Agoraphobia is like an unexplainable fear of places and situations which are crowded, open where your mind thinks that escape will be difficult if something goes wrong. It causes a lot of panics, embarrassment, and extreme anxiety. That’s the reason they don’t tend to venture out like to go back to their safe place known as home. Examples of places where they don’t feel safe include shopping malls and theaters where escapism is difficult.

CAUSES:

Cause of agoraphobia is genetic and often runs in families with an event occurred in the past such as the death of a parent or being attacked can act as a trigger. It is also linked to other underlying anxiety disorders or substance abuse such as chronic use of tranquilizers and sleeping pills are linked to agoraphobia. Nicotine inhalation during tobacco smoking has also been linked to it. Other theories linked to agoraphobia include:

• Attachment theory
• Spatial theory
• Evolutionary psychology

SYMPTOMS:

• Panic attacks during the visit of any unfamiliar places where you are not comfortable such as crowded places with stares.
• The constant need to go back to their safe place ‘home’ so that they can escape the human crowd or unsafe places.
• Staying at their home or in isolated places for longer than usual time.
• Social embarrassment
• Avoiding many places cause of unnatural fear of escapism.
• Enjoying comfort zones even in medical emergencies and refuse to leave your home.
• They fear to wait outside for long periods of time.

DIAGNOSIS:

Complete medical and past family history based on the symptoms by the doctor can confirm the diagnosis.

TREATMENT:

• PSYCHOLOGICAL INTERVENTION: in combination with medication is very effective in knowing the patient’s root cause of fear, by studying the emotional and psychological behavior and ultimately finding a solution that can benefit them by working patiently step by step each day.
• COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY: involves coaching or training the participant through discussion and to replace their irrational beliefs with the factual and beneficial ones.
• RELAXATION METHODS: can be anything that is relaxing to your mind even if it is music or meditation or talking to your friends or family has proven to be quite effective in preventing anxiety or panic attacks.
• DESENSITIZATION: the best method to try and slowly eliminate your anxiety is to slowly and steadily exposure to your fearful situations or place that you fear and face that exposure in bits every day which can help our unconscious mind to deal with it and will help in converting that fearful situation to a familiar and safe place.
• COMMUNICATION AND TALK ABOUT IT ! the best effective key of phobias is to vent out and share your fears and talk about it to eliminate the fear slowly instead of letting it build inside you.
• MEDICATIONS: include benzodiazepines, MAO inhibitors and tricyclic antidepressants in combination with therapy.
• EMDR: Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing can be an alternative treatment when cognitive therapies are ineffective or when agoraphobia develops after trauma.