So im 15 years old and I have panic attacks where ...

hey buddy i know what your talking about.fear is there for a very good reason...YOUR smart .thats just a sign of inteligence you are used to knowing and when you dont know it makes you crazy ,my suggestion to you would be what ever your afraid of you know little more  about .all phobieas are caused by( in one way or another) low self esteem people arent afraid of spiders or bats they just dont trust there abilaty to fight them of  .Im not afraid of hights im afraid of falling, a person would feel a lot better if he knew the pilot of the plane he was boarding...find out about storms find out the truth of colds and viruses youl feel allot better.

Hi Leah,

It sure sounds as though you're going through some tough times right now.

First, I want to ask if you've always felt this way or if this is something that has happened relatively recently.

If it is recent, is there anything you can think of that may have provoked you to feel this way? I ask because sometimes fear is a reaction to an event which has occurred and made an impact in our lives. The death of a beloved pet or a close relative; a divorce; school worries... There are many, many possible causes.

If you have always felt this way, are your parents aware of how crippling your fears have become? If not, do you feel as though you can share this with them? They really are the best equipped to find help for you; we here on Yedda can only listen and make suggestions - but we cannot be there to hold your hand.

Leah, if you will let me know the answers to those questions then I can go ahead and give you a few suggestions; okay?

I am on and off of Yedda periodically (it depends on if I have to babysit or not), but I will do my best to give you an answer back as quickly as I can.

Dear Leah,

   I can so understand your fear.  The things you talk about can be very scary if we let them grab hold of our minds.  Being fifteen, I am certain that you have a lot of concerns about your future out in "The World".  Sometimes, things we are afraid of are just too scary to think about, so we substitute other scary stuff to focus on instead. Taking just what you are telling us, however, you have an imbalance in the way you think about things.  You are obsessing, fixating on certain very negative situations in life, and not allowing all of the good, beautiful and nurturing things have even a little bit of time in your thoughts.  This imbalance could be just the way you think, it could be a chemical imbalance or both.

  I would strongly suggest that you find a good therapist to work with.  The issues that you are talking about can get better, but, it would be very good to have someone who can help you.

  It occurs to me that you might like to know that there is someone else there who can support you and help you through what you are going through.

  As overwhelming as what you are dealing with may seem, there is help.  Take that first step and get help.  You don't have to do this alone.

  Elena

hello leah, when I was your age I had a huge number of fears too. I was terrified of killer deseases too, there were different ones then, and I couldn't sleep alone unless I had a knife under my bed as well as many more fears. First you need to know that the news always reports the absolute worst of things, I guess they get better ratings that way, so staying away from it is probably a good idea until you get this under control. The second thing to remember is that the fear of something is always far worse than the thing itself. For example the swine flu, it doesn't feel any worse than the regular flu, and in most parts of the world for someone your age it is easily treatable with anti viral medications. The news prefers to scare the crap out of people over it to get us to all "tune in" to get the latest information, that is how they make thier money. I believe the suggestion to know more about the things that scare you is a very good one, that is what worked for me. Be sure to make an effort to fill your mind with more posative things to think about too. For everything bad we hear about there are usually at least ten good things that we don't hear about, we need to LOOK for them ourselves. Instead of being afraid of getting sick, allow yourself to be very happy that today you are healthy. Be extremely happy and grateful for the days when the sun is shining. Storms can be very scary because we can't control them, so try to think about all the things you love that need the rain to grow, a favorite flower maybe or a food you really love. Even if it is a mc donalds hamburger, it still takes rain to grow the grain to feed the cows to make the hamburger. If you are able to talk to your parents about this, you probably should and see if they can get you in to a counselor who can help you a lot more than we can here. If you aren't comfortable with that maybe you could try your guidance counselor or school nurse, they may have suggestions of where you can get more help in dealing with your fears.