Leaving a Situation

maybe she's going by the book and thinks that its best for you? i suppose the main objective is in time you stick a situation out? ive sat out situations sometimes i felt bad sometimes i felt good afterwards, but in time hopefully it wont be a matter of sitting things out

i suppose you have to get there in your own time? being forced might be as bad as being comforted to much?

What situation am I running away from though?

when I leave, the stomach pain follows me. I can't get away from it.

That is what I don't understand. I would get it is I was claustrophobic and didn't like the lecture because there were loads of people and I couldn't get out.

well it depends on whether your stomach problems are caused by anexity or not i often had to leave lectures not because like you said i was afraid of the amount of people but because i was suffering various pains a generally feeling unwell? if your leaving a situation cause your suffering a stomach problem then thats leaving it cause your ill if its related to anexity then that is all part of an anxeity problem i suppose and maybe thats where your therapist was get confused?

I believe I've dealt with a similar situation regarding wanting, or needing, to leave meetings and lectures. Mostly this occured while in meetings at work where there were tons of people around me. I developed this intense feeling of needing to leave the room, I had to know where the exits are, and I also developed a OCD where I would continuously swallow until I was close to gagging. Hence I had a fear of gagging/coughing loudly in public and worked myself up into the fear. I was positive people were watching me. This started in early 2002 and got so bad that when I started a new job, the very first week we had a huge meeting where they introduced the new staff. When they called my name all I had to do was stand up and do a little wave, but by the time I sat down I was having a full-blown panic attack, my first ever. My heart felt like it was beating out of my chest and so very loud, it felt like it was in my ears, my chest was so tight, bile was rising up in my stomach and I felt I had to continuously swallow to keep it down - I was so panicked. I ended up leaving the meeting 3 times because I thought I was going to puke or freak out. Here it is my first week on the job and I'm leaving a meeting 3 times while the VP is talking. Yikes - add to the panic!!! I managed to let the managers know I had some kind of stomach bug, what a liar I am.

After therapy and some meds to deal with the OCD I am able to sit through meetings. I have tried to go off the meds but the obsession to swallow always comes back, and it seems worse than before. So I'm still doing meds, but when I go to meetings I do not think about leaving the meeting or the swallowing I used to do, but I am aware of where my exits are. I always need to sit by the exits and never in the middle of a row of people, always on the end.

Anyway, that is my experience with leaving situations.