance, if I felt a small pain in my side, I was sure that there must be something terribly wrong with my liver or my spleen. For long periods of time I would keep my hand on my chest to make sure my heart was still beating or blow into my palm to make sure my lungs were still taking in and expelling air. One time when I got a headache, I worried that my brain might be loose in my head.

Uncertainty about what kept my body working fueled my anxiety disorder to the point where I had trouble falling asleep at night for fear that if I let go of consciousness and left my body mentally unattended, something might quit on me and I might die in my sleep.

I wrote this article to let you know that if you have agoraphobia and are overly concerned about the functioning of your body you are not alone. In nealy all cases, whatever you think is going on in your body is just the anxiety and is not dangerous.

Article Source: http://www.agoraphobia.net

Stephen Price is a recovered agoraphobic with a master’s degree in psychology. He has an informational website on agoraphobia with a free newsletter. It is found on the web at www.agoraphobia.ws

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