need advice

[Viking1]

I have a moderate case of agorophobia. I've been working on the program and getting better. My problem is I have a daughter who is showing signs of mild anxiety. Not sleeping at night, blows off the handle over little things. She is a very emotional girl. She is starting college in a couple of weeks and I want to know if I should introduce her to this program or not. The reason I don't want to is because she's borderline anxious and hypochondric. I don't think she has a bad enough problem to go through this course but I also think it'll help her. If I introduce her to this program I'm afraid she might go "overboard" and think she has a full blown problem when I know she doesn't. Any suggestions?

[Joe P.]

Hi Viking. If you haven't already, I would talk to her in a way that isn't intrusive to find out if she really is struggling with anxiety/panic/depression. I know when I was younger, I kept it hidden from my parents and put a facade on that I was in control at all times. This scared me so much that I couldn't bear to go to my parents about it. Somehow, I thought they would see me as weak. I suppose this was a cultural thing but I remember the "hell" that I used to live through while always keeping a happy face. Now is always a good time to start the conversation. Good luck.

[newrunner]

I agree with Joe P.

I had significant signs of anxiety in high school, with no compassion or help from parents, and going off to college was really hard for me. I would have welcomed someone showing me, in love, how I could learn to help myself by learning some life skills that I missed.

Any problem of any size is big enough to fix. The reason you would share is you care for her. I think that is cool, and I bet she would too.