Living and dying...laughing and crying...Housebound I am...

[DillJenkins]

Hello agoraphobic people. I graduated college in 2008 have lived at home since with no job or anything.

I am basically housebound. I need tips to get me un-stuck. I am afraid to get a job and this is why I stay at home in my room.

I have often wondered if becoming homeless would motivate me enough to get a job and I decided I would just move to a warmer climate so as not to freeze to death.

It seems like my agoraphobia is just based on extreme avoidance behavior. I have tried all the conventional medicine.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Phobologist]

Hi Dill, I don't know much about agoraphobia. Could you please explain more to me about how this illness affects you?

 

[Kanon]

Take your time too, life isnt a big rush. Get prepared, do things when you are ready.

(sorry to pirate your thread, but i am also interest in this topic).

i wish i could say the same, but it feels like a big rush. my student loans are overdue, credit card debt from paying apartment rent on them while at college, an unsupportive single mother raising three other children and wants nothing to do with me, not a single phone call for an interview after countless online applications for local jobs... friends and acquaintances have their own lives and have forgotten about me, family members look down on me when they visit. AND i'm trying to fix it all of it. i tried at my own pace, and it got nowhere fast, then i tried at paces of motivational books, therapists, prescriptions, and almost everything legal that i could think of.
i guess time doesn't wait for anyone, so if your own pace is in sync with natural time, then its okay i guess.

 

[releaseme]

you say..."I am afraid to get a job"
question: have you ever had a job?

living at home....those were the days.

my parents rented back then...they moved when i was 18, which left me on my own.
it was a horse farm and other people were living with us at the time but, i was forced to rent the room i grew up in if i wanted to stay at home. my rent back then was $120 a month.

the job market is tough right now. i've been looking for work for over a year, and like Kanon, i too have filled out many applications and the call never comes. You know times are bad when you resort to selling your personal belongings to pay basic bills and buy food.

and we all have our reasons for being housebound. fear being one of them. but that doesn't stop the bills or basic needs. yes, sometimes being forced to fend for yourself means, facing your fears against your will.

 

[Remus]

I have tried all the conventional medicine.

Yup bag of crap they are too for this.

For agorophobia, exposure therapy works wonders, theres a few cheap books out there on it or google it maybe.

I've helped a few people get out in real life with those techniques, four infact, they went on to do better with thier lives!

 

[anxiousnut]

I am in the same exact boat as you, seriously. I graduated last may with an awesome GPA, and I can't even bring myself to start looking for a job. I am a very anxious person and I am terrified to get a "real job". I sit at home ALL day, everyday, and I can't seem to start my life. I don't even go anywhere or have any friends at this point. And I can feel my parents' disappointment/aggravation. It makes me feel like such a damn loser. Sometimes I worry I'm going to be one of those old, miserable ladies who talks to my cats and has to have people bring her food! lol

 

[Kanon]

Sometimes I worry I'm going to be one of those old, miserable ladies who talks to my cats and has to have people bring her food! lol

there is nothing wrong with talking to cats!
believe it or not, after awhile they are great company. xD

 

[DillJenkins]

I am in the same exact boat as you, seriously. I graduated last may with an awesome GPA, and I can't even bring myself to start looking for a job. I am a very anxious person and I am terrified to get a "real job". I sit at home ALL day, everyday, and I can't seem to start my life. I don't even go anywhere or have any friends at this point. And I can feel my parents' disappointment/aggravation. It makes me feel like such a damn loser. Sometimes I worry I'm going to be one of those old, miserable ladies who talks to my cats and has to have people bring her food! lol

Yes...it seems were in the same boat on this one. It makes me feel like failure to sit at home all day with Bachelor degree and no job.

The only income I have ever had was working for my father. I worked for him for over 10 years. This means that growing up, I never got a real job because I was never forced to.

It seems my fear of rejection is so strong that I never even try to look for work for fear of rejection. I mean....I look at the available jobs and just looking makes my stomach turn.

I have been in therapy for years. We work on CBT and exposure therapy. For me...if I do the exposure like say....pick up a job application...I will beat myself up over it. I kinda tell myself that I looked so nervous and im positive the person picked up on it. It seems my negative post-evaluation of my performance after the exposure makes me feel even worse.

Ah well....I suppose I could get on disability someday if it comes to either that or being homeless.

 

[iamthenra]

Aye....Another Metallica fan, eh?

Living and dying laughing and crying
Once you have seen it you will never be the same
Life in the fast lane is just how it seems
Hard and it is heavy dirty and mean

Motorbreath
Its how I live my life
I can't take it any other way
Motorbreath
The sign of living fast
It is going to take
Your breath away

Don't stop for nothing its full speed or nothing
I am taking down you know whatever is in my way
Getting your kicks as you are shooting the line
Sending the shivers up and down my spine

Motorbreath
Its how I live my life
I can't take it any other way
Motorbreath
The sign of living fast
It is going to take
Your breath away

Those people who tell you not to take chances
They are all missing on what life is about
You only live once so take hold of the chance
Don't end up like others the same song and dance

Motorbreath
Its how I live my life
I can't take it any other way
Motorbreath
The sign of living fast
It is going to take
Your breath away