«Amyra's fears increasingly restricted our lives»

Amyra was a cry baby and was anxious and very sensitive from an early age. When she was away from us, she often had high fevers and missed us terribly. When she was about four years old, we realised that her fears went beyond the «normal». She was afraid of everything that was high and wobbly: open stairs, escalators, lifts, but also darkness and fog. And she was terrified of losing us or being alone.

At first, she simply stopped when she got scared and didn't want to go any further. When she was about five years old, she began to react physically to situations that frightened her. She began to sweat, her heart would race, she would hold her breath and freeze. She almost fainted. These were real panic attacks.

The fears increasingly restricted our lives. At some point, normal everyday life was almost no longer possible. She didn't want to go to nursery when it was foggy or dark. When we were out and about, we tried to avoid all escalators and lifts.

At some point we realised that things couldn't go on like this. We asked our paediatrician for advice. She referred us to a psychologist, but the waiting time was six months. So we looked for alternative treatment methods and found a riding and trauma counsellor. Amyra was six years old when she started therapy there. We also sought help in the field of body energetics.

Our daughter had to learn to assert herself and to communicate clearly and precisely.

Our daughter built up a lot of self-confidence through therapeutic riding. The nature of the horses and the trust that the animals placed in Amyra helped her to find the strength she needed to face her fears.

She had to learn to assert herself, to communicate clearly and precisely so that the horse understood her. When the horse followed her round the course for the first time, she was very proud. Through this and other experiences, she became more and more courageous. She later started playing the piano and singing. This also helped her to become more self-confident.

Time and time again, we found ourselves in fearful situations with her in order to overcome them. We took the lift or escalator hundreds of times. Walked over wobbly and high paths. Were out and about in the dark. Step by step, she learnt that nothing bad would happen if she did this. After a year, our lives were back to the way they used to be.

Amyra is now in third grade and we are amazed at how our daughter has changed. She is confident and courageous. She hardly has any fears any more. The key to this was probably that she built up her self-confidence and we practised situations with her a lot.