I've never actually used triggers before, but I wound up curing myself of my fear of flying using a variety of other cognitive strategies. (Yes, I used to sit there in the plane, gripping the armrests and literally thinking flyflyflyflyflyflyflyfly continuously the entire flight.) And it really worked. So I know I can do it ... if I wanted to.
That's good! You can control your reactions to this dangerous environment, and that's really where you want to be - in control.
The "triggers" for your phobia are those things that set you off. Chances are, it's not going to be the entire environment that's the problem - there will be something very specific in that environment that triggers your panic. Triggers can be really innocuous, and it's easy to lose sight of what the trigger is when you're caught up in panic. Locks seem to be one trigger for you. If you pay attention to the similarities in each episode of panic, and think about what initially sets you off in these situations, you might uncover more.
Once you recognize a trigger, you're in a position to stop the attack before it escalates from anxiety to panic. Then there's no need to grip the armrest and talk yourself through an entire flight, because you've controlled your reaction before it escalates to that point. You develop some control over your reaction to your environment, which is a big thing. Controlling your reaction is a lot like controlling the environment itself. And it sounds like for you, control is key - your fear seems to be centered around not being able to control when and how you come or go.
But here's the catch, I'm feeling ambivalent about wanting to cure it -- at least for the elevators (which are really the most problematic), partly because I do have an alternative (where I didn't for flying). Besides, I've actually convinced myself that walking up stairs, although inconveniant and a little strange sometimes, is actually a better practice ... it uses less electricity and is healthier to boot. Which was fine for a while, but now I'm wondering if my refusal to fight the fear is causing it to spread, as it were, wondering if I should just fight it as a matter of principle.
Well ... as you can see, I'm starting to come up with my own answer here!
Triggers can indeed escalate, or transfer to other situations. And sometimes the symptoms (your reactions to the trigger) can themselves become triggers. To use my fear of intersections as an example, my initial trigger is the act of stopping and waiting. Stopping and waiting makes me vulnerable. Cars are zooming by, the world is moving around me, and I'm standing still. This is dangerous. A moving world isn't so dangerous if I'm moving with it, but if I'm not? There be dragons.
My reaction to this situation is a sense of dizziness and lightheadedness - these are symptoms of my panic. But the dizziness itself, because it indicates the escalation from anxiety to panic, has itself become a trigger. So now, whether I'm at an intersection or not, dizziness and lightheadedness can trigger a panic attack.
Recognizing your triggers is important, because it gives you a chance to control your anxiety before it escalates. The very first exercise I had to do when I went into therapy for agoraphobia was to catalogue all of my panic attacks, noting the time, place, duration, a description of the environment, and my reaction. Then the therapist and I went through them and looked for commonalities, to try to isolate my triggers. Once I knew what they were, then I could find ways to address the triggers themselves, instead of dealing with the fallout of the ensuing panic.
Cataloguing my attacks also helped me realize that if I have a panic attack, I'm much more prone to panic for the rest of the day. So I know to be on the lookout for that. Lightheadedness and dizziness are key symptoms/triggers for me, so if I have a panic attack, I make sure that I have water and some snacky food handy in case of another one. The water is to take me outside of the panic, and the food to boost my blood sugar. And sometimes just having taken these precautions prevents further panic attacks.
There are things that you can do so that the quality of your life isn't affected by this. For me, isolating the triggers was the first step in learning how to manage the fear.
