14 de marzo de 2025

Águeda González had her first panic attack at the age of 18. From then on, it was only a matter of time before she was confined to her home. “I started putting off doing things for fear of experiencing panic, and the more I reinforced the cycle, the more anxious I felt,” she laments. She eventually wasn’t able to leave her house unless she was accompanied. Her condition reached the point that she wasn’t even able to be at home alone. Her only concern was avoiding anxiety and fear. “When I was a child, I already had agoraphobic behaviors. I never went to my friends’ houses to play, or on outings. I couldn’t spend too much time without my mother,” she recalls. Then, from the ages of 14 to 18, she experienced a kind of respite in which she felt anxious, but it didn’t stop her from doing things. Anxiety disorders affect more than 300 million people worldwide, according to data from the World Health Organization. Of these, between 1% and 1.7% suffer from agoraphobia, with agoraphobia being up to twice as common in women as in men, although there’s no clear explanation for this (although cultural factors, upbringing, or unequal caregiving burdens have been cited). The true definition of agoraphobia falls short of the literal meaning that usually accompanies the word. This is because — far from implying a fear of open spaces — it’s actually a fear of fear itself. “A person with agoraphobia is afraid of a sensation and avoids places or situations from which it may be difficult to escape, or from which they may not be able to receive help if a panic attack occurs,” explains Rubén Casado, a psychologist specializing in anxiety. He’s also the founder of the Madrid Agoraphobia Association (AMADAG), which emerged from his own personal experience with the disorder. People who experience agoraphobia are those who have had a traumatic experience with a panic attack; that is, they’ve experienced a situation in which they suddenly felt that their own symptoms were dangerous. Rubén Casado, a psychologist specializing in anxiety and founder of the Madrid Agoraphobia Association (AMADAG), and Águeda González, a patient.Santi Burgos To get to this point, a person has usually experienced intense, sustained anxiety. The first manifestation of this anxiety is a panic attack, which explodes like a volcano, triggering extreme anguish. Finally, agoraphobia is the rejection of the anxiety experienced and the attempt to avoid experiencing it again. “In some way, the person begins to fear themselves after this experience,” the psychologist points out. A cycle is established, in which the person begins to fear their own reaction to fear. Hence, they try to seek refuge in external aids, be they people, places, objects, or rituals. For example, checking if there’s a hospital nearby when visiting a new place. Shame and misunderstanding González felt supported and understood by those closest to her, but she didn’t tell her extended family or friends. “I always had a good excuse for not doing the things they suggested. And I felt that I couldn’t do anything. I experienced [my condition] as a kind of shame that I had to hide from others. You become very skilled at trying not to let it show,” she notes. Casado believes that it’s not helpful to live in a society that rewards productivity and follows standards that are based on the notion of “anything is possible.” “There’s been a lot of publicity about anxiety, it’s talked about a lot, but it’s still not fully understood,” he says Anna García has suffered from agoraphobia for more than three years, but she’s also been dealing with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) for 20 years. Agoraphobia appeared at the best time in her life: she had a job she loved and a close-knit family. She felt that she had achieved her dream of stability. However, it was at that precise moment that agoraphobia set in, and she didn’t really know what was happening. “I started suffering from dizziness, fainting… I lived with a constant feeling of insecurity and fear,” she sighs. For months, all she wanted to do was sleep to avoid suffering. Her fear of falling down the stairs was so intense that she could barely manage in her own home. “I spent four months practically living in the dining room. I needed someone always near me, even to take a shower. Every day was hell,” she recalls. The hardest part for her has been the lack of understanding and prejudice she’s encountered. Her family was her lifeline, especially her mother, her children and her sister. Patient associations can become a source of support. The Spanish Association for Mutual Aid against Social Phobia and Anxiety Disorders (AMTAES) offers a community and resources to lean on. Its president — Enrique Vargas — points out that people who come to the association often struggle with social misunderstanding and find that AMTAES is a safe space to express their feelings. “Peer support is often a very useful tool for the recovery of those affected,” says Vargas. AMTAES hosts meetings and gatherings through a network of mutual support groups. Águeda González, patient.Santi Burgos “The patients can be helped and — at the same time — they can help others, which gives new meaning to their lives. They feel part of a group, and they feel useful by sharing their personal experiences with others. And they also improve their social relationships,” Vargas affirms. He adds that it’s important to make this reality visible, so that society understands the scale of the problem and that specialized, free psychological care programs are implemented by public administrations. For Casado, this visibility comes through awareness, but not just any kind. “Awareness has helped to better understand these disorders, but their simplification and popularization by non-experts also leads — in many cases — to overdiagnosing, or even underestimating this problem,” he explains. The psychologist believes that this can overwhelm clinics with milder anxiety cases, leaving more serious cases

Justin Bieber (London, Canadá, 31 años) ha preocupado a sus fans últimamente. En los últimos dos meses, el cantante ha subido varias publicaciones a Instagram fumando y en las que se le veía con síntomas de cansancio, lo que activó las alarmas por su pasado con las drogas. Uno de sus representantes desestimó estos rumores, calificándolos de “totalmente falsos”, y mantuvo que sus ojeras se debían a que estaba trabajando en nueva música, según comentó al medio estadounidense TMZ. Pero la estrella del pop ha vuelto a levantar inquietud con un mensaje que publicó este jueves 13 de marzo en el que dice que durante toda su vida le han dicho que “merecía ciertas cosas”. Sin embargo, siempre ha sentido que no merecía esos logros, como si él fuera “un fraude”. Bieber ha explicado este síndrome del impostor afirmando que, cada vez que alguien le felicitaba, él pensaba: “Joder, si supieran lo que pienso realmente”. El canadiense ha continuado: “Si supieran lo crítico que soy, lo egoísta que soy, no me dirían eso. Solo digo esto para decir que si alguien se siente de esta forma, bienvenido al club. Yo definitivamente siento que no estoy preparado y que no estoy cualificado la mayoría de los días”, ha publicado en una historia en Instagram, donde acumula 294 millones de seguidores. Más información Bieber, que está casado con la modelo Hailey Bieber (anteriormente Hailey Baldwin) desde 2018, también levantó rumores de que podía haber problemas en su matrimonio cuando después de subir la primera foto fumando en pipa de agua el pasado 20 de enero, algunos usuarios también apreciaron que había dejado de seguir a su mujer en Instagram. El canadiense desmintió estos rumores horas después, aludiendo que “alguien” había dejado de seguir a su esposa. “Las cosas se están poniendo sospechosas”, añadió entonces. En sus seis años y medio de matrimonio, la relación Bieber ha tenido muchos rumores de crisis, pero nunca han acabado por romper el matrimonio. El cantante ha confesado en el pasado que su mujer le ha ayudado a encontrar la normalidad en una vida compleja. El 23 de febrero, el representante de Bieber también declaró que el cantante se encuentra “en uno de los mejores momentos de su vida”, en el cual se está enfocando en criar a su hijo recién nacido. Este representante asegura que el año 2024 fue un periodo transformador para el artista, donde puso fin a varias amistades cercanas y relaciones comerciales que ya no le beneficiaban. Además, calificó los rumores como “agotadores y lamentables” y aseguró que, a pesar de la realidad evidente, algunas personas insisten en difundir narrativas “negativas, sensacionalistas y dañinas”. El canadiense tiene un hijo desde hace casi siete meses, al que su mujer y él pusieron el nombre de Jack Blues. El cantante ha expresado en numerosas ocasiones que es cristiano y que la fe le ha ayudado a seguir adelante en los peores momentos. Por ello, otra serie de publicaciones que subió el pasado 4 de marzo volviendo a fumar, levantaron muchas críticas entre usuarios que se preguntaban si esta es la mejor forma de criar un hijo. Esta tampoco es la primera vez que Justin Bieber lanza un mensaje similar en sus redes sociales. El pasado 8 de marzo publicó unas palabras donde agradecía “el regalo de la vida”. “No tenemos nada que demostrar hoy. Solo el regalo de la vida para aceptar y recibir”, continuó. “No se nos debe nada y no le debemos nada a nadie”. En otra publicación de febrero, habló sobre sus miedos e inseguridades. “¡Es hora de madurar! ¡Cambiar significa dejar ir! ¡No esforzarse más! ¿Estás cansado de intentar seguir todas las reglas con la esperanza de obtener los resultados que buscas?”, decía. Ahora mismo, a Bieber le va bien y no siente ninguna presión, según una fuente citada por la revista People. “Justin tiene unas pocas prioridades en las que se concentra cada día: Hailey, su bebé y la creación de música nueva. Está trabajando a su ritmo y trata de pasar el mayor tiempo posible con su familia”, ha explicado esta fuente. Sumadas a todas estas especulaciones, The U.S. Sun ha publicado este jueves que los Bieber están planeando mudarse a alguna parte de Europa para escapar de “la locura” que es su vida en Estados Unidos. Entre esas opciones podría estar la compra de una villa en Mallorca, según el medio británico. Justin Bieber saltó a la fama en 2010 gracias a la canción Baby, que hoy continúa como uno de los vídeos más vistos de la historia de YouTube, con más de 3.000 millones de reproducciones y casi cinco millones de comentarios. El artista lleva retirado de los escenarios desde junio de 2022, cuando anunció que, debido al síndrome de Ramsay Hunt, tenía paralizado un lado de la cara. Source link