Agoraphobia is a form of anxiety disorder. The word is an English adoption of the Greek words agora and phobia. Literally translated as "a fear of the marketplace". A common misconception is that agoraphobia is a fear of open spaces. This is, though, most often not the case since people suffering from agoraphobia usually are not afraid of the open spaces themselves, but of public spaces or of situations often associated with these spaces. The Greek word agora should be interpreted rather as a crowded marketplace than just an open space -- this makes the common combination of agoraphobia and claustrophobia less conflicting. Some people who suffer from agoraphobia fear social gatherings where help in an emergency might not be readily available. Others are comfortable seeing visitors, but only in a defined space they feel in control of. Such a person may live for years without leaving his or her home, while happily seeing visitors and working, as long as they can stay within their safety zone.
An agoraphobic may experience severe panic attacks during situations where they feel trapped, insecure, out of control, or too far from their personal comfort zone. During severe bouts of anxiety, the agoraphobic is confined not only to their home, but to one or two rooms and they may even become bedbound until their over-stimulated nervous system can quiet down, and their adrenaline levels return to a more normal level.
Agoraphobics are often extremely sensitised to their own bodily sensations, sub-consciously over-reacting to perfectly normal events. To take one example, the exertion involved in climbing a flight of stairs may be the cause for a fullblown panic attack, because it increases the heartbeat and breathing rate, which the agoraphobic interprets as the start of a panic attack instead of a normal fluctuation.
Agoraphobia can be successfully treated in many cases through a very gradual process of graduated exposure therapy combined with cognitive therapy and sometimes anti-anxiety or antidepressant medications.
One example of a case of agoraphobia from modern literature is the character of Boo Radley from Harper Lee's prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird.
Lisa Angelettie, M.S.W., is a psychotherapist, author, and an online advice expert. She has been helping people make smarter life choices since 1998. Visit her for Advice & Counseling, or take a free Depression Screening today.
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