Iwanttobreakfree
07-13-2010, 05:21 AM
I have been petrified of heights for my whole life (31 years) it is very bad and I avoid all but the shortest escalators and flights of stairs. I would never climb a mountain or anything like that, and hate high bridges etc. I have always had an underlying claustrophobia but this only became a problem 10 years ago, when I began panicking when tube trains stopped in the tunnel, and stopped using the tube and lifts. I have not used the tube in all those 10 years and have only used lifts 3 times, when I was absolutely forced to - and I was utterly petrified. I have NEVER flown anywhere, but I will be flying in a month's time. The flight is about 2 hours each way. I have been seeing a therapist for a few months, who is teaching me self-hypnosis. He says I need to face the fear now, and just get on the tube and use lifts. I have been to tube stations and felt less nervous than I used to, but I have not been able to take the leap and just get on! The ironic thing about my phobia is that it's the phobia itself that is trapping me, not lifts or tubes. I used to be fine with both - I remember sitting calmly for 15 minutes while my tube train sat in a tunnel, in the long-distant past, and using lifts every day, in the tube station near my house at the time. Can anybody please help me? I am so anxious at the moment. ALL advice, support and suggestions would be very gratefully received. Thanks! :)