Fear of crowds?

LegacyUser

Am I alone in this?

Right now, I should be at Creamfields. Doesn't need a genius to figure I'm not. Before you ask, I wasn't on anything.

I got there, and it was cool, but when it came time to enter I just couldn't go. I just couldn't face the sheer amount of people there. I can't even accurately describe how I felt - but it was a mix of panic, anxiety and probably a bit of fear.

I'm generally not that bad - in fact I've never really experieced something similar to this before

Any ideas or similar experiences?

swiss

It sounds to me like you suffer from agoraphobia, a fear of crowds.

I don't suffer from it myself, although I do appreciate my solitude - and I quite like large open spaces. I couldn't find a solution on google offhand, but I would recommend that you first try to see to what depth this feeling runs. You might try attending some family function like a wedding, which certainly draws people, but don't usually bring large crowds.

Based on that experience, you might feel that the larger crowds won't be so bad. If however, even the thought of small crowds freak you out, it might be worth your while seeing a councillor. You would be denying yourself a lot if you stayed away from social events because of a phobia you might possess.

However, like you said, you never experienced this emotion before. So it's probably only where you would be dealing with large crowds that this comes in. What was it specifically about the aspect of the large crowds that put you off so much? The noise, bustle? Or the sheer size/enormity?

Dunno if this helps, but try not to think of the crowd as 'people'. Instead you could view it as a sea, or an obstacle course (god I'm really bad at explaining this). In other words, just concentrate on yourself and not on anyone else there. This might be easier said than done, but you could try it in less stressful circumstances, like walking down a busy street. I dunno if that would work, just a thought.

Clintons Cat

Large Crowds tend to hieghten emotions,

Think of a football match.A Game will seem more exciting if its being played before a capacity crowd than if its being played in front of a couple of hundred supporters.

What happened was your own feelings of anxiety at being in an unfamilliar situation and unease at being in close proximety to so many people was amplified until it became an overriding dehibllitating sense of panic.

To be honest i dont think its that uncommon for people to experience such sensations,i dont think you are agrophobic.
But recognise it for what it was an adverse reaction to a situation.
In the future you might feel negative emotions towards proposals to attend such events.Maybe you will just deciede such events are not for you.

try not to worry about it,but if it does trouble you or it starts to affect you in everyday life try talking it over with your GP.If it becomes a serious problem such things can in most cases be overcome with a course of hypnosis.

Oh and yes i have experienced it and it can be scary as hell,when you dont know whats happening to you.

PS hope this helps.