"Fear is the child of the wounded soul. I read this sentence once and I think it's totally true. I was afraid - of others, of turning red, of having a heart attack, of life. In the end, it was so bad that I hardly went out at all. I could no longer take the subway, go shopping or drive a car. I was not fit to live.

Even as a child, I was very shy and I often turned bright red. I could feel the heat rising in my face and my heart was beating like crazy. The others teased me a lot about it. I was glad when school was finally over.

Then everything was okay for a while. I trained as a bookseller, met Alex when I was 30, we got married and our daughter Lena was born. Looking back, I would say that was the best time of my life. I was still shy, but no longer to such an extreme. Sometimes I still blushed when a customer was difficult to please. I also had problems finding the right words. I felt so stupid, so terribly stupid.

"I felt like I was in absorbent cotton, completely detached from the world"

When Lena moved out seven years ago, the blushing got worse again. Today I know that this fear has a name: Erythrophobia. At work, I was happy if no customer approached me. Then there was this incredible tiredness. I was often far too exhausted to go to work. One morning on the way to the subway, my heart was racing terribly. I broke out in a sweat, I couldn't breathe, my legs were shaking and I had to lean on a lamppost otherwise I would have simply collapsed. It was horrible, I thought I was going to die. After ten minutes it got better and I went home. Alex drove me to the doctor. "The young doctor diagnosed me with a panic attack and prescribed me anti-anxiety medication straight away.

This medication made me feel like I was in absorbent cotton, detached from the world. I withdrew further and further. I was like in a cocoon. My job? I sneaked in and somehow worked - but there wasn't an ounce of drive. I think the only reason I wasn't made redundant was because I'd been working at the company for so long. That lasted about six months, then the medication wore off. My heart started racing again, I was shaking, I didn't want to leave the house. I panicked about the panic, I was convinced I was going to drop dead when I was out and about.

The doctor then referred me to a psychologist. She helped me find my way back to life. She made me realize that I wasn't crazy. That it can happen to anyone. It also helped me that we gave my anxiety a face, a name. I suffer from a social phobia. I'm afraid of making a fool of myself in front of other people. I learned that it's not so bad. And I learned to laugh at myself. I'm back - back in my life."

Tips and information: Where does anxiety disorder come from and what helps?

Anxiety is essential for life. But sometimes it becomes pathological. Around 20 percent of all people worldwide suffer from an anxiety disorder at some point in their lives, and the trend is rising.

Cause of an anxiety disorder

It is the thoughts about what could happen in the worst case scenario. If the person affected cannot shake off the negative thoughts, they increasingly dominate their life.

An anxiety disorder can develop suddenly as a result of an unpleasant event. However, it can also creep up slowly - when a person is increasingly exhausted, for example due to an illness or a situation experienced as a crisis.

Anxiety disorder symptoms

Every type of anxiety triggers a complex physical process. An alarm is triggered in our emotional center, the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol are released, blood pressure rises and the heart beats faster. When the danger is over, the physical reactions subside. With an anxiety disorder, however, the danger remains in the mind and the physical symptoms do not subside.

Therapies

There are psychotherapeutic, pharmaceutical and body-oriented forms of therapy, and combinations can also help. The therapy depends entirely on the individual patient's symptoms. Professional help is needed when life is dominated by anxiety.

Our book tip: "Confronting anxiety" by Ursula Tirier. 12 euros. Patmos publishing house

There are also these types of phobias

➜ Ablutophobia: fear of washing and water.
➜ Gerontophobia: Fear of older people and ageing.
➜ Chrematophobia: Fear of banknotes and coins.
➜ Acousticophobia: Fear of loud sounds and noise.
➜ Dextrophobia: Fear of the right side of the body.
➜ Anatidaephobia: Fear of being watched by ducks.
➜ Jocalephobia: Fear or extreme disgust of earrings.
Carnophobia: Fear of meat and sausages. Lachanophobia, on the other hand, is the fear of vegetables.

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