The Agoraphobia Mindset

Most people with agoraphobia (or other anxiety disorders) practice some or all of these types of irrational thinking that contribute to anxiety, panic, and fear:

Catastrophic thinking: Blowing negative events or feelings way out of proportion. Turning small mistakes or minor setbacks into major catastrophes through exaggerated thinking. The magnification of negative events leads to a magnification of fear, anxiety, or panic experienced as a result.

Black-or-white thinking (also called all-or-nothing thinking): Viewing everything in terms of absolutes or extremes. Things are either right or wrong, good or bad, with no in between.

Perfectionism goes hand-in-hand with all or nothing thinking. People who think this way are often perfectionists, putting themselves under a great deal of unnecessary pressure with unrealistic expectations, which increases anxiety and fear of failing. If their unrealistic expectations are not met, they tend to label themselves as “bad” or a failure.”

Magnifying the negative: This type of thinking is a close cousin to black-or-white thinking. Magnifying the negative means dwelling on the negative aspects of something and making it seem much larger than the positive aspects. You will often hear people who think this way making statement that start with "yeah, but.

Overgeneralizing: Assuming something that happened one time in one place or situation (usually a negative event) will continue to happen in all places and situations. If you have agoraphobia, you will be familiar with overgeneralization because overgeneralizing after your first panic attacks is probably what led to agoraphobia.

Emotional reasoning: Using emotions, or how you feel, as evidence to back up irrational thinking. Doing this can lead to inappropriate emotional responses to events or circumstances (such as panic or anxiety) as well as self-defeating behaviors. Emotional reasoning is sometimes done in the face of objective evidence to the contrary.

Personalizing: Assuming the blame for something that you might have influenced but was not totally under your control. This leads to anxiety that comes from feeling too responsible for other people’s emotions, decisions or behavior.

Negative mind reading: Assuming that other people are thinking and feeling negative things about you without any real evidence to support your assumption. Some people with agoraphobia live as though they were psychic, always assuming the worst case scenario when interpreting other people's comments, expressions and behaviors. People with agoraphobia suffer from a lot of unnecessary anxiety that comes from always assuming the worst when it comes to how other people might be perceiving them and wondering what they might be doing wrong to cause such negative reactions from others.

Rigid Expectations: Thinking of personal preferences, wants, or choices in terms of absolute rules. Rigid expectations are usually expressed with words like “should,” “ought to,” “have to,” and “must.”

Fatalistic thinking: Thinking of yourself as powerless to make choices or affect the outcomes of your own life. Fatalistic thinking is holding the belief that the forces that govern your life circumstances lie completely beyond your control. This is a way of not taking responsibility for your decisions and behavior.

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

Stephen Price is a recovered agoraphobic with a master’s degree in psychology. His informational website on agoraphobia featuring a free newsletter can be found at: www.agoraphobia.ws

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