I would like to discuss my personal anxiety experience and story, which includes panic disorder and agoraphobia. Originally I hesitated to reveal my personal experience, but I realized that doing so might allow me to really connect with you in a way that would be most helpful.


An important point to take from this article is that you can improve your life. But there’s more… you can effectively deal with your anxiety and get better!
You might be thinking something like, “You don’t know me Matthew. How do you know I can recover?”

It’s true. I don’t know you personally, but let me tell you a little about my personal anxiety experience.

I was a person who experienced crippling anxiety and very harrowing panic attacks. It seemed as though I was losing my mind. I attended the emergency room of a hospital many times because I was convinced that I was either having a heart attack or going crazy.

Even between panic attacks, I experienced very bad, generalized anxiety. I was not able to go to work for quite a while. It got so bad that I didn’t feel able to leave the house.

I began fearing sleep because I had anxiety enter my dreams and upon waking the anxiety was still with me. This is when it really got bad because it felt as though there was no escaping it. You have probably had the experience of having a bad dream, and on one level you know you’re dreaming and are waiting to wake up, and then you do. Well this is how I felt except the dream did not end. Also when I was awake, many times I felt as though I was not in reality but in some sort of altered reality. It was very scary. At the time I felt as though I had never previously been in such a bad place.

Now I’m not telling my personal anxiety story to scare you…but to give you some of a sense of what I went through and recovered.

Today I am no longer immobilized by anxiety and you do not have to be either…

My personal anxiety experience and that of many others who suffered from anxiety and recovered can be helpful. I’m not saying we’re all the same, but I want to share an important concept from Melanie Greenberg, Ph.D.

Dr. Greenberg her article, Emotional Storytelling after Stressful Experiences: A Way to Find Meaning, discusses how sharing negative experiences can “instill compassion, and inspire action, words can provide the writer with a sense of purpose and potential control over future events that can counteract the helplessness and loss of meaning which characterize the experience of victimization.”. My desire is for my personal anxiety story to be helpful for you and to illustrate that you no longer have to be a victim of anxiety.

You see eventually I was able to get past the panic, I was really able to experience enjoyment for the first time in my life (well that’s how it felt anyway); I could just be and be happy. I encourage you to read that again: I could just be and be happy. To a sufferer of anxiety and panic this truly is a nice destination to reach in life.

But there were certain reasons why I was able to get better…

My journey through anxiety and panic really allowed me to do an abundance of research on anxiety, panic attacks, agoraphobia, depression, stress management, and overall wellness.  I soon learned an abundance of tips and techniques for not only beating my panic, but living the best life that I had ever lived. There are so many factors that can be involved with anxiety, such as diet, improving your thinking, how you can learn from your mistakes and help your anxiety, being plagued by obsessive thoughts.  The experience allowed me the opportunity to meet a wonderful psychologist who was able to help me learn many things.

A very important concept is the following:

If you can maintain a belief (even in the back of your mind) that you can get better and are willing to practice what I’d like to share then I think you’ll discover you CAN get better.

I’m going to level with you though. My getting over severe panic attacks and anxiety was not a matter of just taking some medication and doing some stress relief.

I had to be willing to make some changes (changes for the better) that allowed me to improve over time.

I want to introduce you to credible, evidenced based information about anxiety, panic attacks, and agoraphobia. This is what I was exposed to and the reason I got better. However without getting the appropriate help I probably would have been stuck indefinitely. But as I said this does not have to be the case.

More and more research is demonstrating that people are able to get through anxiety and panic attacks with certain techniques, certain techniques that I’m going to share in my free newsletter.

I also strongly recommend to anyone whose life is being hindered by anxiety that they consider seeing a competent psychologist or other mental health therapist to help them work through their panic, anxiety and/or agoraphobia.

I hope that sharing my personal anxiety experience with you has been helpful. I hope that you’ll get started by taking with what I have to share with you by taking advantage of my free newsletter by joining below.

Reference (Personal Anxiety Experience Reveals Information On Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia)

Greenberg M.A. Psychology Today. January 30, 2011. Emotional Storytelling after Stressful Experiences: A Way to Find Meaning. Retrieved June 30, 2012, from http://www.psychologytoday.com/collections/201106/the-power-stories/emotional-story-telling-after-stressful-experiences-way-find-me