Walking Programme
A number of medical papers have been written on this subject and it appears that people suffering from agoraphobia can be helped to reach agreed goals. This can help as part of a recovery program. It is important for the sufferer that help is available from the support team so as to make it possible for the sufferer to have someone available to walk with them for one hour a day for a minimum of three months. The length of time will depend on the individual sufferer , and some cases be either shorter or longer.
My own experience of this was that there would be days when I could walk a hundred paces from my home ,and then the next day could only walk half that distance , but if carried on trying over the next few days I found I was able to regain the ground I had lost . At this time I had no one who was able to walk with me ,and so I contacted my Doctor who put me in touch with the local health centre . Someone from the health centre invited me and a number of other sufferers to a meeting ,and I was able to go as that day had someone to walk with me .
At this meeting we ( the sufferers ) were told what would be available in the coming months ,and one of these things were that they were going to organise a barbecue in the grounds of the health centre and that the sixteen sufferers who were at the meeting were invited I was told I had to come on my own with no one walking with me . Found out the following week that the people at the health centre who had organised the barbecue were disappointed that none of the sixteen sufferers had turned up . I went back to walking the hundred yards I had been able to do on my own then each week for the next ten weeks I would ring up the health centre to say how I had managed to be told " this is not very good you should have got here ".
From my own personal experience it becomes apparent that as we have learnt to become afraid it is possible to unlearn these experiences . This is what I believe the hour a day support that the support group can provide is helping the sufferer build a memory bank of positive memories in overcoming panic attacks