More Agoraphobia Thought Stopping: Focusing

If you have agoraphobia, a technique most recovery books call "focusing" is another way to stop irrational thoughts before they turn into anxiety or panic.

Most good athletes perfect this technique to block out possible distractions and anxiety in situations where the pressure is on. A baseball pitcher may see only the catcher's mitt. A basketball player may see only the rim as he shoots. A kicker in football may see only the goalposts. None of these athletes, when focusing, will hear the noises of the crowd, or see banners waving that are meant to distract them, or even pay attention to their own internal doubts and insecurities about their performance. They are lost in the moment and focused on what matters.

If you have agoraphobia practice focusing to shut out irrational thinking that leads to anxiety and panic. As soon as you catch yourself thinking an irrational thought, willfully focus your thoughts on something else as if it were of utmost importance. You can focus on anything, and the more senses you can engage the better.

A good example of focusing is in Albert Camus' The Stranger, where the main character does not hear a judge speaking his death sentence because he is caught up in enjoying the colors on his lawyer's tie.

You can choose anything to focus on:
1) Try to remember what you did last weekend.
2) Sing the lyrics of a favorite song.
3) Try to estimate the temperature in the room.
4) Guess what material a chair or piece of furniture is made out of.
5) Count the number of ceiling tiles.
6) Put your hand on your wrist and take your pulse.
7) Feel the thickness of two books and try to decide which one has more pages.

The more you can learn to focus on things from your immediate environment and focus as if your life depended on it the better. The main thing is that you distract yourself from whatever irrational thought has come into your mind and to keep it from staying around long enough to cause anxiety, panic, or another symptom of agoraphobia.