Agoraphobia

Frequent mix-ups: Fear of tight spaces (claustrophobia)
Additive: often occurs together with a Panic disorder on.

see also: Therapy agoraphobia

definition

Earlier:

The term agoraphobia is made up of the Greek words Agora (Market (place)) and phobos (Phobia) and describes in its original meaning the fear of places.

Today:

In general, agoraphobia is still understood to be “fear of certain places”. People who suffer from agoraphobia experience an intense fear or an uncomfortable feeling as soon as they find themselves in a place where no escape would be possible if suddenly unexpected panic or unpleasant physical reactions for themselves occur.
Furthermore, those affected worry that in an "emergency" they would not be able to get help or that they would get into an embarrassing situation. The people concerned see avoiding these places as the only way to avoid their fears and uncomfortable feelings.
For example, the following places are avoided by people suffering from agoraphobia:

1. elevators
2. large gatherings of people
3. Planes
4. Trains
5. buses
6. large department stores

When the fear and uncomfortable feeling become too distressing for people, they isolate themselves completely and avoid leaving the house. However, if it is necessary to put oneself into a situation that is feared by the person, other people are often taken as an accompaniment who represent a security for the person concerned.

Symptoms

The symptoms that occur as part of agoraphobia or when confronted with the fear-filled places can be divided into four areas:

1. thoughts
2. Feelings
3. Physical signs
4. Behaviors

Thoughts:

Most of the thoughts revolve around the fear that a terrible event could occur. The fear in the foreground, not being able to get any help in this situation or being alone. As a result of these thoughts, situations that the person is afraid of, such as crowds and traveling by bus, train, plane, etc., are avoided.

Feelings:

The persons concerned experience intense fear in the dreaded situations, which could include the following:

• Afraid of being helpless and alone
• Fear of one Heart attack
• Fear of breathlessness
• Fear of losing control of the situation
• Afraid of going crazy in the situation
• Afraid of passing out

physical reactions

In each of the fear-inducing situations, the affected person shows physical reactions. However, not all of the symptoms mentioned below have to occur together:

• Sweating, excessive sweating (link)
• Accelerated heartbeat
  
• Shortness of breath, chest pain
  
• The situations are perceived as not real
• Tremble
• nausea
• Gastrointestinal complaints
• Dizziness
• Feeling close to fainting
• Hot flashes, chills

behavior

The fear is also reflected in the behavior of the people concerned. People begin to avoid the fearful situations. If it is not possible to avoid avoiding the fearful situations, they are only visited and endured with great fear and a feeling of discomfort. If the fear or the discomfort becomes too intense, the affected persons escape from the situation or only seek it out in the company of other persons.

Causes of Agoraphobia

Traumatic event

Similar to the specific phobia (link), a cause for the development of an agoraphobia can have been the experience of a traumatic event, for example the death of a loved one, a separation / divorce from a partner, problems in the partnership, problems at work or Unemployment.

Agoraphobia can also occur in combination with a specific phobia.

Individual causes

Experiencing a traumatic event alone is not enough to cause a Agoraphobia trigger. Often times, a vulnerable, sensitive personality plays a major role in the development of agoraphobia. On the one hand, the fearfulness of a person can be explained by inheriting certain personality traits. Also the development of certain character traits through the influence of parents (upbringing) and other close people (circle of friends) during childhood. By observing parental behavior, young children learn how to behave in certain situations. If the child's parents have a fearful personality, it stands to reason that the child can also develop fear later. The child may not even try to try out their own behavior in certain situations, but rather adopt the behavior observed by the parents.
In psychotherapy it is possible to get to the bottom of the causes that could be responsible for the development of agoraphobia and to treat the agoraphobia through therapeutic methods.

Prevalence / Occurrence

Agoraphobia is rarely represented in Germany compared to other anxiety disorders (e.g. specific phobia). The disease is diagnosed in 3% of women and about 1% of men (measured within one year). Agoraphobia usually begins between the ages of 20 and 30.

diagnosis

A definite diagnosis of agoraphobia can only be made by a doctor (usually a doctor specializing in psychiatry) or by a psychotherapist. For example, with the help of diagnostic criteria for agoraphobia, he can find out in a personal conversation whether the person concerned has these or not.

At the same time, attempts are made to take other possible diseases into account, as the symptoms of agoraphobia can also apply to other clinical pictures (e.g. social phobia, specific phobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression)