Agoraphobia- A Scary Anxiety Disorder

5 January, 2010 No Comment

The term agoraphobia has been derived from the Greek word ‘agora’ meaning fear of public places. You might be suffering from this anxiety disorder if you constantly feel the urge to avoid crowded areas, streets, stadiums, malls, movie theaters or subways. You might also become all sweaty and panicky while standing in a queue and fear traveling by one or more specific modes of transport such as buses, cars, airplanes or trains.

Agoraphobia is known to develop between the age group of 15-24 years particularly in men and in the age group of 30-40 years in women. It usually has a tendency to proceed as a chronic disorder but its severity reduces with time.

Causes of agoraphobia:

Agoraphobia is usually the outcome of panic attacks that seem to come out of the blue and leave an individual absolutely shaken. If these petrifying attacks are experienced by someone in one or more public situations they are at a high risk for developing agoraphobia.

Panic attacks are known to strike unannounced and often hit individuals in places or situations from which they are unable to escape or feel extremely embarrassed. For instance, a panic attack might strike you on your way to office in a subway or while paying your bill in the mall causing a great deal of physical and emotional agony. These individuals go on to develop extreme anxiety whenever faced with the situation of going outdoors. They consciously or subconsciously feel that a panic attack might strike again and feel a tremendous lack of control over the situation.

Agoraphobia without panic:

Although, most experts view agoraphobia and panic disorder together, research tells us that agoraphobia can also develop in cases where there is no evidence of former panic attacks. In such cases this disorder develops gradually over a period of time and takes on a specific pattern wherein the individual might feel threatened in particular situations outside the home.

The incidence of agoraphobia without panic is extremely rare but when it does make an appearance, affected individuals do exhibit traits of other unpredictable ailments such as colitis or epilepsy marked by attacks that tend to take them unaware.