Common feared and avoided situations for people with agoraphobia include crowds, large open spaces, elevators, bridges, and traveling. For example, an agoraphobic who fears having a panic attack while driving may also begin avoiding other means of transportation, such as being a passenger on a bus, train, or plane. For example, an agoraphobic may not be able to travel to important appointments, attend special occasions, or perform common day-to-day activities. Avoidance behaviors can intensify to the point that the person becomes homebound with agoraphobia.
It may be difficult to comprehend how a person can develop avoidance behaviors. To get a better understanding of avoidance behaviors, imagine that you have the panic disorder: you are in a crowded movie theater when you experience an unexpected panic attack.
You begin to tremble, your chest hurts, your heart races, and you feel as though you are choking. You wonder if you are having a medical emergency. You begin to feel as though you are watching yourself from a distance. You feel trapped in the movie theater, and despite your embarrassment, you run out of the theater.
After you left and your symptoms have subsided, you feel ashamed about how you reacted. The next time a friend invites you to go see a movie, you decline, finding it too difficult to go again. You begin fearing having a panic attack in other similar situations and start avoiding other crowded areas, such as shopping malls or concerts. Your avoidance behaviors begin to put restrictions on your life. Once a person develops avoidance behaviors, it can become extremely challenging to face feared situations.
Avoidance behaviors may feel comforting, giving the person temporary relief from anxiety. But these behaviors only reinforce their fear and anxiety in the long run. Agoraphobia and avoidance behaviors can worsen if left untreated. Fortunately, there are treatment options that can help in managing agoraphobia and overcoming avoidance behaviors. You might think that you're totally losing control, having a heart attack or even dying. Fear of another panic attack can lead to avoiding similar circumstances or the place where it occurred in an attempt to prevent future panic attacks.
Agoraphobia can severely limit your ability to socialize, work, attend important events and even manage the details of daily life, such as running errands. Don't let agoraphobia make your world smaller. Call your doctor if you have signs or symptoms listed above. Biology — including health conditions and genetics — temperament, environmental stress and learning experiences may all play a role in the development of agoraphobia.
Agoraphobia can begin in childhood, but usually starts in the late teen or early adult years — usually before age 35 — but older adults can also develop it.
Women are diagnosed with agoraphobia more often than men are. Agoraphobia can greatly limit your life's activities. If your agoraphobia is severe, you may not even be able to leave your home.
Without treatment, some people become housebound for years. You may not be able to visit with family and friends, go to school or work, run errands, or take part in other normal daily activities.
You may become dependent on others for help. There's no sure way to prevent agoraphobia. However, anxiety tends to increase the more you avoid situations that you fear. Patients with agoraphobia may need medication management , counseling , or both to recover. Exposure therapy is one common type of counseling for agoraphobia, though therapists may also recommend other types. Exposure therapy involves a patient gradually facing his or her fears and proving that nothing terrible will happen.
For example, someone who is terrified of riding an elevator may start by walking past elevators. Then, he could step onto an elevator, let the door close, then get right off. Eventually, the patient can ride up a floor or two to prove to himself that it is not a life-threatening situation.
Prescription medications can help patients cope with the intense feelings that exposure therapy can expose. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Agoraphobia is the persistent and extreme fear of spaces that are usually outside of the home.
Common symptoms include:. Those who have agoraphobia may experience a fear of having a panic attack in public as well. Agoraphobia is often misunderstood as being primarily a problem in which people are afraid to leave their houses. However, there are more specific behaviors that suggest a person may have agoraphobia.
The physical symptoms of agoraphobia are similar to those that may occur during a panic attack, such as anxiety, increased heart rate, shortness of breath, and feeling sick or dizzy. In addition, the fear of having a panic attack in public, losing your sanity during a panic attack, and worrying that a panic attack is life-threatening can be symptoms of panic attacks, panic disorder , and agoraphobia. According to the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-5 , people who experience agoraphobia have a "marked fear" about two or more of the following scenarios:.
The criteria established to diagnose agoraphobia include the person's fear being "out of proportion" to any danger that could occur. Sometimes, this is referred to as an irrational fear. In addition, for a diagnosis of agoraphobia, the symptoms must be persistent, lasting at least six months. Avoidant behavior is another part of the diagnostic criteria for agoraphobia.
A person with avoidant behavior steers clear of the object or situation they fear as well as anything they associate with their fear. Living with restrictions on what they do, where they go, and who they interact with are common for someone experiencing agoraphobia. Though symptoms of agoraphobia and panic disorde r can be similar, agoraphobia is its own diagnosis outside of panic disorder.
In other words, you don't have to be diagnosed with panic disorder to be diagnosed with agoraphobia. Though, even if you don't have panic disorder, you may still have panic attacks associated with agoraphobia. Though there are many conditions that are commonly associated with agoraphobia, you don't have to be diagnosed with any of them, either, to be diagnosed with agoraphobia. The exact cause of agoraphobia is unknown, but experts think it arises due to a variety of factors.
One study found that agoraphobia was likely to occur alongside social anxiety disorder or panic disorder. Another study found that people with panic disorder and agoraphobia were also frequently diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder OCD. With social anxiety disorder, a person becomes overwhelmed and their fear response is triggered by social interactions or being around people.
Agoraphobia could arise from this fear, leaving those who are affected to avoid places with other people entirely.
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