The Mystery Behind Debilitating Phobias

"Monk" Makes Anxiety Disorders Funny, But For 40 Million Americans, Phobias Are Paralyzing

(CBS) 
Dean of the Mount Sinai Medical School in New York City, Psychiatrist Dennis Charney studies anxiety disorders. He said the amygdala, the part of the brain that registers fear, seems to be overactive in the brain of a person who suffers from anxiety disorder. The cerebral cortex, the part of the brain that tells you to calm down, appears to be under-active.

"For the patient, many times it's gratifying to know that it's not a weakness, that this is a brain disorder that scientists are learning more about every day, so we can develop better treatment," Charney said.

Phobias, like the fear of heights James Stewart experiences in "Vertigo," are the most common of the many anxiety disorders. In "The Aviator," Leonardo DiCaprio plays reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes, who had among other things a germ phobia. Hollywood seems to love fictional anxiety disorders — remember Jack Nicholson in "As Good as It Gets?"

But real performers get them as well. Donny Osmond and Barbra Streisand both have suffered from social anxiety disorder, which led to debilitating stage fright. Streisand didn't perform in public for years.

Because of 9/11 and the Iraq war it would be hard not to have heard of post traumatic stress disorder.

Composer Allen Shawn suffers from agoraphobia — a fear of being unable to escape, and a fear of being anywhere outside his personal safety zones, including Bennington College in Vermont, where he teaches. Cars, elevators, airplanes, open spaces and closed spaces can all frighten him.

"I have turned my car around many, many, many times," he said. "I'll literally have the feeling, you know, I don't deserve to live. It's a terrible, terrible feeling."

He called the memoir he's just written "Wish I Could Be There." His father, William Shawn, the longtime editor of "The New Yorker" magazine, had multiple phobias and the magazine was his safety zone.

"The New Yorker made it possible for him to engage with everything and with all kinds of people, without you know, going to Mt. Everest," Shawn said.

Shawn believes that his phobias were triggered by the institutionalization of his twin sister Mary who was autistic. He said he internalized the shock of what he saw as a banishment of his sister. His feelings were then compounded by the fact that his family never discussed what happened.

"We didn't process it as a catastrophe," he said.

Shawn believes years of treatment, medication and psychotherapy have helped him battle his fears and to accept that his achievements, even his music, may be a response to them.

"In music I can actually go down the lonely wooded road and not, you know, bolt from it and turn the car around," he said.

Monk, the TV detective, may also benefit from his phobias. Monk has become the stand-in for millions of Americans, who want people to realize that for them, just getting through a day can be an act of courage.

"The crime solving is related to his obsession with orderliness," Shalhoub said. "I just focus on what's off."

"The fact that Monk is so brilliant, and the fact that at the end of the episode he is able to overcome his issues, to solve the murder, is heroic," Hoberman said.

[rational_1]

"i am 55 and i had anxiety attacks all my life. fixed it with drugs and booze. ended up in aa and na. a doctor put me on paxil and i have never had another problem. 6 years clean and sober."

I think this poster makes a very important point. How many people have alcohol or drug abuse problems that are secondary to other issues such as OCD, anxiety or depression? There's no point in addressing the alcoholism if you don't first determine that there isn't an underlying reason for it. Treat that and the alcohol or drug abuse problem becomes much more manageable.

[boop9295]

I am 37 years old and have been suffering from panic attacks since the age of 13. For years I told no one of this problem in fear of someone thinking I was crazy. At first I thought something was wrong with my heart until I was diagnosed. Finally at the age of 23 after giving birth to my daughter I became agoraphobic. For 3 months I confined myself to my home. I then knew it was time to seek help because I could not let my daughter see her mother like this. I have been on Zoloft for and diazepam for 14 years and I am doing great. I still have occasional panic attacks but I am able to leave my home and function normally . Whatever "normal" is. My medicine has been a life saver. If anyone with panicanxiety disorder would like someone to talk to please feel free to e-mail me at [e-mail]. It is nice to be able to talk to others who can understand or just need someone to listen to them.

[boop9295]

I am 37 years old and have been suffering from panic attacks since the age of 13. For years I told no one of this problem in fear of someone thinking I was crazy. At first I thought something was wrong with my heart until I was diagnosed. Finally at the age of 23 after giving birth to my daughter I became agoraphobic. For 3 months I confined myself to my home. I then knew it was time to seek help because I could not let my daughter see her mother like this. I have been on Zoloft for and diazepam for 14 years and I am doing great. I still have occasional panic attacks but I am able to leave my home and function normally . Whatever "normal" is. My medicine has been a life saver. If anyone with panicanxiety disorder would like someone to talk to please feel free to e-mail me at [e-mail]. It is nice to be able to talk to others who can understand or just need someone to listen to them.

[retro63metro]

Jerilyn Ross' Cognitive-Behavioral model taps into the patient's (I'd say limited) ability to quash his or her obsessions and/or compulsions, but requires using the logic that "this is an illness and I will stop checking NOW." I say that's 50% of the job.

I can tell you that abject terror/anxiety/confusion engendered by my OCD sent me home from Brown University midway in my college career. The semester before, Thorazine helped me limp through, but even at 19 I knew that was no answer.

Since then, it has been the Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors that have tamed the compulsions more than the obsessions. !

But is OCD a Psychological Problem in itself? Hell, no. However, dealing with a therapist and receiving medication management are a better combination than taking the Psychological or Psychiatric (drug treatment) route by itself.

Many believe that if you pull up your bootstraps, something in your better nature will cause the planets to align and you will be cured cause you're YOU! That old depression-era way of thinking doesn't explain or solve psychiatric problems.

Sometimes, the help we need goes beyond someone's kind words and good intentions.

[hmikem]

i am 55 and i had anxiety attacks all my life. fixed it with drugs and booze. ended up in aa and na. a doctor put me on paxil and i have never had another problem. 6 years clean and sober.

[gi822]

I did not see the piece this morning but my mom called and told me about it so I decided to log on and read the article. I began suffering from anxiety and panic attacks when I was 23. I am now going to be 26. I'm afraid to travel outside of my "comfort zone" and because of this I have missed out on so many fun things in life. It's a sad thing to live in a "box". I wish I never had this disorder but am thankful to have such a wonderful support system. I am currently seeking therapy in hopes to help overcome or at least control my anxiety. I once heard that when you fear nothing, only then can you feel completely free. I hope that comes true one day for me and everyone else that suffers along with me.

[freezulu]

I'm afraid of getting a new phobia - seriously.

[gmond]

He won.

[thenamesdave]

Tiny bit off topic, but what is Monk doing with the Stanley Cup in that photo?

[jonnyg9]

I think this poorly describes Anxiety Disorders. Not all Anxiety disorders are a disease but a behavior problem; with the exception of OCD. Furthermore, Monk is a poor representation of the average OCD suffer. They make it out as if he can never get better; while millions of OCD suffers get better every year. I've learned to deal with my anxiety and have virtually cured my OCD; I do not take meds now nor did I ever take them. Im not saying everyone can be med-free but a strongly motivated person can overcome any of these Anxiety Disorders with out medication. Furthermore, Pure-OCD has even been labeled as possibly being a psychological condition rather than a mental illness by leading psychologist on Pure-OCD Dr. Steven Phillipson. Phillipson also stated in an article that the character in "As good as it gets" is not at all like an OCD suffer but more like someone with OCPD. Sounds to me like this show is more than happy to help out the pharmaceutical companies.

[justfacts2]

Sueys855 if you truly want help then you will find it. Otherwise you can use it as an excuse. My best friend was suffering from Agoraphobia and got the help she needed. Now she is active in her son's life again and functioning very well. When she refused to go to her son's school function that is when I got involved. She is divorced and the father doesn't participate in any way, so his mother is all he has. When it starts affecting the kids, then that is where the line should be drawn.
Like I said, if you truly want to be rid of this then you will find the help you need. The other key is to make sure you have an excellent support system to help you get better. I imagine by now your whole family is so fed up with living like this and they are so used to it, they couldn't care less and that is a total shame.

[susieq855]

This story hit home with me. I have had agoraphobia for as long as I can remember and I am 51 years old. I have felt guilty all my life about not being able to go out and do the things that "normal" people do. I have felt so bad for my kids when I just couldn't make myself go to things at school and their dad would go for us both. This story has made me feel less guilty. It is such a relief to know that it is my brain that has the problem. I would do anything to not have this problem but I suppose I will have it for all of my life. It has been a horrible way to live. Scared of everyone, scared to go out in public, scared to walk outside my door even to my car when we lived in town. I no longer even have a drivers license because I couldn't go get it changed when we moved to a different state in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the forest a few years ago. At least here I can go outside.
I have looked for help but found none so I gave up.

[rlmattos]

I work as an advocate for the mentally ill and I have a family including myself that suffers from panic disorders. I am so happy to hear that there is a physical reason why we and others have the problems we do. One of the best things to hear is it runs in families. That explains a lot. For me personally, the treatment for the problem will be most interesting. I believe a medical problem like this can be addressed with drugs therapy as well as counseling in order to get peace finally. That is not my usual and customary belief but may very well be in this case.

[hypnotoad72]

I suffer from depression and anxiety, stemming from the core root of Asperger's Syndrome (AS). AS is a higher functioning form of Autism, legitimized in the United States in 1994, but accepted in europe for decades. But I digress. Many people do misconstrue the net result as anything from simple shyness to - get this - outright schizophrenia. (And I had a legal case, but opted not to sue the 'doctor'. No doubt the fool will have retired by now or had been pursued by somebody with a little less anxiety...)

What I ought to do is jump on the "I've got a mental illness and write a book about my life!" bandwagon. Everybody seems to be doing it, I could write a couple chapters that would freak everybody out and as such justify their $14.95 plus sales tax purchase, and everybody loves a good sob story too. Look at the drivel being passed as 'entertainment' on television... :D

I'd rather get on with life; I'm not as much an opportunist as I ought to be...

[coachkristen]

I thought this story was excellent. I am a Certified Master Life Coach who went through the horrific sensations of anxiety a few years ago. I developed tools to help myself and I also went to therapy briefly. Anxiety Disorders are so miunderstood by so many and also mislabled. I wanted to say to anyone that watched the show this morning, you are not alone, there is help out there and you can regain your life. My anxiety was the best thing that ever happened to me, without going through it, I would not have published a book, I would not be doing want I always wanted to and that is to help people!
You can have peace from it, you really can!