ANXIETY DISORDERS
The Caregiver

Hello, I'm Ken and I live in Victoria, B.C. Canada. I have been maintaining this caregivers' site since 1995.

About halfway through my high school teaching career, I developed cancer which led to almost continuous rounds of radiation and chemotherapy. I beat the cancer, but the stress triggered panic attacks, agoraphobia, depression and more than a touch of OCD. I overcame those too, but what I went through was almost worse than the cancer. I will not forget the way I felt and the 'demons' which tried to control me.

A few years after I recovered, I found myself the primary caregiver to a dear friend who had recently developed severe agoraphobia and panic attacks. Based on my own experience, I could offer some help but I didn't feel I had a sufficient number of tools with which to be an effective support person and not allow the vortex of fears in which she lived to control my life.

Not finding anything in print which offered suggestions to families of those with these anxiety disorders, I turned to the Net. The Net had no information, but there were many people (both caregivers and those with the disorders) looking for similar information. We hoped we would be able to support each other until the professionals who had the information were able to disseminate it.

Pioneer Efforts to Help the Caregiver

Basically, I found that we were the pioneers in gathering this information and professionals and lay people alike come to take advantage of it.

I actually started the site with the hope I could get large publishers interested in having something written by experts. It didn't take too long before we all realized there were few if any experts and much of what has subsequently appeared on many "expert" pages seems startlingly similar to what is on this site. Also, material on some other sites reflects only the programs offered by the site maintainers and does not give alternate methods of help. Not everyone responds to the same procedures.

In short, it appeared hardly anyone had thought of the anxiety sufferer's caregivers. I was constantly faced with people who didn't have a clue about what was wrong with the people who experienced severe anxiety and had less of an idea about what to do to help out.

The contents and format of the material on this site and in our publication are the result of the combined input from caregivers, those with the disorders, teachers, employers, health professionals and other interested people.

Today, we are still gathering information and probably have the largest collection of anxiety caregiver/support information available anywhere. In addition to making some of it available on this site, Oakminster Publishing is assembling the information and will make it available as part of their Anxiety Caregiver Series, with all net proceeds going towards the operation of our site.

Thanks for dropping by. If you have a comment or suggestion, wish to be put in contact with other caregivers or, just want to say "Hello", -- send me a note.

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