By WKRG Staff
Published: Wed, May 02, 2007 - 7:05 am
"I have so many people come up and hug me and say, 'Oh gosh, I feel like I know you. I feel like you're my next door neighbor. I feel like you're my sister. I feel like you're my grandmother.'" Paula Deen talks about the personal connection she shares with her fans. Those fans will likely feel even closer to Paula after they learn the rest of her story.
In her new book, "It Ain't All About the Cookin'," Paula Deen tells about her lengthy battle with an anxiety disorder called agoraphobia. "I kept it a secret for years and years and years and years," she says. "I was ashamed. I was embarrassed. I didn't want people to think I had a flaw."
Psychologist Cay Welsh says anxiety disorders, which can include obsessive compulsive disorder, panic disorder and a variety of phobias, are not uncommon among people who are in the spotlight. She says, "Agoraphobia technically means fear of the marketplace." It's a fear of leaving a safe place. Some people with disorder are afraid to leave their home.
When high profile figures like Paula Deen come forward and talk about their struggles, they help their fans recognize how anxiety disorders may be affecting their own lives.
If you think you have a problem, Welsh says you should ask yourself, "How much is it interfering with your life- Is it keeping you from going out and doing the things that you would like to be able to do that you would normally do and how much discomfort is it causing you-"
Paula Deen is now a long way from that crippling discomfort and she's free of the shame that burdened her for so long.
She explains, "When I could finally talk about it, it was like having a weight lifted off my shoulder." She goes on to say, "I hope that anybody that suffers from that will ready my book and know that their life does not have to be lived that way."
To find out more about anxiety disorders, go to www.adaa.orgor http://www.apa.org/topics/topicanxiety.html
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